Sadie Chapman
Sadie has never been what anyone would call a student. She'd never been happy getting up early and having to sit at a desk all day long, to only come home and have to sit longer and focus on more homework. Sadie was happy when she dancing and acting and being with her friends. When we finally got her evaluated, she was clearly ADHD. She took medication and while it helped with some of the issues, it created others, and she still wasn't staying out of trouble or getting straight A's. We gradually took her off the medications in high school. We struggled through traditional schooling year after year, until last May. Because of her difficulty with turning work in on time or never, her grade point dropped below the allowed average for the fine arts school she was attending. Since she was entering her senior year of high school, I decided to homeschool her. We used an online program which closely mirrored the curriculum of her school. She received the best grades of her entire academic career due to the individualized attention she received from her tutor and from me. The high school drama distractions were also removed, which made for a happier girl. Sadie completed all her course work by the end of May and has been working at a local bakery and loving it. She has decided to pursue her love of acting and is currently applying to acting conservatories in New York and Washington, DC.
Postscript~She's so happy now, she has a sense of pride and confidence I'd never seen before. Trying to shove a square peg in a round hole is really tough. Thank you for all your help. Society celebrates the individual, the artist, the true scientist, but our school system often tries to kill it. It is a tricky situation.
