Now how do I respond to this???
Here’s the thing.  I haven’t.
I keep thinking about my reply.  There’s two things going on here.  One and it’s the biggest of the the two is, that I’m puzzled at the questions regarding her confusion about “what’s going on” and “is there other things going on his life”.  Wow.  Thinking…  Thinking…  Hummm…  Let’s see.  Could it possibly be his health?  His life is hanging in a balance???? Somehow I think, possibly, that that could be what’s going on.  Maybe.

Second thing I want to state is, on top of point one there exists this…This son of mine simply doesn’t care much about school.  He really can’t stand it.  Now this was his feeling before finding out about his health so I’m thinkin it’s an easy thing to reason that he has gotten at least a little bit worse about it now then he did before.  Before he found it to be a waste of time.  His opinion?  What are they teaching him that will be worth his time to learn?  What will he use in his life as an adult?

He didn’t respond to elementary this way.  That he liked going to.  Couldn’t wait to get there.  But I can only assume the “like” came from the fact that in his opinion what he was learning was necessary.  Reading, writing, math…  Now he’s got that down, the important stuff to living life as an adult, so where’s the beef in the eduction he’s getting now to prepare him for life?  He keeps coming up blank.  You know one thing he really wanted to take was Home Living.  He was looking forward to that with great expectancy earlier in the year.  He saw how it was going to help him in life.  But that was taken away because he was failing to keep up and they wanted him in a support class.  Might I say this didn’t help his attitude…

Now he doesn’t necessarily mind going to school.  He sees his friends.  He does find things that can, at times, be taught that are interesting.  But homework and tests…well what’s that about?  Takes time, effort and energy that he has no interest in using.

Now, if you read any of my info. under my pages found in the side bar or my description at the top, you’ve read that I home schooled for 16 years.  So, you won’t be surprised to hear that many times a year he asks me to home school him.  Which I tell him, “No way buddy.  I won’t get you to do a thing and I would be legally responsible to get you to actually do something that resembles school.”

Here’s another thing.  I agree with Zac.  It was one of the reasons I home schooled.  Now don’t get me wrong.  I taught my kids.  I taught them a ton of things.  I followed the required curriculum the state insisted they learn, however I did tweek it out.  For history they read real books.  They did projects around periods of history woven together with the real books. And well, I didn’t test them except on spelling.  For the most part I talked with them about what they were learning.  We discussed the topics.  If they could fully explain what they were learning.  Guess what?  They knew the information. A test wasn’t needed.

When my oldest daughter went to school she passed two of the high school graduation exams right off the bat.  Before a single day in a class at school.  I remember that one of those tests was in history.  They were surprised.  They told us that most kids don’t pass that test the first time.  So, I guess what I did worked…without tests.  I made history come alive for my kids and they learned it.

Now I’m not here to beat up the education system.  Certainly my children are in school.  I support schools and what they do.  However, honestly a lot just makes no sense.  And for several of my kids it really doesn’t fit with them at all.  But them’s the breaks.  And that’s what they have to endure till they’re out.  But how much better if what was taught was more useful for the kids when they entered the real world?  And maybe, just maybe Zac wouldn’t resist so much.  And they would find that without tests and homework he’s highly intelligent and knows his stuff.

So how can this teacher help Zac?  I’m blank… Maybe I’ll send her this video:

Night, love ya,
Theresa Jane
-grateful for the beautiful day, the taxes went out in the mail, on time without the need for an extension, the new set of twins I care for now, that I watched for the first time today, were terrific, I had safety on the roads, the meeting this morning went very well

It’s so cool how one works and works and does and does and then suddenly pop, zing, you can stand back and stare at what you’ve accomplished.
So.  Soon.  Very, very soon I’ll be sharing with you… a string of completed projects.  Is that exciting or what??

Stay tuned 

Had a meeting with all of Zac’s teachers and the principle at 9 a.m. this morning…
Missed school needed to be discussed and taken into consideration.  The teachers were unaware of the severity of Zac’s condition.  Some didn’t have a clue at all.  The woman that’s in the office where does his period as an office aid, instead of gym, shared that Zac had told her he was having problems with his kidneys and that he repeatedly stated, “But it’s not life threatening.”  So, of course this had caused her to sense that something was seriously wrong with Zac’s health and even though he wasn’t expressing it verbally he’s scared and/or very concerned.

I was overwhelmingly supported by the principal with my request to lighten his load and to see what options we had with the rest of the year so that he might pass.  I was very thankful for her position and caring attitude.  She truly was my advocate during the meeting and therefore ultimately Zac’s.  In all my years of dealing with my sons health issues, both in the medical arena and school I have never had anyone step forward and without request or prodding become my advocate to such a degree, until today.

My heart was deeply, deeply touched.  Gratitude flooded me with emotion.
However, I had to suppress tears a couple times while being surprised at two of his teachers positions.  These two needed continuous reminding by the principal that Zac has serious/critical health concerns that are life threatening making his school the secondary consideration and certainly homework, needing to be done after a long day at school that tires him, was not much of a concern at all.   Here are two of the more notable moments of their input:

• One teacher went into a lengthy dissertation wanting to know if I was prepared to be responsible for Zac being passed on to high school with serious gaps in his education since his grades all year have been very low and were it’s being considered to lower his requirements all the more.  Putting him at risk all throughout high school. (which I really don’t agree with at all)
• Another teacher was gratingly disgusted that Zac didn’t seem to care to try in her class esp. after all of her offers to help him “one on one” during his lunch break.

I pointed out that several things: Zac’s health had obviously been declining before we or the doctors were aware.  Therefore it stands to reason that Zac’s grades would reflect that.  How I had also seen him decline all year but didn’t know what to make of it really.  For instance at home he was getting to where he didn’t want to do much of anything for himself anymore and I shared other bits of examples as well.  I went on to say more when the principal stepped in and took over.

• To the first she informed: that whether Zac went on to high school or not was a decision that would lie with the IEP committee and if he was moved forward than that would be their decision.
• To the second she pointed out: that Zac is a student that is in academic classes all day due to his needing academic support and to ask him to give up his one break from it is something that is unreasonable.

There was more but I think my post is long enough and you get the picture.

I will tell you I was speechless with the support and it drown out the negative from the “2″.

Overall three teachers and the principal were amazing to deal with and I’m thankful for their support that he has received and will continue to receive from them.  I do hope time and sleep will jar the others into more consciousness…

In regards to his care at school his output is being modified and they are looking into having him on a half day for the rest of the year.  So that he might not get so worn out during the week causing him to miss more school because he’s just too tire to attend.  I love the idea.  Hope that it’s possible and if it is that the doctor will write the script supporting this well thought out solution.

Night, love ya,
Theresa Jane
-the ex’s attitude was better today even when he came home as I was serving up Zac’s dinner, just before heading off to work