The situation with my 17-year-old eldest and his extreme hatred for school (manifested by extreme under-performance in school) has really come to a head in recent weeks. Remember how I said I wasn't going to worry myself anymore with whether he did or did not choose to make As or Fs for the remainder of his high school career? Yeah, well, you know how it is when you are the mama. It's hard to just turn the caring thing off. He's miserable and disengaged at school,and it's making me feel like I have utterly failed him. So as a sort of last ditch attempt to get him more engaged, and more excited about learning and achieving before he finishes high school, I have decided to let him try a different school. It's a very small, very unconventional private high school modeled after the Summerhill "free school" movement. I have spoken with a number of alumni and parents who say that, despite the school's radical approach to teaching and learning, it was just what they (or their child) needed to jump-start their lagging interest in the world of ideas.
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