I love our lawyer. And not just because she got our money back (and got us out of the remaining $14k) but because she was therapeutic to talk to and wrote a kick-ass letter detailing everything that went down. (We had a cataract of emails proving everything, which helped.) They might have given us our money back without a lawyer, but her sending the letter to everyone concerned I hope will make it less likely that this will be swept under the rug. They were so awful that we felt a duty to try to prevent other kids from going through anything like this.
HB went through a really rough spell. Worst were the nightmares, which he’d never had before, amazingly enough. In one of them teachers were torturing him with whips and axes. And he did chew his nails off again.
As for what to do with him ... he really didn’t want to stay home. He was bored, and it made him feel like damaged goods. But the very idea of teachers and homework etc. gave him panic attacks. So I went on a hunt for a school without those things.
And I found one! Just two miles away! It’s new, small, and total mayhem: no curriculum, no grades, no formal instruction, no homework, no report cards ... but it does have a really good drum kit. It’s like it was made for HB. He’s about as self-directed as they come, but I truly do not care if he learns another shred of standard curricular crap at this point. They had room for him, he started two weeks ago, and the nightmares are gone. He’s still ... “clingy” doesn’t really describe it; he’s like a baby kangaroo hunting for my pouch. And the rages are still happening, but they are spreading out more and more, and I’ve seen him smile and even laugh.
And he just came in and made me watch this:
HB's Theme
Meanwhile, I quit my job. I had to give six months’ notice so it’s not quite as dramatic as that sounds, but it’s a pretty big deal after 12 years. But that’s a post for another day.
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