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Wednesday, March 19, 2014

What It's Really Like Wednesday #8 ... There Is Always Hope

Bright posters, letters and numbers surrounded us. We squirmed. The little chairs making us feel small and powerless. We sat. Embarrassed to be there, not knowing what to expect. The smile on her face was deceptive. Hiding truth. Hiding pain. But her words spared none of these.
Climbing on chairsThreateningAggressive. They poured from her. Urgent and concerned. We understood. We knew. It wasn't easy. We had just moved, didn't have a home. Our mouths flooded with reasons. So many reasons.
But she would not hear. Emptied of behaviors she turned to us. Always a teacher. She tried to teach us. Be better she said. Inherent in her words was the blame. How could we argue? How could we say what our hearts screamed - You don't understand! We are doing our best. There is no magic switch. No perfect passing of time. But we said nothing. Shocked. Lost for words. And we listened as she continued on telling us about our son.
I just hope that he isn't beyond hope. Said the teacher who had known him for 15 days. The room could have spun at her condemning words.
We left. Our mouths closed tight to the threatening onslaught. Our minds reeling.
M smiled and laughed at some small little funny. We smiled and laughed with him. No. He was not beyond hope. He was five. No five year old is beyond hope. Especially not my son.
...
In the days that followed we tried to sift through all that we had heard. She wasn't lying. We didn't blame her. M was difficult. Very difficult. The problems were real. But the conclusion was not.
Pushing past our disappointment and disillusionment with a system we thought we could trust we pulled him. Deciding we couldn't leave him in a place that viewed him as hopeless. Because isn't hopeless. A challenge? Absolutely. But never beyond hope.


Linking up here
http://www.joyfocusedlearning.com/2014/03/anything-goes-17.html

2 comments:

  1. "We pulled him." Does this mean you are home schooling? :)

    And I agree, your son is not without hope and it is not too late!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I guess I wasn't very clear about that was I? We pulled him out of a private Christian school and put him in public school. It was not a place I ever thought I would be, but they have been wonderful!

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