If you’re sending a little one off to public school kindergarten this fall, you might want to attend the “kindergarten roundup” event at the school, as a first-round orientation. Here is the schedule of the remaining sessions at South County schools:

• Addison Mizner: 8:15 a.m. April 30.   362-3101
• Banyan Creek: 8:30 a.m. May 4.  894-7100Calusa: 8:30 a.m. May 4.   989-7501
• Calusa: 8:30 a.m. May 4.    989-7501
• Citrus Cove: 6 p.m. May 24.    292-7000
• Crosspointe: 9 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. May 15.   292-4100
• Del Prado: 8:30 a.m. May 3.   544-1801
• Forest Park: 8:30 a.m. May 2.     292-6900
• Galaxy: 8:45  a.m. May 11.    739-5600
• Hagen Road: 9 a.m. May 11.    292-6700
• Hammock Pointe: 8:30 a.m. May 18.   477-2200
• Morikami: 8:30 a.m. May 8.    894-7300
• Orchard View: 9 a.m. May 4.    894-7400
• Pine Grove: 8:30 a.m. May 15.     266-1100
• Plumosa: 5 p.m. May 1.     330-3900
• Poinciana: 6 p.m. May 15.     739-5700
• Rolling Green: 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m., May 3.    202-9500
• S.D. Spady: 8:30 a.m. May 7.     454-7800
• Sandpiper Shores: 8:30 a.m. May 2.     883-4001
• Sunrise Park: 8:30 a.m. May 7.     477-4300
• Sunset Palms: 8:30 a.m. May 9.     752-1100
• Verde: 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. May 4.   218-6800
• Village Academy: 8:30 a.m. May 2.   243-6133
• Waters Edge: 8:30 a.m. May 15.   852-2400
• Whispering Pines: 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. May 2.     672-2700

Christy Raines, 15, has been educated at home since age 5.

In the midst of FCAT season in public school classrooms, angst against “the system” goes into high gear.  Parents are looking for solutions – and more in Palm Beach County are opting out of schools altogether.

The number of local students who were home-schooled jumped 8 percent – to more than 4,800 students in Palm Beach County – for the 2010-11 school year, according to the Florida Department of Education.

“With home schooling, you don’t have to teach to any test,” said Sharon Raines of Boca Raton, who has home-schooled her 15-year-old daughter, Christy, for 10 years. “You can teach the things you believe are important.”

People who choose to home-school have many reasons for doing it, beyond avoiding  Florida’s “teach-to-the-test” public school culture and finding pricey private schools out of reach.

Some are motivated by religion. Others worry about safety in schools.

Raines, who has led the Boca Home Schoolers support group for the past eight years, said she wanted the freedom to instill specific character qualities in her daughter and have the family’s Christian convictions be the foundation of her learning.

It’s also a lifestyle choice. Home-schoolers are not bound by specific attendance requirements. School can be conducted during the day, at night or on the weekends. Your vacations need not be ruled by the county school calendar.

But it is a big commitment, and a lot of work for parents

Raines,  a stay-at-home mom, figures she spends more than 30 hours a week on her daughter’s education, including preparing lessons, grading papers, organizing field trips, projects, sports and other activities. She believes it is worth it.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity that we have as parents to teach our children,” Raines said. “It’s the single best thing our family has ever done. We love it.”

Finding curriculum

When Christy was 5, Raines started the “Five in A Row” curriculum, which offers rich lessons through an assortment of children’s books. She recommends this approach for younger children because it is fun, easy to implement, and affordable, since most of the books can be found at the library.

Over the past 10 years, the Raineses have experimented with several programs. Sharon Raines now selects course materials designed for her daughter’s kinesthetic, hands-on, learning style. Home educating allows her the flexibility to try different techniques to get her daughter to retain certain concepts.

“You can tailor the curriculum to your child’s learning style,” Sharon said. “Schools can’t do that.”

With a degree in finance, Raines said she is comfortable teaching her daughter math and English. For some of the other subjects, like science, Christy receives supplemental instruction weekly at Home Education Enrichment Day.

HEED is a Boca Raton-based home school co-op that hires teachers who are experts in their fields to tutor students in a variety of subjects, including chemistry, biology, algebra, literature,  public speaking and critical thinking. The classes are offered weekly and cost up to $450 a class for the school year. Raines said it is worth the cost.

HEED serves about  150 families.

“We wouldn’t have the resources to do a science lab, but when you come together with a large group, you can get a teacher who can offer a lab,” Raines said.

Three virtual education programs are also available, for free, to Florida students:

• Florida Virtual School serves sixth- through 12th-grade students
• Connections Academy serves kindergarten through eighth-grade students
• K-12 serves kindergarten through 12th-grade students

Home-schooled children do not receive an official diploma from the Department of Education but they can still attend college. Some parents create transcripts and diplomas to submit directly to college admissions departments, while others choose to have their child get a GED. According to the Home School Legal Defense Association, colleges are mainly concerned with SAT or ACT scores and having an accurate transcript that outlines all of the courses the student has completed.

