Christian has always excelled in Math. He was already 2 years ahead of the normal schedule, so he took two concurrent enrollment classes from UVU last year and did great. This year he decided to take AP Calculus BC, by far the hardest class offered in high school. It has stretched him so much, nearly to his breaking point. It has not come naturally at all, and the way the teacher has structured the class has put so much pressure on his test scores. After a few bad test scores at the beginning, his confidence was absolutely shattered. He and Jonathon put in hours and hours of study almost every night in order to help him prepare. It wasn't easy for either of them because Jonathon had to relearn everything and then teach it to Christian.
There were some tears, quite a bit of stress, and many prayers offered. Christian and I had to come to terms with the fact that A's (and even B's) weren't always possible, and it would still be ok. He was doing his best, and that had to be enough. In the middle of the night when my mind started to run away with me, I had mini panic attacks about what would happen to his future if he failed a bunch of classes and couldn't get into BYU (his #1 choice) and how that would impact his life. I was not only putting extra pressure on him, but I was causing myself unneeded stress. After much prayer, I realized that Heavenly Father has a plan for Christian and this would not suddenly derail that plan. Things would happen the way they needed to for Christian's good, and I did not need to fear. I had to take a step back and dedicate my time to helping and encouraging Christian. I needed to build him up and help him realize he was more than just his grades and intelligence. It was a valuable lesson. Even though Jonathon was stretched very thin with work, high council, community chair, his new business, and many other things, he dedicated so much time to Christian and showed pure love. He was a rock through it all.
Christian's other difficult classes were AP US History, CE Biotechnology, and CE Commercial Art. These classes were challenging by themselves, but with Calculus on top, it was overwhelming... especially when all of his tests fell in the same week. There were some points during the semester when I would help him study for History and English in the morning, and Jonathon would quiz him in Biotechnology and Calculus in the evening. It was eye-opening for him to find out that he could no longer just skate by with paying attention during class. Now he had to study and put in extra effort. He gave it his all, and at the end of the semester, he was rewarded with straight A's and a B+ in Calculus. We have never celebrated a B that much before! We were so proud of him! The semester was the culmination of so much learning... learning Calculus, learning resiliency, learning to have faith, learning the power of prayer, and learning character.
Christian still has another semester with these classes to go, and I don't expect it to get any easier. I do, however, know that there is still much to learn, and we will get through it together. Whatever happens will be part of the great plan that Heavenly Father has in store for Christian, and I look forward to what he will become.
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