He missed four years of traditional school — and still graduated on time, with honors.
Yes, really.
Not just “got by.” Zane graduated with a fully accredited high school diploma, a pile of A’s (and one B), and even won the top leadership award at his new school.
If you’re anything like Zane’s parents were several years ago, you’re probably wondering…
How is that even possible?
You see, Zane’s early school years were hard, though he worked hard and tried to please his teachers and do his best. (If you meet Zane, one of the first things you’ll notice is his amazing work ethic, right after his huge smile.)
But every single assignment was a struggle. Homework took hours. There were tears, frustration, and exhaustion — on both sides of the family dinner table.
His mom, Amy, recalls, “he was completely dependent on us helping him get through his homework each night. It would often consume the entire evening.”
“Handwriting used to be frustrating and overwhelming, especially if he had to erase any mistakes. He used to struggle with pressing down on the pencil so hard that he would quickly become exhausted, and often the pencil lead would break.”
And the worst part?
No one could explain why it was all so hard.
Then, halfway through his sixth-grade year, his parents stumbled upon something that changed everything. It was a book called The Woman Who Changed Her Brain by Barbara Arrowsmith-Young, the founder of the Arrowsmith Program for children with learning disabilities.
Zane’s dad, Glenn, explains,
“We struggled for years, really all of grade school up to this point, to understand the difficulties in learning that Zane was working with. For the first time, we read stories that spoke directly to the issues we were experiencing.”
You see, the Arrowsmith Program has been around for over 40 years and has a long track record of helping kids with even the most sticky of learning disabilities.
Not just managing symptoms. Not just compensating. But going deeper — to the source of the struggle.
Glenn continues,
“Arrowsmith-Young’s book talked about the ability to rewire neuro-pathways in the brain that were lacking, to benefit the student for the rest of their life. We immediately began to investigate what the program entailed and if it could be something that would benefit our son.”
And for the first time, they had hope.
The only problem was…
The nearest school that provided the Arrowsmith Program was about 300 miles away.
But Zane’s parents wouldn’t be discouraged.
They had Zane tested there to identify the deficiencies he was experiencing and hoped to find a path to improving his future.
Glenn says, “The test results were shocking.”
“Seeing, for the first time, what Zane was deficient in compared to what was considered ‘normal’ was gut-wrenching.”
Suddenly, it was as if his parents could see into their son’s brain and understand all of the hidden weaknesses he was struggling against every day at school.
They made plans to move their whole family to get help for Zane.
But God had another plan for the Hill family.
They connected with a local educator, Alyssa Pukkila, who was starting Wired2Learn Treatment and Learning Center right in small-town Post Falls, Idaho. Now, Zane could participate in the Arrowsmith Program without ever leaving his hometown.
Still, his parents had their doubts.
His dad says, “Based on test results, the Arrowsmith Program recommended that Zane be enrolled at Wired2Learn for the next four years (seventh grade through tenth grade). This would require that we make the hard, counter-cultural decision to remove him from traditional school and academics and immerse him fully for four years with Arrowsmith and Wired2Learn.”
They worried, as many parents do when making a decision this big:
- Would he fall behind?
- Would he miss out?
- Would he ever be able to go back?
It felt like a leap of faith (off a 7,000-foot cliff). But in the end, they jumped.
And the progress wasn’t overnight.
“Zane was reluctant at first, but to his credit, he dove in and worked his tail off. No more traditional academics, but full-on ‘brain training’ that forced him to think in ways he wasn’t used to, to rewire pathways that would make daily life, decisions, reasoning, and academics easier.”
“Years followed, and the areas he struggled with, like reading, were getting easier.”
“Where before, he wanted nothing to do with books, we were now finding him in his room reading…on his own…for enjoyment. That had never happened before!”
After his third year, Zane’s mom, Amy, shared, “There have been so many improvements that we have seen in him academically, socially, and personally, especially in the past year. He is independent in doing his school work now.”
She continued, “Now, he is able to do projects for himself, do his own research, summarize articles, write his own reports, and give presentations in front of large groups of people. He is able to express himself better, and he is pronouncing words more clearly. His handwriting has improved, and he can write much easier and faster.”
Before they knew it, four years had gone by, and Zane graduated from the Arrowsmith Program and Wired2Learn.
It was time for him to re-enter a traditional education environment for 11th and 12th grades — after four years away.
Glenn says, “My wife and I had great concern as to how that might go. Could he actually do it? How would he get up to speed having missed four years? Would we have to hire tutors? Would we be back to hours of homework, arguing, and frustration every night? Would we be doing a fair bit of the heavy lifting to get him to graduation and a diploma?”
They braced for impact as a million worries raced through their minds about his transition back to “real” school.
But they needn’t have worried…
“To our amazement and great joy, Zane now flourished in school.”
“He fit in. He received really good grades, he was awarded “Student of the Month” both years, and he was doing his homework and projects independently with little to no involvement from my wife and I — so much more than we had ever expected.”
Needless to say, hiring extra tutors was the furthest thing from his parents’ minds now.
In his senior year, Zane was honored with The Lutyen Excellence in Leadership Award, the top honor that is given to only one student out of the entire school each year. It was a unanimous choice that Zane would receive it.
Let that sink in.
A child who once cried over broken pencils and dreaded reading…
Now a leader. A scholar. A young man ready for his next chapter.
When Zane graduated from high school, his dad told us, “If you would have told my wife and I six years ago that our son Zane would be graduating this year on time, at the age and grade level with his peers, with little or no daily involvement from us on projects, homework, essays, speeches, and tests, we wouldn’t have believed it.”
“We are forever grateful to Alyssa Pukkila, the Wired2Learn staff, and the Arrowsmith program facilitated there. Through his time at Wired2Learn, Zane is now capable of working through challenges and struggles and coming to solutions and answers on his own.”
His mom agreed, “We are so blessed to have the Arrowsmith Program right here in our area, coupled with a project-based learning school. Zane received excellent instruction and guidance at Wired2Learn, and all his individual needs were met. We are grateful to Wired2Learn and for each of the staff members that devoted themselves to our son and to all of the kids each day.”
Zane is an amazing, hard-working young man with a fantastic future ahead.
And it all started with one tough, counter-cultural decision to leave a system that wasn’t working — to try something different.
If your child is struggling like Zane was…
If you’re afraid that pulling them out of traditional school might mean sacrificing their future, we know that this decision feels terrifying.
But…what if it works?
What if this is exactly what your child needs?
Every student deserves to shine — let’s uncover your child’s brilliance together.
At Wired2Learn, we’ve built our program around kids just like yours. We see their unique strengths. We help them grow the weaker areas of their brains. And we help families like yours believe in a bright future again. You don’t have to do this alone anymore.