Ch. 6 – Samantha Richardson
We speedily completed the first 2 weeks of school. It was a Friday afternoon and Mrs. Richardson came home early from work. After she had spent some time playing with her son, I thought it would be a good opportunity to show her some of the schoolwork we had done.
She and I sat at the dining table as I took out Zack’s portfolio. “Mrs. Richardson, there was a specific journal entry that Zack wrote I really wanted you to look at. It was an assignment to write about his best friend,” I informed her. “Please call me Samantha,” she smiled at me. “I’d love to take a look.”
The journal entry stated, ‘My beautiful Mom is my best friend in the whole wide world. She cares about me so much. I know I have hurt her feelings before. Sometimes I bug her, but she always forgives me. I am lucky to have a mom who understands me. I can’t always listen to her because I disagree with her sometimes. I don’t want her to cry about me. All I want to do is make her proud of me someday. I love Mom very much.’
Samantha wiped tears from her eyes. “I never knew he understood so deeply how I felt. Yes, I was disappointed when he left school, but I’ve come to realize that home schooling is the best option for him. He doesn’t face any stress and learns so much more without any distractions. I was worried about how it would all work out. My career is very important to me, but I even considered giving it all up to stay with Zack,” she confessed. “You are a real life saver, Jessica. I can see that he is thriving in this type of learning environment. I know he can be difficult, but you deal with him so nicely. He’s very particular about who he likes and he is very fond of you. He had been talking about you non-stop over the weekend as well.”
That was just the reassurance that I had needed to know that I was headed in the right direction with Zack. Samantha asked, “Jessica, for the Labor Day weekend we’re going away to a little island in Toledo, Ohio. Michael and I have already discussed it. We would love for you to come with us on this family trip. Zack wants to spend some time with you outside of the school setting. It’ll be fun for all of us.” I found myself readily agreeing to go on this long weekend getaway.