A traumatic first day

Adam gets ready for his first day of school - ever.

Remember when I told you about the public school system refusing my son a right to an education? After two weeks of calling people who refused to call me back, the superintendent finally called me back. According to him, there really is such a law in my state. You cannot go to public school if you are living with someone else. But after speaking to the superintendent at length, he decided to "give out an edict," as he said, and force the principal to allow my child in school.

Then came the hard part. Adam had his first day Monday. He was nervous but excited. He came home traumatized. He cried for two hours Monday night, begging me not to make him go back. He promised to "never whine about school work again" if I would only let him be homeschooled again.

My heart was absolutely broken. I don't really want Adam to have to go to public school. It was a decision I made based on the fact that he had fallen behind this year because I was having such a hard time homeschooling and working at the same time. He finally fell asleep at about 11 p.m. that night and I spent the next thirty minutes on my knees praying for him.

The next day, I dropped him at school. As soon as he stepped out of the van, he fell to the concrete. I learned later he had bloodied his knee, but he was a trooper. He picked himself up like nothing happened and walked in the school, even though I could tell he was trying not to cry. I drove toward work but ended up having to pull over and bawl my eyes out for about 10 minutes before I could continue.

On his second day, Adam said it went a little bit better. He only cried for about five minutes before bed. We'll see how it goes tonight. At 8-years-old, Adam tries very hard not to cry in front of people he doesn't know well, so he saves it all for bed time when it's just he and I.

I continue to pray that Adam will like school better. It's not any one particular bad thing that's happening at school. He just hates it, plain and simple. He hates being away from his family for that long, and he hates that his days are "so long now." Please continue to pray for he and I both.