Academically challenging

The phrase academically challenging has hit a whole new level of meaning for me in the past week.

I have a son in college taking classes that the name I can barely pronounce let alone begin to understand what is taught- high level math and science classes... he strives to earn the prize of an electrical engineering degree. I expect he will make it to the goal but there will be blood and sweat along the way and so the prize will be all the more sweet along with the reward of a paycheck that could make life a bit easier. He has academically challenging courses and thankfully his brain cells process most of the information well, or he wrestles with it until he is able to make some sense of it.

I have a daughter who is also in college, her recent academic challenges have come in the form of learning grace and personal responsibility even when the professors are unintelligible. It seems that both of the kids have teachers who are of foreign birth and come to their universities with heavy accents so one of the challenges is to decipher the words spoken and attempt to align them with known words, not always easy. She tells me that often the teacher is spelling out his words as the whole class is struggling to understand the spoken words. She also has the academic challenge of learning that in college the syllabus is the guide and no matter what the prof may or may not teach you are responsible for the material presented in the guide. not an easy lesson after being led by the hand in high school.

Our next son has voluntarily signed up for AP courses this year. He "whines" about the work, we smile as we know the challenge is good for him. He is finding it academically challenging to keep up with the reading and studying. He is finding that the teachers mean business and expect the students to come prepared. He is rising to the challenge and we see it as a good thing as he seems to enjoy a life full of challenge.

All three of these kids face academic challenges as I have known them, that was my past definition, tough challenging coursework, above the norm expectations, needing focus attention.

This week I had a new look at the meaning of academically challenged as I began to realize the inkling I have had that this year would be a year of challenge came to fruition. Our youngest has had growing learning struggles. Not sure that they have grown as much as I have grown to realize how invasive they are. As the years have passed with his peers gaining in academic skills I have seem him move forward at his own pace. This year it is beginning to feel like the rabbit and hare scenario... one that I knew was on the horizon but had not come to fully acknowledge.

This week I am looking at it with the rose colored glasses off. This week the reality of advocating, intervention, accommodations and their place in our life has hit home. Class work that is simple for many will not be quickly mastered by this one, yet can be mastered in its fundamentals. I have come to realize that these are challenges that are to be faced, prepped for and negotiated. There will be need for prep for classes and extra study devoted. We will have to shift through the material and choose what is truly the important and what is fluff, leaving off the fluff as there is just not time and energy for more than the basics.

This week in the midst of the revelation and personal (yes, emotional) toil of my heart to face reality I saw God. As I again and again face what is and not what I want there to be God shows up to remind me that He is aware of the struggle and allows grace in the midst of it. I received a call from one teacher who affirmed some of the struggles and the reality that copying information from the board and listening to the lecture at the same time was not realistic. We talked about options and strategies for success in the class. Another teacher and I are in the midst of reviewing material to see what is also realistic and how to test for retention and bring success in another class. Both classes will be simplified and for this child that will be academically challenging. For another it would not.

Hmmm.... Academically challenging... when the child is challenged by the academics, to learn and get his brain to retain the material. hmmm, same definition but coming from the other side, I guess it is not a black and white definition. I guess I can no longer think that only higher level stuff is academically challenging. sometimes, for some people the simple stuff is academically challenging.

And so grace walks in... to accept each person where they are at, and allow for what is easy for me and you to be a challenge for a peer. To meet a child where they are at, accepting , encouraging and cheering them on as they wrestle with their own academic challenges.

And the Gracious One continues to shape me and mold me in his loving way. Again I find myself feeling like I am on the potters wheel, pressed upon and hugged as he lovingly makes adjustments and shapes and forms me. How different this parenting thing is when it does not fit the mold of the past children, when there are new situations to learn through. When your expectations don't meet with reality and there is nothing you can do but be patient and wait and live a dependent life fully trusting that God knows what he is doing. Ahhh, its that S word again, surrender. laying down and allowing Him to reign, letting go of control. So, I too am being challenged by academics, learning to let go and not place them on the altar of life as an idol but acknowledge that they truly are just a part of life and a stepping stone on the path of the journey.