Wrapping up

There's about 14 days total of school left for this year- 12 if I let Jack skip the last two days, seeing as how most of those days at real school would involve cleaning up desks, watching movies, and things of that nature. It would be pointless to sit Jack at a desk all day. The day before school gets out, he has the opportunity to say hi/bye to his fellow 3rd grade classmates during their Pet Sharing Day- assuming it doesn't rain that day. We'll probably also go to school on the last day, right when the bell rings, so that he can say bye to his friends as they leave.

It's kind of bittersweet for me, watching my kids say goodbye to a building they've been in for many years. Despite all the negative, it's what they've known, and what I have known. I'm probably no bigger a fan of transition than Jack is! I have the feeling I'm going to be emotional when I take him on those two days. (I'm already feeling a pit in my stomach). I'll be watching the kids who enjoyed him to any extent, interacting with him perhaps for the very last time. Savannah has it easier, because most of her friends will move on with her to middle school next year. Jack doesn't have that luxury, because the program he'll be going into next year will not be at the same middle school (when he's ready for 6th grade). He doesn't like that, but I can't really do anything about it at this point. I'm pretty much stuck sending him where he needs to be.

Jack has been doing pretty well overall with the homeschooling. We had him on 5mg of Intuniv, because we started to see some changes in him and just really wanted him to get through the state testing ok. About 3 weeks in, his attitude started to change. (Looking back in my notes since he started this med, I can say that with every dose, his behaviors started going downhill after 3 weeks). We're absolutely not bumping him up to 6, and frankly I'm tired of doing this dance with this medication, so we've already started to wean him off of it. My understanding from the FAQS about this med is you need at least a week between dropping doses. I think we figured that we can keep him on each for about 11 days without having to refill any of the doses (I am only able at this point to refill 2mg and 4mg). Just before we dropped him down, he was having a mini freak-out for two days, where he was a grouch about the littlest stuff. (I printed out a "memory" book for him to fill out for 3rd grade, which he was originally excited about. When he saw it, he got upset and said that he already did that in 1st grade. He just wouldn't fill it out, and it ticked me off because I wasted a ton of printer ink on it- actually ran out of black ink printing it out. So it was all attitude and rude comments about me homeschooling him. Much later I was hoping he would redeem himself by filling out a bunch of responses about homeschooling and what it takes to be a teacher, etc.. but he was probably just as rude in print. Sigh).

As for Savannah, I'm proud of my kid. Her artwork is featured on her final yearbook cover for this school. I think she's been afforded a lot of great opportunities via the Art teacher, and I believe this is one of them. It makes me very proud that others see her creativity, and want to nurture it as much as I do.