Socialization

Many people think home-schooled children don’t get to interact with other kids. But home-schoolers in Boca Raton have plenty of opportunities to participate in sports and other activities – even at public schools.

Christy spends her Friday afternoons with 72 other children preparing for an upcoming production of Tom Sawyer that is being produced by the home-school drama company Stars in the Universe. The production will include elementary, middle and high school-age students.

In addition to violin and vocal lessons, Christy also plays volleyball for the Christian Home School Athletic Association of Florida. The association, commonly referred to as SAINTS, offers physical education for kids age 5-17. Students are exposed to a variety of sports, including baseball, archery, volleyball, golf and track and field.

Support

Raines recommends finding a local support group – for guidance and encouragement for you, and social activities for the kids.  Besides her group, the Palm Beach County Homeschooling Cooperative supports home educators with kids age 3 to 12.

How to get started

Find all the requirements at the state Department of Education website.

Resources

• The Florida Parent-Educators Association provides home educators with support, guidance and information.  It is dedicated to protecting the rights of home educators and act as an ambassador to the home school community.
• LIFE of Florida is a state support and networking group for home educators.
• The Home School Legal Defense Association is an advocacy organization dedicated to defending the constitutional rights that parents have to teach their children.
• The School District of Palm Beach County has more information on rules and guidelines.

- MERCEDES COPPIN

Now playing in Boca Raton and Delray Beach: Bully, the controversial documentary.

Every parent of should see this – and more importantly, every middle- and high-schooler.

It will make you sad. It will make you angry. And maybe that’s the first step toward ending this problem.

The film follows five kids from towns around the country who are systematically tortured by their schoolmates: A gay girl bullied into quitting the basketball team. A boy hit and stabbed with pencils nearly every day on the school bus. A girl who gets so fed up, she brings a gun onto the school bus. Two other boys who end up committing suicide.

In some cases, the parents had no idea of the severity of the abuse their kids were suffering. In other cases, parents went to school administration, or even the police, and got no relief.

The most infuriating part of the film – beyond the cold-hearted, animal behavior of the bullies – is the school administrator in Sioux City, Iowa, who is so inept that people in the theater wanted to punch her in the face. The fact that she didn’t even pretend to take the parents’ complaints seriously – even on camera – just underscores how clueless she is.

(A blog has sprung up to monitor her continued employment – see kimlockwood.wordpress.com.)

Now that the film has a PG-13 rating, schools should be able to show it. Because the kids who really need to see it are the ones whose parents aren’t likely to take them.

This is a profound opportunity to talk to your kids about how to treat other people – and to extend compassion and friendship to their classmates who may be struggling. Tell them to stand up for the new kids, the different kids, the ones who are picked on and who don’t seem to have any friends. One kind word, one show of support can make a big difference.

Jackie Libby, mom of Alex, the boy abused on the bus, told U.S. News that every day since the film premiered, people have told Alex he is inspiring. He even received a few prom date requests. Those kind words go a long way, Libby said.

“It works the same way both ways. You can build them up or drag them down, but words are very powerful,” she said. (Read the whole report and watch a Bully trailer here.)

And tell your kids to report the bullying they see. Our local middle schools all have bullying hotlines and drop boxes on campus where kids can make anonymous reports. Make copies of the ones your kids submit. Don’t let administrators use “we didn’t know” or “no one reported it” as an excuse to tolerate this behavior. As parents, we need to follow up and make sure action is taken.

The makers of Bully are trying to change the culture. To get kids to stand up for tolerance. To make it cool to be kind. Isn’t that what we all want for our kids?

READ MORE

Parents of a student at Don Estridge High-Tech Middle School sue over bullying

At The Bully Project website, kids can tell their stories sand get ideas for how to make a difference at their school

At Boca Raton’s Promise, find resources for dealing with mental health issues in young people.

In 3-Minute Guru:

What to do when your child is bullied

Protect kids from bullying – listen to them

Bully is showing at Cinemark in Boca Raton and Regal in Delray Beach. Check showtimes.

Read a review of the film at MomsMiami.

- CHARLENE PACENTI

Karen Perry tells the story of losing her son to a drug overdose while he was away at college. It is a gut-wrenching thing to hear, her anguish in sharing that it all began with him smoking marijuana when he was about 15.  That she and her son’s father got him into treatment, transferred him to another college, and still …  a middle-of-the-night visit from the police brought the awful news.

Perry told her story to a recent gathering of parents at Spanish River High School. She is a co-founder of the nonprofit NOPE (Narcotics Overdose Prevention & Education) Task Force, which visits schools and parent groups all over Palm Beach County. Your middle- or high-school student may have seen the NOPE program in recent weeks.

