A few of you know how much I stressed out about the sixth grade. Sixth grade owns a third of my gray hairs, along with the Curt-grays and the Constant Deadline-grays. (Luke gets one or two...when he does things like speculate on whether or not he can hit the pool jumping from the second floor balcony of his dad's house.)
Sixth grade started giving me gray hair more than a year ago. I didn't have any kind of peace about where Curt should go to school.
We visited the magnet program at one local middle school. It's a great program, but there were just...seething masses of sixth graders everywhere...it didn't feel right. Curt was only mildly enthused. We visited the campus we're zoned to attend. That DEFINITELY did not feel right. It's not a bad school and I'd trust both of those amazing counselors there with my son's life, but I knew that campus was not the right fit for him. Private schools were out too. In addition to being cost prohibitive (although I'd have made it work if I felt that was the RIGHT place for him), private schools are not required by law to accommodate his special needs. One even told me, flat out, they would not work with him (and I dare most people to even IDENTIFY his 'special need,' let alone refuse to "work with him.")
I prayed. A lot. I prayed for peace. I prayed for the right place for him.
God answers prayers.
We visited Cumberland Academy. As soon as we walked it, I knew it was "right." When we left, I had that peace. Not to mention, Curt LOVED it. A charter school with a brand-spanking-new middle school program, we had to apply through a lottery to get in. I'd been assured that it "wouldn't be a problem" for any of the new sixth or seventh graders to get a slot, but I worried anyway. Because that's what I do. And I prayed.
Curt got a slot in the sixth grade class. We went to the first parent information meeting. The principal announced that there was an extended school day for extra learning. Curt, who has no verbal filter or voice modulator, cried out, "SCORE," to the amusement of the faculty and staff and the chagrin of his new classmates. THEN she announced there would be DOUBLE math periods each day. Curt's response? "DOUBLE SCORE!" One kid nearby rolled his eyes, but Curt was in HEAVEN. The icing on the cake? The cherry on the sundae? "Each student will receive an iPad for their schoolwork."
"TRIPLE SCORE! THIS SCHOOL ROCKS." I think the entire assembly erupted into laughter.
I still worried all summer. We amassed uniforms and school supplies (enough to pay for at least a semester of college!). I worried. I worried he wouldn't stay organized. I worried he wouldn't make friends. I worried he wouldn't make it between classes on time, would trip and fall down the stairs or would fixate on the elevator and never make it to homeroom.
Then I found out one of his teachers was a calm, cool, collected, kind, PATIENT and warm friend from my Sunday School class. Yet another was a vivacious, positive, upbeat, sharp, funny, PATIENT friend of mine, his dad's and his step-mom's. Peace started to settle in.
So it's week three and so far, so good. No, so great.
Ok, so he did have lunch detention the third day of school, but his teacher was right to nip his excessive talking in the bud (I did mention he has little impulse control, right?). And she handled it SO WELL that he didn't even spiral into the dark realms of "I'm so dumb" that he's prone to.
We've had some organizational difficulties, but so has every sixth grader I've heard of so far. It's a learning curve. A steep learning curve.
And so far, he's handled it like a champ.
Did I mention God answers prayers?
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