Jessica and Jacks

No one in the public school system will care about your child more than you do.  We learned that with Jessica.  As a three-year-old, she was already reading complex books for her age.  At four, she read “Girl of the Limberlost”, with 425 pages (a feat doubted later by her Kindergarden teacher), and was doing advanced math for her age.  As a first grader, we had her in a class with a woman who was a seasoned teacher with just one year left before retirement.  We knew Jessica was advanced, but at parent-teacher conference, her teacher told us she “was about average” and was adjusting to fix in with her peers.  I was perplexed, so one day I went to view her class through the door window at her school.  I saw her teacher hovering over Jessica’s desk, giving her a hard time because she wasn’t as coordinated at bouncing a ball and counting Jack’s on her desk like the other kids (as a math project I suppose). I suddenly realized the teacher was the average one who didn’t like dealing with a problematic brilliant student in her class.  Something flipped in me, and I vowed that was her last day with that teacher.  I marched down to the Principal and demanded my daughter get tested.  They performed a battery of standardized tests, and the principal nervously called Kathleen and I to a meeting.  Remarkable, Jessica had tested in a post-graduate level in two subjects, and had excelled in all others. The Principal was concerned because it showed they should advance her to the third grade, but suggested just going to the second grade so it wouldn’t be socially awkward.  We did so, and Jessica blossomed from that point on by being at the top of her class.

LESSON LEARNED:  Public schools are not equipped to handle students that are significantly below or above the average.  Parents need to know they have to closely monitor the education of their children.

FEEDBACK:  HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE?

The Haunted Shack

Lagoon Amusement Park was the place to hang-out when I was a kid.  For $10, you could get an all-day ride pass, and in the summer, we and our friends definitely took advantage of it.  One place to visit at Lagoon was the Haunted Shack.  It was a two-story building with a self-guided walk in the dark through a maze of rooms, detours to get you lost, and scary workers that would pop out at you when you least suspected it.  It was definitely not my favorite place.  On one occasion when I was about 10, I was coaxed by my brother Doug and another friend into the Haunted shack, but I got separated from them.  As I tried to made my way through, I keep going in circles and panicked trying to find the way out to catch up with them.  In my tears and plead for help, a voice in the darkness next to me told me not to worry and introduced himself to me.  It was a man on a date with his girlfriend who sounded older and knowing, but was probably just in his early twenties.  He took my hand and with his date, we traversed the rooms until he eventually got us out.  I have always remembered the incident as one of kindness when I felt really alone and afraid.

LESSON LEARNED:  Each of us will be the recipient of an outstretched hand to some desperate outcry in the dark.  We will also have opportunities come our way to reciprocate the favor.

FEEDBACK:  WHAT MEMORY DO YOU HAVE OF RECEIVING GUIDING HELP DURING A TIME YOU WHEN YOU FELT LOST OR ALONE?