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Lucas Wilson Shearer 
Luke and Darth Vader's Grandpa.
Journal
Thursday, June 26, 2008 6:52 AM CDT A year and a half later...time is fLYING!
Everything is GOOD with Luke! As far as the Blount's Disease, he's already had the bottom plate removed (a few months ago), and we go back in July...Dr Bradley expects the top one to be ready. The bowing is not noticeable to me anymore; his legs both look strong and even; but the Dr. takes measurements, and apparently there is still a bit of a discrepancy, so he said better to wait (in April).
Luke just got back in Karate, we had taken him out due to some issues the school was having...that seems to have been taken care of. Luke is thrilled to be back in...he is so good at this.
Also he has be home schooled since the Spring of 2007. This is the best thing we've ever done. His grades and self esteem were dropping like a rock by the end of 6th grade (1st year in middle school). I was not encouraged by talking to any of his teachers...he had no "homeroom teacher", could not get an appt with a counselor, and a teacher conference consisted of 30 minutes with 5 teachers facing me, all waiting for their 5 minute turn to speak and tell me that it's all Luke's fault. Oh, then I got my 5 minutes.
So at the end of Spring Break, I took him out and registered him as a homeschooler. The first year was "liberating" as we did alot of "deschooling" and mostly nothing but a lot of review work. My parents had come to live with us because by Mom had had to have her leg amputated. I can honestly say that Luke got a lot of education this past year that he would not have received otherwise. He was actually a part of her care, and got a lot closer to the both of them during this time. Having quite a bit of medical history himself, he has naturally become very compassionate and empathetic with anyone who is ill in anyway. When I think of how it might have been if we were still in the rat race of getting him to middle school every day with 3000 other kids, him not accomplishing much, then coming home with hours of homework every night...I know we are on the right path now.
Luke's Grandma died in March, and in April he started in taking classes with Florida Virtual School. He is still a homeschooler, we just use these classes for our curricula.
We started out with just math, language arts, and keyboarding. HE HAS STRAIGHT A's! This is the best thing that's happened to Luke. It proves what I knew...he is very smart, and all he needs is a little one on one. He loves to learn, and is very impressed with himself when he catches on to something new! It's the best thing to see his eyes light up:) I can't say enough good about the Florida Virtual School and the teachers there. I really can't say too many bad things about the teachers in the public school her was attending...I think they're just caught up in a system that's really out of control.
We just got back from a quick trip to Kentucky; got to visit with Luke's other Grandparents in Burkesville Kentucky, and helped them get some work done at their place...his Grandpa had broken a leg a while back and was restricted from any wt. bearing on it, so he was stuck in the wheelchair and couldn't do much besides supervise and pit cherries...not one of his favorite summers! Luke and I made a trip over to western Kentucky to see some of my Mom's family, and got to go to Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana. What a great little park! He also saw his first stock car races in Nebo Ky....that was a BIG thrill for him.
Well, that's enough for now, will try not to wait so long to update this. Love to all.
Read Journal History
Hospital Information: Tampa Children's Hospital at St. Joseph's
3001 W. Dr. Martin Luther KIng Jr. Blvd.
Tampa, Florida 33607-6387
Links: http://www.aogden.com/lori/lucas.htm This is Luke's first web page, which was started and kept up for him the entire time he was on treatment, by his cousin, Lori Ogden. We treasure this.
http://squirreltales.com/index.html neat site!
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