Hello all,  I am sorry I have not been on in a while.  Will try to post more often.  I am working with a 15 year old that is exhausting me.  He is special needs and expelled from school.  The biggest problem for me is that he needs a high school paper that says he graduated.  He also probably would benefit from the goodwill program when he is old enough to be in it.  The problem is that without the high school paper, he cannot get a job even if he can train for one.  Therefore instead of tutoring which is more productive, we are doing the school paper chase.  By paper chase I mean that we are doing the papers for school that get him a grade.  I will be glad when he is back in school next semester so we can do more tutoring and less paperwork.  We are doing things that he is not understanding or retaining just to get a grade instead of spending the time with activities to improve his reading.
The teacher is trying and working with us so he can get a grade this semester.  Some of the work could be valuable if it was something I teach well.  I am impressed with some of what they have him doing at school.  However, the required mainstreaming is too far over his head and must be modified to the point of being busy work to follow the requirements with little reward.  We should be more thankful for our teachers in the formal school setting and the challenges they face.