loveable Luke

Now, if I really wanted to brag about one of my kids, I should talk about Luke. It seems as though Luke gets mixed in with the craziness... and doesn't get any attention. But the wonderful thing about Luke is that he doesn't need any attention. He doesn't want any. He's just happy-go-lucky and easy to be around. He is such a blessing in my life. He's growing up before my eyes. I cannot believe he's going to turn SEVEN in just a few weeks.


Now, here's a little bragging for you. Luke's always had a humongous head and some people used to make fun of him for it. But the kid is putting that big brain to use. We've been struggling coming up with homeschooling curriculum for him. His 1st grade stuff is a joke. (No, literally, he thinks I am playing a joke on him when I ask him to do it.) The public school wanted to test him to place him in the best category for the K-12 program, (even though they don't typically test until 3rd grade.) I was fine by that but wondered how Luke would do in a formal testing environment. He doesn't talk unless he wants to, so you never know how he will respond.

A few weeks ago, we headed to a public library to meet one of the 1st grade teachers to test. She took Luke out of the room and about 15 minutes later, she came back in to get me. She looked a bit frustrated and she whispered, "I don't know what to do with this child." I wasn't sure what she meant-- that could have meant several different things.. She told me that he quickly tested up through their 5th grade material and she didn't bring anything harder. I followed her back into the testing room for the last part of the assessment. As we walked, she assured me that homeschooling was most definitely the best place for him because she wouldn't know what to do with him in her classroom.

In the private library classroom sat my handsome Luke. He was quietly finishing a workbook (questions about a short story he had read.) It was 5th grade material and he breezed through it. When he came to hand it in, the teacher reviewed his work. Then she said to him, "You forgot to answer the last question." Luke told her that he didn't forget. She was a bit confused and said, "The last question says 'What's the most important part of this story?' Can you tell me what you think was important?"

Luke's shyness showed as he quietly said, "It's just that.... I don't think anything important happened in this story. It was just about a girl and her cat." The teacher shrugged her shoulders and I smiled. This was my child, alright. He wasn't about to make up an answer just to please someone. We walked out to the car holding hands. Amusing myself, I asked Luke again why he didn't think the story was important. He spoke up (much louder than in the library) "Well, it was really boring. No one died. Nothing happened. There wasn't anything important in the whole story."

Since then, we've officially withdrawn Luke from his 1st grade class. No more busy work for this kid. Ben is still doing lots of worksheets, but that's because Ben loves worksheets and stickers. Luke would rather build forts from our couch cushions.

I am really, really grateful for my sweet Luke. Even though his day-to-day activities aren't as exciting as bum shots on the camera, it doesn't mean he's not an important part of our lives. He's exactly what our family needs. I am so glad I get to be his mom and look at his handsome face everyday.