How Missing Three Weeks of Junior Year Actually Helped My Kid

Disneymama
Thu, 17 Dec 2015 06:49:40 +0000

In October, my son was diagnosed with a lung condition called pneumothorax. Basically it’s a tear in one of your lungs and happens quite frequently to tall, skinny teenage boys like Disneykid. He was monitored for a while in the hopes it would heal itself. During that time, he would not do any sports, not even roller blade recreationally or shoot baskets. Then he was hospitalized for a tube suction which would meant five days in the hospital, counting the weekends. At this point, I had stayed in my country, greatly appreciating the updates from the head nurse. The HEALTH TEAM WAS AMAZING!!! Then we were told he needed to go under full anesthesia for a VATS operation, have a bigger tube inserted, and be hospitalized for weeks. I had to quickly manage my affairs here and ended up at the hospital 12 hours after his surgery though my sister fly in to be there with him. He was hospitalized for a little over two weeks.

Upon his discharge, I stayed near his school so he could gradually reimmerse himself in boarding school life while being able to relax with mom. (I was uncharacteristically sweet with him) At first, he just went to the individual tutorial sessions in the early evenings and ate dinner in his house. I cannot forget the moment he spotted his friends walking on campus and called out to them. They saw him, dropped their bags so they could run quicker to hug him. I tear up now remembering that moment. His friends would provide him with their notes, his roommate briefed him on as many courses as possible and answered any questions about AP Calculus and AP Physics. HIS FRIENDS WERE AMAZING!!! . His roommate whose parents never visits enjoyed sleeping over one weekend and loved being “spoiled.” Ordering food at a restaurant he actually wanted to eat instead of eating whatever was served – what a treat!! We had a blast playing poker too.

Integrating back to school was, as we predicted, the most difficult aspect. The head of grade, the head of boarding, the head of college counselling met with him and they revised his courses to ensure his courseload would be more manageable yet still appealing to his universities of choice. (He did drop AP Physics). The STUDENT SUPPORT WAS AMAZING!!! I think this is the biggest difference between a top public school and prep. Prep schools are thoroughly committed and offer experienced staff in ensuring students achieves what they are capable of. There were teachers who initially was unsympathetic but the head of boarding advocated for him until the teachers provided him with new deadlines he needed to catch up. His first term grades came in and it’s looking great. The only glitch is in the numbers of school days he missed, but the counsellor said she could use that as an example of resilience, to his advantage. He wrote his ACT and thought he did fine. He made the A team in table tennis (last year he was B), won the recreational basketball dunk contest and rockclimbs at the indoor gym every week. He was able to lift heavy boxes for the Christmas Hamper Drive. So yes, he’s enjoying BS life full throttle.

The last silver lining of being sick and missing so much school was that he actually developed closer relationships with his teachers. He had to attend extra tutorials and talked to them about many things. He was the type of kid who was warying of speaking with adults before BS. Even after one year, I noticed a huge change. But now, he can advocate for himself.

Next week, he will be flying for the first time since his operation and the change in air pressure is hard on his lungs, so we hope he’ll be okay. At least, he has health insurance back here . So we are crossing our fingers. I hope no one else has to go through what we did but if your child misses school, don’t despiar. Missing three weeks of classes ended up a blessing for him!

If you are reading this as a prospective BS parent, I would venture and say any of the schools you are considering would give your child the same kind of treatment my son received. If given a choice, being close geographically is never a bad thing…