“I’m sick.  I think I should stay home.”

How many of us have said this?  My guess is 100%.  Now, how many of us have actually meant it every time we have said it?  At least half the times those words have left my mouth, I simply wasn’t in the mood for school that morning.

I never thought that, one day, I would be begging my parents to let me go to school.

I missed 13 straight days of school over a three week period after having an operation just before Thanksgiving.  I was not cleared to return to school until the week of finals.

For any student, missing even two days of school is difficult to tackle, but missing 13 straight seems almost impossible.  Couple that with missing the three weeks leading up to finals, and many students would be having a panic attack.  While I was nervous at first, I quickly learned that RB had a plan for me.

Since I was missing more than ten days, I was entitled to home tutoring from the school to help me stay on top of my grades.  For every day that I missed, I was allotted one hour of tutoring.  Spanish teacher Delaney Geraghty tutored me in French, while Julie Dziedic helped me with my other five classes.

At first, I felt a little awkward.  Who in their right mind would be comfortable with a teacher sitting in their kitchen every day?  I wasn’t.  But, after a few days, it felt almost normal.

Almost.

Just like regular school, my “lessons” were monotonous, and the routine was basically the same every day.

“Hi!  How are you today?”

“Do you have any questions from the homework yesterday?”

“This is what your teachers assigned for today.”

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I actually ended up looking forward to my one hour of tutoring every afternoon.  It was different.  It was someone to talk to other than my parents, but besides just human contact, I truly was able to stay on top of my grades.  I know, for a fact, that I would not have maintained, and in some cases improved, my grades if it was not for the hard work of my tutors.  Every day, they came in with new homework, class notes, tests, and every day I had new assignments finished for them to take back and give to my teachers.  Ironically, I think I stayed on top of my homework better when I was not in school than when I was there every day.

Now that school has been back in session an my daily routine is back to normal, I actually miss having my own personal tutors.  While I am doing fine in all my classes, it feels as thought I could still benefit from an hour of one-on-one time every day.  While my teachers do a fantastic job of being available before and after school and answering every question I have, I still miss having a pair of teachers who seemed totally dedicated to helping me succeed.

Overall, the tutoring I had was quite possibly the best holiday present I could have received.  Without the dedication and hard work from my teachers, counselor, and tutors, I would have had an incredibly difficult time just passing my classes first semester.  With their help, I was able to make great strides and end an otherwise hectic semester in good shape.