The ARD is done!

Well, thankfully Addy's ARD is done & went pretty well. Nick was able to stay home with the kids which made it a lot easier for me to focus on the meeting. (Instead of me having to chase Alex around the room & keep him from coloring on the walls & crawling on the table!) So thank you babe! It ended up lasting 2 hours which is by far the longest one I've sat through. Going in, I really had my mind set that a half day of PPCD  & a half day of homeschooling was the best option for her next year because it would give her an extra year to grow & develop before starting Kindergarten. But then someone on the ARD committee pointed out that all the kids in Addy's class are going into Kinder next year & it will be all 3 year olds coming into PPCD next year. That changed things for me. Addy is doing great & she definitely doesn't need to be in a class with 3 year olds. She needs to be around other kids her age for her to model their behavior. At this point though, I was still reluctant to agree to Kindergarten though. Until the Kinder resource teacher made a great suggestion! And so this is what we have agreed to...
Next year Addison will be in Kindergarten (Ahhhh, she can't really be that old yet, can she?)
She will have pull out resource Language Arts & Math with 3-5 other kids (not because she needs the help academically, but because she works better in a small group)
There will be an aide in her classroom to help her as little or as much as needed
& the most important ...
that we can have her repeat Kindergarten the next year if we feel that she is not ready for 1st grade at the end of the year. (this year will kinda be like a Kindergarten trial run)
When I got home, my stomach was in knots. It's such a big decision & I have no way of knowing if it is the right one. But I discussed it with Nick, my mom & Nick's mom. And I spent all afternoon cleaning my house which gave me lots of time to mull it over. And I think this will be good. No, I KNOW it will be good!

Oh & Addy's Kindergarten teacher was in the ARD meeting & she seemed great! She really seems like she will love & encourage Addy & not crush her sweet little spirit. She had a great answer for every question I asked including.... So will it be ok if Addy meows in class. (LOL! I asked this because the school psychologist observed Addy & noted that she was meowing in class) She said I'll just tell her its not the time to be meowing right now.