School vouchers are the program that the Republicans have been pushing for years, and very well may pass. It gives you the option of pulling your kid from public schooling, and the state will give a portion of the money that would have been used to pay for her public schooling to you so you can use it for private school tuition. It is a crock in some ways that the $5-10K per student translates into $3-6K in vouchers, but it goes a long way toward covering private school tuition.

Democrats don't like it because they think it will cause segregation and would harm the public schools due to lower funding. I think that it is good: the public schools don't deserve to waste any more tax dollars ... especially for students that aren't attending class there. Further, I haven't encountered any more segregation in private schools than public. I think they are afraid that if the program was effective, it would show how pathetic their education policies really are. You can't just throw money into a fire and expect students to do better.

In fact, I think Texas may currently have a voucher program ... look into it.

As usual, it's hard to get that info, but the wife and I will check out a chistian school: we've got an appointment Friday next week.:)

Kids do stupid things, but the last thing that they should be doing is having a bad attitude about the whole matter.

Those vouchers, where could I get more information on them? Would they be applicable to Home Schooled students?

bb2k. as far as the catholic school thing goes, i wouldnt recommend you go through with that. now im not a parent, im only 20 yrs old and a college student. but i can tell you what ive seen from my perspective, and that is that kids that are sent to catholic schools just learn how to get by with stuff more cleverly. my girlfriend went to a catholic girls school, and i can tell you the girls that were sent there for disciplinary reasons just got more clever at getting away with whatever it was they were sent there for. now of course this doesnt hold up for every kid, but im just telling you what ive seen. i think a lot of parents think they can send their kid off to a catholic school and let them deal with discipline instead of themselves (im not accusing you of this of course), and i think thats a bad idea. discipline is something the parents should be responsible for. you have to motivate her to want to stay away from things such as drugs, how to go about that is up to you.

Thanks Golovko.

My wife and I took her up to a counsellor yesterday, and her assesment is: "She's in complete denial, over what happened". So we've (actually my wife) made arrangements for her to see this counsellor every other week.

I think that my stepdaughter understands most of "what's bad", but clearly doesn't have the understanding of "making the right choice".

As I was explaining it to my wife this morning, acting emotionally is a privilege that one has to earn for themselves. It comes from knowing what's wrong and what's right, but more importantly, knowing that we will make the right decision, when faced with a choice. My stepdaughter isn't there yet.

In the meantime, she's going to have to a) trust that mom/dad/stepdad is in the position to tell her what to do, and accept it (instead of trying to butt heads all the time) and b) get into the habit of "stop and think".

In scientific terms, that's called self-discipline. In religious terms, it's called "carrying God in your heart" or "living with the Holy Spirit".

If she keeps making the choice to live within the edge of the law, she will slip and fail (as we all do, it's human), but if she holds herself up to a higher standard (i.e. God), then not only does she not have to worry about breaking a law (because some of God's values are represented in the laws), but when she slips, it won't be anything as bad as what happened, and she can simply ask Him for forgiveness, and try not to do it again!

So christian schools can be good, if they understand and apply the above. As a parent, we can only influence her environment, especially at the age she is: 15.

I can however, remind her what her choices are... (big speech coming up this weekend, I hope!)

Well, that's my take on it... Opinions?

School vouchers are cashed in by the school. You can't use them to pay yourself for homeschooling. Sorry.