Knighthood Award...

Each six weeks, two students from every grade are chosen to receive the Knighthood Award. This award honors students who go above and beyond in a certain area.

This six weeks, Remi received this award for working extra hard in an area he really struggles in- his reading. His teacher has been a true blessing in Remi's life and goes out of her way to encourage, teach and notice his hard work and improvements.

Like most parents, we think Remi is amazing. By the time he was 18 months old, he was building and constructing things that blew our mind. He loves to learn and picks up on things very easily. So you can imagine our shock when he started struggling with reading in 1st grade. At first, he wasn't too far behind and we thought that doing morning tutorials at school would do the trick. However, we began to get frustrated when it seemed he was falling further and further behind.

We have always read to Remi and he has always loved being read to. So I knew it wasn't his lack of interest. Most of the time, books he checks out from the library are non-fiction and science related- so the interested is definitely there.

We worked over the summer, trying to get him caught up, only to be told that as he started 2nd grade he was basically at an end-of-the-year Kindergarten/ beginning 1st grade level. My heart was so sad. So so sad. It's not easy to see your child struggle at something that you have no control over. It's not easy to see your child struggle at something that is so easy to most children and it is not easy to see him be embarrassed about his struggles.

Oh my sweet Remi. Telling him that getting extra help is a step forward and that everyone struggles at something and that God made us all different and special, became daily words of encouragement that I fed to Remi- every single morning when he would wait in the car until the big kids walking by passed to get out of the car for tutoring.

Remi has finally moved passed his embarrassment. I give 100% of this credit to his teacher. I have been in his classroom, have walked by and heard her words of praise over her students and sat across from her in conferences with tears in my eyes as she has told me how much she loves and believes in my sweet boy. He was placed exactly where he needed to be this year and I have watched him transform from a self-consious, struggling reader to a boy who believes the day will come when he can read just like his classmates.

Last month, Remi was diagnosed with Dyslexia.

A breath of relief. This is how I felt. An new road to get to the same ending we have been in search of for the past year and a half. We now have a better way to solve a problem we didn't know was there. Together, as a team of parents, teacher and student, our road to getting to where we need to be may look a bit different, but it sure is a lot brighter.

You can only imagine the how proud I was when he got called in front of the entire campus to be recognized for his reading... now times that by 100, and that, is how proud Remi was of himself...