As usual, the school board ranted. They seemed primarily to be disgusted that Ishmael was doing so well. “You must push Ishmael too hard,” one board member accused, and others seemed to be outraged that we allowed Ishmael to make choices about what he wanted to learn. We just sat there.
They did finally grant us permission to teach Ishmael at home for another year. They knew they had no other choice. It wouldn’t have looked good to say, “Ishmael has been learning so much and appears to be so happy at home that we have decided to deny him permission to learn at home again next year.”
