difficult child made it!!!

K

Kjs

Guest
Tomorrow, (today) he will walk across that stage and graduate from Middle School. Closing a very, very difficult chapter in his (my) life.
:woohoo:
I hope he is mature enough to realize the great gift of intelligence he has, and applies it the next four years.

The Technical High School he has been accepted at is very small. He is not use to that. Elementary school had over 700 kids, and Middle School had climbed to over 1000 this year. 368 in just his 8th grade class. The High School has less than that for all four grades.

I regret having him skip a grade. At the time, the we all agreed that challenging him would be the best solution. Now, entering high school at the young age of 13 - I am just afraid he is not ready and does not realize the importance.

Of course, i will be attending the graduation alone. husband said he "might" go if he can get off work. (he had an entire YEAR to plan this). AND he didn't even mention it to me. I asked him before I left for work. I asked him what time he was planning on arriving, and if he wanted to know what the principal told me as far as arrival time. he ignored me. I won't be saving him a seat, nor will I be looking for him. 368 eighth graders, and parents...cannot all fit in the auditorium.

The first part is an awards and recognition ceremony. difficult child won't recieve any of that unless they have one for the most trips to the office! In my opinion they should of notified the kids recieving awards and recognition and had a separate ceremony.

At any rate, I will cry. My baby, I fought SO hard for. Finally.

He has the brains, testing almost off the charts at 99% higher than other 8th graders, and he technically should be in 7th. I just am not sure he has the maturity to apply those brains.

so much has happened recently. Overwhelming. But for difficult child - at 10am will be graduating. he is so into looking good, hah...he asked for a tux for this. I offered a suit, but he turned it down. In this warm, muggy, rainy weather he said he is wearing a long sleeve sweater with his pants. (his favorite shirt, cause you know...he has to "look good")
 

Charmedpea

New Member
Congrats. Mine goes into high school this year. But their was no thing for her to go to. We pulled her out of middle school & put her into digital school this year. I would sit him down and explain to him the importants and just keep reminding him. Ask him what he wants to do when he grows up. etc.. Mine wants to go into first it was a lawer haha I told her she loves to argue. she laughed now its sports medication. We will see.. Good luck to you let me know how it goes.charmedpea
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Kjs,

Way To Go for your difficult child! I know it has been so difficult at times and today is a day to be very proud of your difficult child and I can see just how proud you are:) I'm sorry husband is attending but go and enjoy and bring alone some tissues. Hugs.
 

LittleDudesMom

Well-Known Member
K,

sounds like it's going to be a wonderful day, a day to be proud. He made it through middle school and will embark on a new phase. Don't let the fact that husband (and I use that darling part loosely!!) isn't participating destory the pride/joy of the day.

You and difficult child have worked hard for this - enjoy it.

Sharon
 

Marguerite

Active Member
Well done - to both you and difficult child.

Don't beat yourself up over having him accelerated - you don't know how things would have turned out if you hadn't. We did this with easy child 2/difficult child 2, would have done it for easy child too if we could. easy child 2/difficult child 2 had problems, but I think if she had not been accelerated we would have had problems of a different sort, and I think she would have been even more bored as well.

High school is going to be difficult, but it sounds like you have found the best placement for him. Here's hoping he can cope.

Enjoy the graduation ceremony.

Marg
 

jannie

trying to survive....
Congratultions Mom and difficult child !!

The new high school program sounds exciting....small can be very good !!
 

smallworld

Moderator
Congratulations to difficult child and his mom! Celebrate the good and forget about the bad today. You have a lot to be proud of.
 
Many congrats to you and difficult child! Enjoy the good times. You both deserve to be proud for making it through the hard times of middle school. Much credit especially goes to you, Warrior Mom...

I predict difficult child will love high school. Our difficult child , who rarely has anything good to say about school , commented about how much better high school was than middle school only one week into his first semester. His high school has around 400 students total, and I can tell you that a small school is really a good thing for a difficult child. The classes are all very small (around 15 students or less) and everyone knows everyone at the school (for better or worse)...The only problem we have seen in the three years that he has attended there is that there isn't quite the range of courses to choose from - but they allow independent study to make up for that lack.

We also accelerated difficult child at the strong recommendations of his teachers at the time (back in elementary school). Of course, hindsight is 20/20 - and we now know we should have considered the maturity problems later on. I don't really think that this has added any layers to our difficult child's social problems though - with his Asperger's it's hard to tell. I do know that as he ages and matures this issue will resolve itself - so hang in there, and enjoy the wonderful Summer!
 

meowbunny

New Member
Way To Go to your son. As to RC (Richard Cranium aka your husband), one day he will discover that there are more important things than work. Of course, the lesson will be learned when those who he loves don't have time for him. His loss.

As to skipping the grade, it is one of those rock/hard spot things. If he's bored, he'll act out even more and the odds of him dropping out will be even higher. Whether he starts high school at 13, 14 or even 15, he'll still behind the majority of other kids in maturity -- it goes with the territory for our kids. So, one year really isn't going to make that much of a difference, plus there will be several other kids starting high school at age 13 as well.

As to using and appreciating his intelligence that probably won't happen until college. In high school, intelligence is not a highly valued commodity but for a very few. It is in college and adult life that intelligence is valued. I've seen many kids who you could have sworn were on the lower IQ scale given their grades, writing ability, etc. who showed their true colors in college and in the work force -- they excelled and even thrived in the more challenging environments. Your son could very well be one of those. This smaller school may be just the thing for him and help him value himself more.

Ya done good!! Enjoy yours and his day.
 

change

New Member
That's awesome news!!! I'm so happy for your family...especially the fact he gets to go to such a cool high school next year. That's WONDERFUL!!! Enjoy today and have a relaxing summer...
 

'Chelle

Active Member
Congrats to you both. I so know how you feel, I despaired of my difficult child ever even getting through grade 8, and now only 2 weeks and he's done grade 9. I was so proud to see difficult child graduate grade 8. Enjoy your day, and as for husband give him the lyrics to "Cats in the Cradle" and maybe he might get a clue. These things only happen once, and it's the things our kids remember later, who was there and who wasn't. My husband, who doesn't go to a lot of things, even took off work for this event. It made difficult child quite happy.
 

trinityroyal

Well-Known Member
Kjs, congratulations to difficult child and to you!
difficult child's high school sounds just wonderful. You never know...in a small school, students tend to get to know each other pretty well, and quirkiness of all sorts seems to be accepted better. Being a bit immature might help to balance off the super intelligence in the eyes of the other children, leading to greater acceptance from his peers.

As others have said, don't worry about the bad. Just enjoy this wonderful day and take great pride in your difficult child's accomplishment.

Trinity
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
THIS IS HUGE!!!!!!!

JUMPING UP AND DOWN -
HANDING YOU A Bunch of FLOWERS!!!!

WAY TO GO FAMILY KJS
 
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