::: advice, please? :::

Well, the temptation is to ignore it, but I can't. Here's the truth: Monet isn't doing stellar in school.

For those just joining this ongoing saga, we made the family choice to put fourteen-year-old Monet into a private Christian school this year after a lifetime of home education. He was really causing some disruption at home, and we thought that maybe it was a combination of boredom and the need for more structure. Bo first brought up the idea to enroll Monet in school as a freshman, and my immediate reaction was, "No way. He's a sensitive kid, and I'm a sensitive mama, and I'm not sure either of us can handle the abrupt changes that a small private school will hold."

But upon presenting the idea to Monet, he was all for it. Excited, actually. He'd be able to play soccer, join choir, take private instrument lessons and participate in an art class. As the first day of school approached, he excitedly prepared, gathering supplies, shopping for school clothes, counting down the days, and waiting for the phone call from his soccer coach telling him when conditioning would start.

Somehow we got skipped over for the phone call regarding conditioning, so this boy showed up on the last day, not sure what to do, out of shape, and pretty shy. I think the confidence has kind of gone downhill since then.

Fast forward to now, end of first term, and his grades are less than impressive. I'd hoped that he would take the world by storm, or, at the very least, that he would thrive. Okay, I had at least hoped he would survive. And maybe he is surviving. But as I see it right now, I feel like we're both drowning.

And I guess a big part of my frustration is embarrassment. I really, really, really, really, really, really, really dread the judgment of others, and I feel that Monet's poor performance is just inviting the judgment down upon my quivering head. Why didn't I school him better? Why didn't I discipline him more? Love him more?

The other part of my frustration is that he seems to be doing just fine on the tests, and he's actually learning things, because he comes home and *tells* me what he's learning, but he's refusing to turn in homework, which is bringing down his grades tremendously. Why would a child do that? Why would a child sabotage his own grade by not turning in homework? One of the assignments is to draw a picture of Queen Mab, the faerie queen from Romeo and Juliet that Mercutio describes. Drawing. DRAWING! That's Monet's passion, his first love, his God-given talent! And, in spite of reminders and threats and pleas, he has not turned this drawing in! It's enough to stagger a mother's imagination, it is.


I don't want to be the angry, nagging mother, but I don't know how to get him to get the work done without grief. I feel like our homeschooling problems didn't disappear, they just got transferred to another location during the daytime and come back here at night. Plus, with the sports and other extra-curricular activities, there are nights he doesn't get home until after 10:00. How can a person get homework done after 10 when he has to be out the door in the morning by 6:30?

Sigh.

Sigh. Again.

I would love some advice, friends. I don't know where to go from here.