I have to admit though, I am a little sad. See, my daughter, Nicole, will not have the opportunity to walk with her graduating class. Nicole is my oldest daughter, the daughter that has juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA). She left public school after the first semester of her freshman year because she was missing so much school due to her arthritis flaring so often. We decided that she would try home schooling at that time and if she didn't like it or got better that she would go back to public school. So, we started an online home school and she really didn't care for it so much. She missed so much about public school. She missed being the manager of the cheer team, she missed seeing her friends, and she just didn't like the school we chose, but she wasn't really getting much better so she decided to continue with the home school. She did alright with it, but her biggest struggle was the fact that her "friends" just seemed to all forget about her. That was hard as a mother to see. It's hard being different when your a teenager and she is definitely different. She doesn't have the energy to go do the fun things that teenagers do, she can't be out in the sun very long, and she has to take tons of medications. She has accepted her limitations, but it's getting others to accept them that is hard. I feel like her JRA has robbed her of so much. She has never had a "normal" teenage life. She doesn't go hang out with friends, she's never gone on a spring break trip, she didn't get to attend her junior prom, and more than likely won't go to her senior prom either. These are things that most teenage girls live for and she will never experience them. She doesn't have a best friend or a boy friend because everyone seems to have just forgotten about her. It breaks my heart. So, she finished her freshman year as an online home school student. When school started back we decided to enroll her in a charter school in our town that allowed her to attend school half days. The school is 100% computerized. She was excited to be back with other students, but she only knew one or two of the students. There was not much socialization in this school because everyone worked at there own pace and you could be any where from a freshman to a senior. She really enjoyed the school though. She made a few friends that she would text, but still no one that really wanted to hang out with her. I could tell she was sad about that and she still thought about the friends that she had before. I know she didn't understand how they could all just forget about her, but she pushed forward. Then we started with the flares again. She started missing more and more school. This went on for a few months and then she had a major flare and she missed so much school and got off track again. She asked to go back to home school. I agreed and she finished the year out doing home school. She really seemed to be content with her decision and in the end she finished school ahead of schedule. This brings us to my original comment that she will not get to experience a graduation. There is no graduation for home schooled kids. They don't get to wear a cap and gown. They don't get to do the walk or throw their caps up in the air in celebration of their accomplishments. I am so proud of her for all she has accomplished. It was a long hard road. But I do feel like there was a lot that she missed by not going to public school. If only she was a healthy kid or even if we could have just gotten the arthritis under control or in remission. Since she was first diagnosed back in 2006 she has never been in remission. Life has never been the same...
Thank you all for letting me share this.
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