Day 86

He's finished a semester of honors American Lit, with a grade of A. His teacher's comments were: "Exceptional engagement and evidence of achievement in the course. (He) is a talented writer with superb written expression and deep analytical skills." He's one lesson away from finishing a semester of honors Algebra 2...and will probably get an A in that as well. His letters and our phone conversations are a pleasure - it is as if I have the boy he was (before things started slipping off the rails in 7th grade) back...but with a maturity and sensitivity commensurate with his age. He still has a long way to go-- as I think in part he is just conforming to the structure he's been provided, and he hasn't totally internalized it all yet...but this is the same kid who failed the second quarter of 10th grade Anmerican lit last December....so while there's alot to be done, we are in a good place.

Day 73

I just realized that it's less than a month until parent's weekend...where I actually get to SEE him. I should start counting down as well as up! Today is T-27!

Day 72

Nice picture and updates on the web today. He had a choice to make in school--and he took the harder path which will be better in the long run.

Day 71

Wow-- its been almost 10 weeks. I still haven't tackled his room yet, aside from going in and removing the health hazard type stuff I did in the beginning. I'm pretty sure I can go in there without crying now- so hopefully I'll get to that soon.

Day 70

He was brought back up to Level 2 this afternoon. I received a letter from him earlier today that had two parts-- one was hysterical ranting written right after he was demoted- the second was a more reasonable analysis the next morning...interesting that by the time I got the letter from him, the crisis was over.

Day 69

We finally got the refinancing done to pay for this - which is a relief. It's as if we're paying a few extra years of college tuition...but it is probably the best investment we could make in trying to make sure he has a future.

Day 68

Nice letter today where he obsesses about how much he is overthinking and obsessing about things- since I am also an overthinker, watching him struggle with this is forcing me to realize that this is an issue I need to deal with as well.