Topic : School Issues

Scott is still struggling to get his homework in...actually not struggling...he just lies about having homework...I'm in email contact with his teachers, so I can catch him in the lies (usually) and make him do his work.  Yesterday, his jump drive was stolen when he left it in a computer...gone when he went right back for it.  He hopes to get it back, but I doubt it.  It had a major assignment on it.  Most of the assignment is saved on our home computer, but he had worked on it yesterday in class, and he only saved the changes to the jump drive...not to his file on the school computer.

I emailed the teacher to watch for a paper with the topics that Scott wrote about...in case they were stealing the homework assignment with the jump drive...that would make it easy to identify the theif...maybe the person who took it will turn it in to the lost & found at the school...doubtful though.  His jump drive was not password protected...when he gets a new one, it will be.  We will replace the jump drive ONCE, but if he loses another one, he will have to pay to replace it.

I spent yesterday doing face-painting at Matthew's school party.  I painted over 100 kids' faces with little Halloween designs.  It was lots of fun.

I am head of the silent auction for Scott's high school band.  The kids go out to local businesses and get donated items and gift certificates to put into the auction.  I am putting some of my painted rocks into the auction...not for a cheap price.  Here are my latest ones...

I also did some dogs for my aunt, which I am mailing next week, when the finish is hardened completely.

Off to the exercise, laundry, and general stuff...Becky

Good news, overall: Adv Reading, A; Adv Language Arts, B; World Cultures, A; Science, B; Math, C+; Teacher's Aide, A. I'm less than thrilled about the Math grade (one too many bum quiz/test grades; the assignment grades were OK), but Anne is the only one who can remedy the test-taking issue.

Prof

The World Cultures grade was a B, not an A. Oops. That's what I get for not having it in front of me.

Prof

The trimester ends Nov 30th for our schools.  Scott so far has 3 D's and 2 C's, and an A in Band.  There isn't much hope of bring the grades up, but if he turns in all of his work this month, he can at least maintain, and not fail the classes.  He is still not filling out his planner, and I am relying on emails from the teachers to keep up on his assignments.  The teachers "don't have time " to make sure that his planner gets filled out.  They just started having planners in 7th grade, so the habit was not ingrained at a younger age.  Now, the intermediate school is on board, and Matthew has a planner that he fills out every day.  I hope that the younger kids will develop good habits early, and already be in the habit of writing everything down by the time they get to junior high and high school.  Matthew is doing very well in his classes...very diligent about getting all of his homework done right after school.

Becky

We've had them since first grade (almost overkill at that age, I think --I can see at 3rd grade). Theoretically, they should have the habits developed by this point, but I still have to get on Anne every once in a while. Sigh.

Good luck as the year progresses.

Prof

Last year, the kids, as a class, EARNED points for being good.  When they earned a certain number of points, the class got ice cream or popcicles.  Points could be taken away from the class for being noisy.

For individual behavior, our school has "steps".  Step one is to talk to the student to correct their behavior.  Step 2 would be a "time out" in the hall.  Step 3 would be a trip to the office.  Step 4 is a phone call to the parents...and so on.  Repeated bad behavior gets steps...little transgressions are handled by the teacher. 

That point system seems utterly rediculous...behavior shouldn't be a cumulative thing for points, and if it is, there should be a way to earn back lost points...but the whole thing seems rediculous to me. 

Well, that's my take on the situation.

Becky