Jamies Dream School

Did any of you watch this last week?
Its on again this evening on channel 4. I found it very interesting to watch.. My 14 year old HATES school and I have gone through a very stressful 18 months with him. He got in with the "IT crowd" and consistently played up to what he thought was expected of him by his "mates" which only ended up in him being the one that got into trouble. They seemed to know when to draw the line, my son doesn't or doesn't care. He went through every report that they have including the PSP report which is the final straw. It then ended in a meeting of teachers, head of year, head of school, governors, mentors, connexions people V me, this was one of the worst meetings of my life if not THE worst. I felt a complete failure as a parent that i was in this room because of my son & his behaviour. I felt guilty for lots of reasons.
1. He has my genes
2. He has his fathers genes and he his repeating everything his father did
3. I chose his father & his genes
4. I chose to be a solo parent (well i had no choice really)
5. I chose his school, where we lived.

Could i have done anything to have changed this?

I don't know the answer to that , although i suspect it is no. My son is old enough although clearly not mature enough to make his own choices.

I decided if i didn't make a move and take my son out of that school he soon wouldn't be given a choice so I opted for home educating at the cost of £5,000 This lasted a term as he opted for lazy mornings in bed and clearly was not as self disciplined as me.
I then decided to move house & schools. This also then affected my youngest son as it meant a school change for him also, but better to do it now whilst still at primary school I decided & I was never overly enamoured with the school he was in anyway.
Luckily I still own another house (my marital house) and so tenant was asked to leave and in we moved & they are both now settled at their new schools.

I love my son more than anything in the world and want (like most parents) the best for him, whatever that may be. I messed up my education at the end of my school life because i met a boy, fell in love and he rode a motorbike so that was so much cooler than studying and revising. I don't have any regrets over that as having the grades I have has made no difference to the jobs i have had or me having my own business.

Im just a parent that wants my kids to have everything they deserve and an education is the one and only thing that I can help them with, after that they then make their own choices rightly or wrongly and Im here to guide them and help pick up the pieces.

Watching Jamie Oliver last week, was another example that Im not on my own in this and it doesn't matter what the background of the kids is.. if they are going to go off the rails they will. I can only continue doing my best to help/guide & support him.

Its a daily battle with most teenagers and you feel it more when your "Flying SOLO" like me. My boys don't see their respective fathers. My eldest son's biological dad was killed tragically in a motorbike accident when he was very young, my husband adopted him as his own just after we married in 1998 and he has been the only father he has known. Which is evidence of how strong the gene pool is as he cant remember his father and yet he acts just like him and I intend to do everything in my power to make sure he does not end up the same way.