Ups and Downs

It's been a night of Ups and Downs.

Up:  Just being home with my boy after a long, tiring day at work.

Down: Homework

Up:  His teacher sent home a take home exam to give him an opportunity to improve his final exam grade in social studies.

Down:  Doing a take home exam, even open book, after meds have worn off.

Up:  Mommy staying calm throughout the evening.

Down:  Dylan bursting into tears.

Up:  Checking his grades online and seeing that there doesn't appear to be any Ds for the quarter.

Down:  Seeing that he has been given a grade for homework in most subjects.  How can this be?  As far as I can tell, they don't specifically go over homework to see if it has been done right or wrong.  And even if they did, it's practice, isn't it.  And, one other point, is homework fair if it takes Dylan 3-4 times as long as the rest of the class?

Up:  Giving up on finishing the take-home exam and hanging out in Dylan's room eating ice cream.

Down:  Seeing that his language teacher gave him a C, even though his tests clearly show that he is a B student.  There was a take-home test that I never heard about that he failed, according to the list of grades.

Up:  Reaching out via email to a local, private, Catholic school focused on learning disabilities to learn more about it.

Down:  Telling Dylan that I am looking into a school that might be able to help him learn in a way more suited to his style, and having him breakdown again because he actually loves his school despite the struggles.

Up:  Reading the second book of the Guardians of Ga'Hoole to him as he falls asleep.

Down:  Telling him one of my "Cowboy Dylan" stories.  I said that Cowboy Dylan was smart, and he said he was nothing like Cowboy Dylan.

It's heartbreaking!  My boy is smart!  He is not "playing us" as one teacher suggests.  We are not lazy parents who just want it all easy for him.  HAH!  If this is easy, I would hate to see hard! "Easy" just does not have so many downs to contend with.