Cannot tell you what all the comments and support have meant to me - thank you so much! The blog post has been shared 83 times in the past hour on Facebook - according to my stats - so I'm thinking I hit a universal nerve. I have decided against sharing it with anyone until the year is over. When it is, I'll share it with the 2E director (thank you Pemberley for that suggestion) of our district as well as the special ed chair for our school - not to be punitive or ugly but so they can have an understanding of what it does to the parent when this dynamic happens.
ConnectingDots - thanks for the advice; I took it.
polarbear - yes, this is our last year in mid school. We're entering him in our local public high school next year, mainly because he has good friends so the transition will be good socially. They also have a gifted mentorship program starting his sophomore year when he can be off campus half day working somewhere in the community in a field of interest - at the university, one of the labs, a movie production studio - so I think if we can get through freshman year, the fit will be good thereafter.
Irena - thank you for the support; and I meant what I wrote. I really am not at all sorry for his personality. I have come to love it.
HowlerKarma - thanks for the virtual hugs. I seriously needed those. It's been overwhelming, but reaching out here has really, really helped.
Pemberly - you actually put into words what I was feeling but didn't say. I DO NOT want to be the cog that keeps everything turning at school. It is exhausting, frustrating and futile. Thanks for the reminder about the bat - totally forgot about that and love it.
Diamondblue - I actually love most of the "truths" my son ends up saying to teachers, because there is an honesty in them that peels away the hypocrisy that is so easy to adopt. I don't like it so much when it's aimed at me, but I've learned to accept that it is usually a great window into something I need to look at. And, yes, I'd love to invite Sheldon's mom out for coffee if only she existed.
master of none - "As if they are entitled to treat your child like any other child..." oh did I need to be reminded of that. I so feel your frustration - all of my son's poor grades are due to zeros, mostly for work he's done but failed to turn in because it was lost or forgotten. I can see holding him back if he truly can't do 8th grade work, but that is not the case, so I'll become the litigious mom if we end up having a teacher trying to hold him back for failing grades due to zeros.
They actually took the iPad away, and I agreed to it, because he was caught several times working on projects that were not for school during class time. He would be working on his business (he launched a business at a teen startup event here this past year), on a language he is making up, or doing research on something he found interesting rather than whatever was going on in class. I agreed to the removal, because I wanted to see whether it hurt him. It really hasn't, and all of the teachers say he is paying better attention, so we've kept the iPad at home. He doesn't want to do online learning, because he said he loves learning online and doesn't want to ruin that experience by making it for a grade. I kind of respect that sentiment, so we haven't pushed for an alternative option.
