4/2/17 - Sam's Journey - More boring, but...

It's been relatively calm here, with a couple of extra events mixed in. School goes on for 3/4 of the Loefflers, and it's hard to believe that we're in the last grading period. That is welcome news for all of us. While this has certainly been a much easier year for us than the previous one, it has still been rather draining. Summer can't come soon enough!

In addition to moving through the normal routines, a couple of things of note have occurred. One was Sam's academic conference to plan out his final year of high school. It was amazingly quick and painless. At the end of the meeting, several things were clear. They are, in no particular order:

1. His classes for next year are chosen. I think his favorite of the bunch is Music Theory. 
2. Sam will not need to go to summer school for anything, which, while very aggravating to his sister who does have to do some summer work, is phenomenal news.
3. Barring something catastrophic, Sam will graduate on time with 1/2 credit more than he needs. (In your face, TBI!)

We're very excited about all of the above, and we're thrilled that the plan we laid out last year is working!

The other event of note is that Sam finally took his English 2 STAAR exam. For those of you who don't know, that is one of five state assessments required for graduation for all students. It is the bane of the existence of just about every student and teacher in Texas. I could explain interminably about why this test is an instrument of evil, but this video pretty much sums up how I, and many other teachers feel about the whole process:

Our goal for Sam is just that he passes. Even if he does not, there are ways to get around it, and he'll still graduate. So whatever happens, it's all good. (In your face, State Assessment!) Prior to the test, he got some assistance from his English 2 teacher at Clark, and he went to some tutorials with a fantastic teacher at Senior. (Whether or not he followed their advice is unclear. Sam is, after all, still Sam, and does his own Sam thing.) At the end of the day, it's over, and he will not have to take the exam again. Here is a photo of a home study session. Chester was ever so helpful.

Other than that, the big excitement was that we had some visitors. Jim's mom and brother were here for a few days, since it had been a while since we had seen them. Aaron was also able to coordinate a visit at the same time. Although school prevented us from spending a lot of time together, the time we did have was wonderful. And, while the rest of us were at school, Jerry and Aaron got the dining room dry walled. (We've been living with open brick face since the termite disaster of a couple of years ago.) We're so glad they were able to visit, and we hope they had a great time, too! Here's a picture from family dinner at BJ's:

In a couple of weeks, Sam has an EEG to see how things are going on in in that brain of his. We have to deprive him of sleep the night before so he sleeps during the test. That should be a delight for all of us. We also need to set up an appointment with a physiology neurologist to get some official rehab going. I guess he'll be having his own little version of summer school! We'll keep you up to date on any developments. Until then, #TeamSam, peace!