Dear Jules,
I've been wanting to write this post for a long time- for almost a year, in fact. About a year ago, in the midst of COVID-19, we were told that the special education program at your school was being moved. Even though we adore and are still close with your special education teacher, this was the kick in the pants we needed for a move we had wanted to make for a long time.
We have always been fans of inclusion. You are so social, and you learn best by watching other students and emulating them. Because of their large class sizes and lack of funding, public schools unfortunately have not been able to have full inclusion. What I mean by this is that you were either in the general education classroom, with no support, or in the special education classroom.
At Nativity School, you have had the best of both worlds. You are in the General Education classroom 90% of the day. Every day, you come home and talk about your growing list of friends: Scarlett, Rosalie, Hannah, Connor, Liam, and Jaxson, who is, as you say, "very funny." We are still in a pandemic, so I have never even met most of these kids, but I know about them through you. Recently, you had a spring break, and you actually wanted to go back to school because you had missed your friends. This, more than anything, makes me so happy.
And then there's the academic side. Honestly, I don't know why it's taking you so long to learn to read, but your teachers there are graced with so much patience. They're always proud of you, always looking at your progress, and you soak it up. You are learning your letters and your numbers, and what I'm most impressed by is that you are also learning geothermal energy and the three branches of our government. You have a wonderful memory, especially if something is put to music, so they find you songs, or they tell me what you're learning and we make songs together. Here is one of our videos:
Every single teacher at Nativity has embraced you--you might learn differently, it might be more work, but they are all willing to do it, from the science teacher who made sure you also made your own musical instrument in class to the social studies teacher who patiently writes out all of the notes so that I can help you study, to the religion teacher who praises your (not quite in tune) singing in church.
I may not be a Catholic any more, but anyone can see that God is truly working in this place. And inclusion is truly working in this place. You are not one of "those kids" at Nativity- you are just Julia, and that is truly beautiful.