As an educated parent, you may think you’ve heard it all before. But a couple of the task force’s messages were startling:

• Kids are dying because they are mixing one or more drugs, sometimes with alcohol, and sometimes in small amounts. A 13-year-old boy died from taking one Oxycontin pill.

• Kids are dying because their friends, afraid of getting into trouble, are not calling 911 when they see signs that someone is overdosing.

This has become the leading cause of non-natural death in Palm Beach County, with someone dying of an overdose every 28 hours.

What’s new about that? Eighty-five percent of them had more than one drug in their system. And that is a real danger for kids, who are experimenting with prescription drugs stolen from their parents – or bought from their peers.

Gary Martin, an associate dean at Lynn University and a former drug agent and homicide detective with the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, said, “The kids think they’re invincible. They think they know about drugs and what they can handle. But no one knows what will happen when they mix them,” Martin said, adding that it’s not an issue of trust, but a matter of “risk ignorance.”

Many instances can be traced back to the home, which is the main source of drugs and alcohol used by kids age 12-14. (Solution: Keep track of how much you have and lock it up; throw out what you don’t need).

In 2006, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse reported that a third of teens have attended parties where parents were present and alcohol was served to minors. (Remember October 2010 when two Boca Raton parties involving high-schoolers got out of control? Parents were arrested in both cases.)

It is against the law to serve alcohol to minors in your home – and opens you up to civil liability if anything goes wrong.

“You have to be the parent. You have to take control. You have to know what your kids are doing all the time,” said PBSO Capt.Jeffery Lindskoog.

The middle school years are prime for experimentation. The average age of the first use of alcohol or drugs is 13 in Palm Beach County. It used to be 11.

What to do

If  you find drugs or alcohol in child’s belongings, Martin advises:

• If it’s something mild – like marijuana – have a serious conversation right away.

• If it’s cocaine, heroin, ecstasy or prescription pills, treat it like a 911 emergency. Take the child immediately for blood and urine tests to see how much is in his system. Then go to a treatment center to assess the problem.

How to talk to your kids about drugs

Lynn Guelzow from The Hanley Center, a treatment facility in West Palm Beach, gave some guidance:

• Be honest with your kids about any family history of drug addiction or mental health issues, which may make them more susceptible – just as you would with diabetes, breast cancer or any other medical condition.

• Set clear expectations and consequences. The No. 2 reason kids don’t use drugs and alcohol: My parents told me not to. (The No. 1 reason: They didn’t like the taste.)

• Have five or more meals a week with the kids. Engage with them about what is going on in their lives.

Guelzow said it’s also important to tell other parents when you know their child is using drugs or alcohol.  They may not speak to you any more, but it’s the right thing to do.

Perry later learned that her son had a prior non-fatal overdose earlier and several people knew about it. No one told her.

To Learn More

For more information or to get help, visit NOPE’s website www.nopetaskforce.org, call 561-478-1055 or visit NOPE’s Facebook page.

- CHARLENE PACENTI

If you are the parent of a high school student, you most likely know that service learning has been incorporated into the requirements for graduation – and for some scholarships, up to 100 hours.

Volunteering can help students gain valuable real world experience, strengthen their leadership skills and connect with their local community.

But where to start?

Depending on their individual interest and availability students can volunteer at numerous nonprofit agencies, governmental organizations, school campuses and charitable organizations. With so many volunteering opportunities available it can sometimes be difficult for students to find the right organization to partner with.

Websites like VolunTeens.com and SweatMonkey.com have been designed to help students connect with organizations that are in need of volunteers. Both websites are free for students and have made finding local volunteer opportunities easier than ever.

The Boca Raton-based VolunTeens website provides detailed information on more than 100 prospective organizations in Palm Beach and Broward counties. The organizers will also compile a personalized list of opportunities for your child based on their interest and location.

Some local organizations that they have connected volunteers to include: Swept Away Media, JARC Community Garden, and Boca Raton’s Promise.

At SweatMonkey.com, students can sign up for a free account, link to their school and begin searching for community service opportunities. Once students are working with an organization, their hours will be logged on their account, which can be easily accessed online. School administrators can easily track the status of a community service project and verify a student’s hours. The site also offers a downloadable resume that showcases each community service activity.

TIME TO SERVE

• Palm Beach County Public Schools require 20 hours of community service for high school graduation.
• Most private schools require 50 to 100 hours of community service.
• Community service is now a requirement to qualify for the Bright Futures Scholarship Award: Florida Academic Scholars Award,  100 hours; Florida Medallion Scholars Award, 75 hours; Gold Seal Vocational Scholars Award, 30 hours.

If your organization offers volunteer opportunities for high school students, post in the comments.

- MERCEDES COPPIN