End of the School Year

We're coming to the end of the school year and things are getting hectic.  Archer is still struggling with getting things turned in on time.  We have been staying on him about it pretty hard and I am sure he just wishes we would back off.  He has to learn that it is not acceptable to fall behind.  He could easily be a straight A student if he would just turn things in on time.  Over the summer I am planning on sitting down with him and coming up with consequences for grades.  Bad grades he will owe us money.  Good grades, not sure yet.  Maybe dinner and a movie out with mom or dad, maybe going out to an activity of his choice with a friend.  Not sure yet, but we'll come up with something.  I just do not want him to feel like he is only being punished.  We all work better with something good to work for, why not try it with his grades.  Many of his teachers have been emailing me thanks for supporting them and him in his studies.  I cannot imagine not!  He will get there, I know he will.  He is a great kid, this has just been a tough learning curve for him.


Angel just started an endangered animal project.  Of course it is due the Tuesday after we go out of town.  Another email to a teacher asking if my child can do a project early.  I did tell her today that I wanted her to try and have it done over the weekend so she has plenty of time to prepare.  She is doing her project on sand cats.  The kittens are SO cute!  I finally got the approval from the school to put her on a 504 plan next year.  Finally!  It took a couple years to get the approval, but I am looking forward to getting it in place so that she can get all the support she needs in the years to come.


Picasso is about 1/3 of the way done with his report on Scotland.  Through the spouses group with my sweet husbands work I was able to get a few recipes to choose from to make a treat for his project.  He is getting really excited and has learned a lot about the country.  He had his first baseball practice yesterday.  He has been anxiously awaiting it for months.  This is his first year playing and the teams first year with kids pitching.  Turns out he was in the top three kids for pitching!  I was surprised as we haven't really worked with him.  I am sure he will do great!  He will miss two practices while we are gone and then have his first game the week we get back.  I am looking forward to cheering him on!

Princess had a popsicle party today at school for her reading group.  It was their last time meeting for the year, so they had a fun hour.  She says it is okay, as she still gets to see that teacher for math.  She has loved being in both of her classes this year.  She and I will be attending her classes field trip next week.  I love being able to attend field trips with the kids! 

I am also finishing up preparations for the elementary school's yearbook signing party.  The kids always have an amazing time and I am glad I get to be a part of it.  I do love the school my younger kids attend.  The teachers and staff are all just amazing!  The middle school I am still up in the air about.  Archer is learning and advancing, for the most part the teachers seem great, it is just the ones that do not seem to know how to communicate that are driving me crazy.  At the end of the day it is my job as the parent to make sure the kids get done what they need to.  The teachers will do what they can, but the buck stops here.

After all that we will climb in the car and head out for our family vacation!  I am looking forward to that more than I can say.  It should be a fabulous trip.  I am looking forward to being able to spend all that time together.  So thankful to have family close enough by to have a built in house/pet sitter thanks to my awesome brother in law. 

Now to find the motivation to take care of everything that needs to be done.  I know it is hiding in their somewhere.

Learning Curve

Junior high and Archer have become something of a frustration to me.  He is doing fine with his peers, no bullying issues thank goodness.  Honestly that is what I was most worried about.  He scores well on his tests.  His teachers all talk about what a smart, kind, and respectful person he is.  He does his homework.  Where might the frustration be you might ask?  All of that sounds great does it not?   He truly is a great young man.  However the kid cannot seem to turn his homework in on a consistent basis!  From talking to friends I am finding that this is a very common issue.  He had a hard time in a couple classes first term.  Second term did great, mostly A's with a couple B's.  This last term, back to his bad habits from the first term.  It seems like a huge waste of time to me to expend the time and effort of doing the work and then not reaping the rewards of it.  There is a large learning curve involved.  In elementary school teachers will remind you to turn work in, in junior high not so much.  In elementary teachers only have 20-30 kids in their classrooms, not over 100 different kids throughout the day.  So I understand why it is put on the kids to keep track of these things.  It can be hard for a child to learn to do.  The solution we came up with is that every Sunday evening, before the school week starts, Archer and I will sit down and review the upcoming week.  We will pull up Infinite Campus and make sure he has no missing assignments, we will review the scores he has gotten up to that point, and we will see what is due that week.  The hope is that he will get into the habit of doing it himself, but in the meantime part of my job as his mom is to help him learn to do it.  At the end of the day if he gets a C in a class that he struggled with and worked his butt off at, then I will be okay with it.  If he gets a C in that same class because he did not turn in work he had done, not so okay with that.  So the learning curve continues, for both of us.  Archer's learning curve is keeping track of assignments.  My learning curve is to help my child with this new portion of his life.  Just like we had to teach him to balance to ride a bike properly, we need to teach him how to do this to succeed at school.  At the end of the day, no matter how frustrating it may be I am so very proud of Archer and all my kids.  They are fantastic and I am blessed to be their mom.