Liberty has always been an excellent student; a hard worker; a self-motivator; a good friend; an honest kid; a student all the teachers want to clone. We've never had to keep an eye on her when it comes to school stuff. She hasn't even really had to do much studying for tests either- things come to her pretty naturally. She was super excited to sign up for several Honors classes this year and be with all her old friends from East Helena again.
But best laid plans can change! The old gang never quite reunited; new people congregated (including one particular male) ; classes were harder; teachers were less helpful; studying was required; homework was extensive; things got overwhelming!!! And unfortunately- Liberty's parents (aka us) were still stuck in the old habit of not keeping an eye on her. Things spiraled without our knowledge. A close hangout friend dropped out; others weren't getting along; electronics have become "more than necessary" important; school concepts weren't soaking in; homework piled up; and she let a couple classes completely slip. To top it off- this is the 1st time that she choose to hide things from us! It was then that a teacher reached out through email to us as parents. They got us on their school website that allows us to check on grades. We were shocked at how behind things had got. They shared with us a homework website specifically for Freshman that Liberty claimed she didn't really know about.
We had a parent meeting a few months ago with all the core teachers. It was very beneficial (and I'm sure embarrassing as heck when we had Liberty join us and make an "apology- I'm turning over a new leaf" speech to them all) The funny thing is- she was doing excellent in most of her classes. Those teachers were surprised by our struggles. The teachers of the two classes that she was struggling in- have been more than helpful in getting her over this hurdle. They allowed her to get caught up and made the effort to give additional help where needed. Even though we (Brett & I) are super frustrated and embarrassed of how we could be such slacker-ish parents and miss all of this right under our noses- we are indeed grateful for their help and that we caught it before it was too late!
Liberty has still be fighting the system a little. She continues to miss things here & there and chooses not to share things with us. But I guess the teenage years are all about spreading your wings and figuring it out on your own a bit, right? It's allowed us to be more aware of her, set up rules, take away the electronics on occasion and definitely be able to show our love to her more. Sometimes she doesn't appreciate that kind of love and definitely lets us know her disdain for our concern. LOL We're all just doing our best to figure out these next few years together. Heaven help us!!!
So to leave on a high note----
Despite my lengthy explanation of our teenage struggles as of late--- I was volunteering at Montana City School this past week and on the Teacher Lounge table was this newspaper article. I had highlighted names of all the kids that have attended MCS in the past that made the Helena High Honor Roll. And look at who was among those students!!! {the long arrow is pointing to Liberty's name} Funny how things can seem so prefect on paper. ;) We are so grateful for her efforts to figure things out & to make things right. She is a fantastic kid and we're grateful that we get to figure it all out with her. Love you, Sis! XO Way to go on making the Honors Roll!
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