I’m doing ok–I had to take a ‘mental health day’ yesterday.

I got my son’s ISEE test scores (that’s the standardized test kids take for private schools–it’s an extremely competitive test–),

and my son got 9-9-9-5, and 9 is the best score (it’s a true bell curve, so only 4% of the kids who take the test get a 9), and the 5 means he’s average against the other test takers.

(The 5 was vocab 🙂

This is significant, because I’ve been in a major WAR with Noah’s local public school, whose math teacher said Noah was only an ‘average math student’ and refused to bump him up to the advanced class.

(I might have told you about this? 🤔)

Anyhow…

It’s been truly upsetting, for both Noah and I, making things very difficult for Noah at school with his math teacher, his peers, etc —

So I made the very very last minute decision to let Noah apply to Brentwood Private School, not cheap, but this experience at Horace Mann has been absolutely humiliating for Noah. I’ve never seen him doubt himself or feel bad about his abilities so much in my entire life.

Since we just decided to apply to private schools two weeks ago, what this meant, was that Noah had *one week* to study for this ISEE test — a test that most kids spend *months* studying for —

A test with a true bell curve–

So a week ago I called Noah’s math tutor, and said “look, Noah has *one week* to learn ALL the math concepts on this test, and I want you to teach them to him. I don’t care if it’s fucking Calculus, my son’s math brain can handle it and I want you to teach it to him.’

Then Noah went to math tutoring for two hours a day for 5 sessions total, in preparation for this ISEE test on Jan 19th, and they worked the problems over and over going through the concepts.

I knew my son was gifted in math–hence the fight with Horace Mann–

But when I opened up my email and saw Noah’s test results,

even I didn’t know my son was this gifted in math.

I was so **blown away** by Noah getting 9s on both section of the math ISEE–in such a short time period to study–

I literally couldn’t do anything after I got the scores yesterday (it only takes day), cuz I was so stunned.

I cried. I was validated. I was sad because it was the final evidence I needed, yes, my son has been mistreated at Horace Mann.

I danced. I literally took my dog for a two hour walk, listening to music and dancing all over the Beverly Hills drain pipes in the cement. Strangers looked at me funny. Some smiled. Some thought I was crazy.

I danced like I was in a music video that no one was filming. I danced in the freezing cold on a Friday night because I felt the universe was reminding me, yes Tara, your instincts are right, yes Tara, you know your son, you know yourself, don’t let people get you done so much–

And I also took Noah to his first baseball lesson at Baseball Central to get his mind off of how bad he’s being treated at Horace Mann. And it worked. The trainer/coach there is *awesome*, loved Noah and it looks like Noah has talent for baseball, so he felt good about it to.

So yesterday was a good day, but an emotional day.

Yesterday was the *epic moment* in a drawn out and painful poem. It’s rare to have moments like that in life.

I was also savoring it. 🙂

But now back to work, because I promised my son’s godfather I would sell a script to pay for Noah’s education (as if I needed any more financial pressure), but this is so important–

This is my son’s life–this is his future–Noah’s gifted, he’s smart, he’s kind. He’s shy, he’s humble, perhaps too shy, that’s why he’s getting mistreated at school.

We have to make this happen.

We must.

If you need a low budget horror script, if that’s faster to sell let me know.

I literally have to raise the money by March to cover Noah’s $30k tuition if he gets accepted.

There has to be a way–

Love,
Tara 🙂

On Jan 19, 2017, at 3:53 PM, ray ray wrote:

Hi there

I’m doing ok. I took the day off to recuperate. How is everything going with you?

On Jan 18, 2017 11:29 PM, “Tara Leigh” wrote:

I hope you’re healing well,

Warmly,
Tara