Starting off the year saying goodbye

It has been a bittersweet month for me. Lots of mixed emotions. My eldest son moves onto a new chapter of his life this month. We are preparing to drive him 5 hours away to university. There have been so many sleepless nights coupled with excitement for his final move. We’ve been making endless different list of what he may need while he lives at residence.

I have been reflecting so much this week on the challenges we faced with my son and so many memories are flooding back. One of them being many times we were called into the principal’s office on more occasions than normal. We can now laugh at all the mischievous things he did, but at the time we were frustrated, angry and disappointed with the “system.” We were told so many negative things by teachers, but eventually he had a teacher in grade five that really cared and was able to guide us out of genuine concern. My son was always a highly active, extroverted personality type. We did not realise it was an issue and never viewed it as a concern.

In previous blogs I share a lot about the journey we’ve had with my son from grade one. From having been misdiagnosed to eventually being put on Ritalin for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). We saw a huge change in his behaviour as well as academically once we started him on medication. Again, I understand this is a personal choice and I am in no way an advocate for Ritalin. But in our case together with our believe and trust in God, it made a difference.

When we decided to home-school our children, I assumed it would be an easier road, being that I was teaching him one on one. We decided to stop giving him Ritalin. I soon found out instead of completing his work he was drawing animated art pictures. (His art is amazing just by the way. I often suggested he study something in line with art or architecture but that didn’t interest him.)  
I eventually decided to put him back on medication. Once again, I found his concentration and ability to not only complete his work but excel in it and soared. I knew again that I was doing him a disservice by taking him off medication, so we decided to put him back onto Ritalin.

We decided to go with a boxed curriculum called Theocentric Christian Education and follow the Cambridge qualification because we wanted him to have the option of studying overseas. I shared how I was very anxious about not “messing up” his high school education. For us this curriculum was a safer option. After three and a half years of home-schooling with many challenges, he completed his final year with an exemption pass which meant he could apply to university. Yay! This was always his goal and we supported him. His university entrance points qualified him for his second choice which was a BSC in Construction Studies. We were elated when we received the letter of acceptance.

​Finally, the week has arrived for him to check into the residence, and he will soon go through a week of orientation. Classes start at the end of February. Am I ready for him to go? Definitely not! What a journey it has been. I am humbled and grateful that God allowed me to walk so closely with my son at the final years of his high school career. We will miss him dearly, but we know that God has great plans for his future.
Pray for us as we learn to let go and for him to be successful in his university career.

---