AMAZING

I know...I know I have been absent. Sorry.

I do have to write about Vern and his second quarter grades. They were as the post was titled - AMAZING.

He had such a hard time first quarter but really tried and it paid off.

I told him if he could pull off all A's I would rush out and get him a Google Play card. He tried so hard near the end.

This quarter was as follows:
EXP Tech - A
Choir - A
PE - A
English - A
American History - A
Science - A
Pre-Algebra - B (90%)

I would say that is about as close to all A's is one can get. I am so proud of him. His grades were better than BOTH his brother and sisters. It sure helped his self esteem.

Congratulate him when you see or talk to him or leave a message here for me to show him.

Top Jr. High Dog

Wow it sure doesn't seem possible that my baby is in 8th grade this year. The years are flying by.  I have been doing Vern's blog for quite a few years now and you have watched him grow on this page. Soon he will look more like an adult with all this puberty we have going on. What a ride!

Second day of school picture. It is a tradition to get your photo taken each year with your book bag, new outfit, and shoes. It's always in same room, same spot so I guess you get to see how little I change things up in the house. LOL

The 8th graders are each issued an iPad. This can be good or bad. For our household with Vern in it I would go the bad route as it is yet another electronic device for him to play on instead of doing something constructive. Sigh...

Here is an up close and personal shot of the iPad. The identify them in school by the picture they each took on day one.

Next I am tossing in a couple photos from Vern's court of honor we had a week or so ago. This is where they are recognized for the badges they have earned. Vern had a few he earned at summer camp.

Vern said he becomes "Life" at the next meeting. He is doing well and I hope he continues to advance.

Here is to a successful 8th grade year!

Third quarter Grades

You previously read about conferences and things not going to well. Conferences
I thought I would give you an update now that report cards have come out.

English -            1st quarter C                  3rd quarter B  YEAH!!!!!
World History - 1st Quarter A-               3rd quarter B- BOOOO
Science -           1st Quarter C+               3rd quarter B YEAH!!!!!
Math -               1st Quarter B                 3rd quarter A YEAH!!!!!
PE A+
Choir A
Art A+
Skills for Live Pass

Only one BOO. I think this is fantastic improvement!!!!!

Keep up the great work for one more quarter Vern.
 

It's all up to you...

So it is that time of year again - school conferences.

This time there was a theme to the conferences but I will get to that in a minute. I believe I have talked before about how in middle school the conferences are student led. This means that the kids talk about their grades and papers they have done. The teachers walk around and talk a bit if you have any questions. I understand why they make kids do this but would rather have a more traditional talk with the teachers.

So Vern starts going through his papers. I see many individual grades below par. I ask him what is going on?  I get back "I don't know."  What can you do to improve this paper next time? "I don't know." You get the picture.

Finally a teacher shows up to talk about Vern and his grades. They proceed to say along the lines of the following: Vern is doing well but sometimes does not pay attention in class.  I think Vern could do better.  Next teacher: Vern is not working up to his potential. Vern is choosing to rush through his papers.  Next teacher: It is all up to what Vern chooses to do. Vern grasps the concepts very well but needs to apply himself. Next teacher: (Math) Wow, Vern has really improved his grades and how he acts in class. He is doing much better than first semester.

So the theme really rang true with all the teachers. Vern you are at a juncture in your life where you can choose the outcome. You are an extremely smart kid that grasps ideas at a much higher grade level. What will you choose to do with your gifts Vern?

It is all up to you!!!

Ending 6th grade on a good note.

Here we are at the end of another school year. Vern is SO excited to be done with 6th grade. I think he ended the year with 2 detentions within 2 weeks of school getting out.  We both are glad school is out and Vern gets some time to do other things. He will be kept busy this summer.

Before getting on with summer I wanted to brag about his report card. I was pleased that Vern did indeed try and ended the year on a good note.

English                B+
Social Studies     B+
Science               A-
Math                   B
Physical Ed        A+
Choir                  A+
Music Apprec.   A-
Foreign Lang     B+

If you know Vern please congratulate him either in person or via the comments section. He deserves it!

Now it is onto fun summer time activities.  Summer is just starting and he already had a dog over for a week to play.  This week he is spending at his dad's house and next week starts his time as a helper for vacation bible school.  More updates to follow!

School is almost out...

On last post you saw I was not so happy with Vern. I have not posted much as we have been working hard to get through another book and working on his priorities.

I am happy to report that we just finished a book last night. Now he has to get the report written, turned in and approved in order for it to count toward his final grade.

Vern has a big summer planned with camps, vacations, and volunteer work. I will have a lot to write about as we ramp up to summer. Now if only the weather would warm up!


I thought I would include some recent photos.

Here is Vern doing one of his favorite things. Lounging in the lazyBOY with his remote. We have this priority to work on...

Here he is at his spring concert from school. He is standing beside his best friend. We asked him if he got in trouble a lot in music if he sat that close to his friend. He averted his eyes and said "Sometimes".  At least he is honest!

He's in the dog house now.

Poor Vern.

He is in the dog house with mom.

It is his own choice.

I hope he gets out soon.

Still love you Vern,
Mom



So what did Vern do this time? Well he is a boy with ADD. He gets sidetracked very easily. Vern can not seem to leave his electronic devices alone. He could play with them a lot more IF he would just follow the rules. What are the rules?  Do your homework and (easy peesy) chores. I had to take drastic measures and take away the devices until his book and book report are finished. Vern is NOT happy with me to say the least. I don't like being the mean mom but I do try to be a good parent and this is one of those things you do as a parent to make better kids. What is even more frustrating with this situation is that he just agreed to work on this and do better 3 days ago. Sometimes, OK a lot of the time, I think he just says yes to get grown-ups to be quiet. I don't know how to fix that except with these extreme measures. Let's hope Vern gets that book report finished soon!!!

Parent/teacher conferences

It is that time of year all ready. Time to head to the school and hear how your son/daughter is doing in the classroom.  In middle school our school district does things differently in that the kids have to present their work to the parents.  This involves the entire family participating.  I understand they want the kids to become proficient at speaking and giving presentations but personally I wish they would do that in school and leave the conferences to the adults.

Vern has been struggling with 6th grade this first semester. We have had multiple after schools, phone calls to teachers, undone homework, tears, on and on and on.

So I was unsure what to expect when we arrived at conferences.  The place was packed! The staff unlocked the doors precisely at 5:02 and everyone trampled to their respective areas. Luckily we were able to get a chair but some groups of parents/students did not. Vern gave his presentation of homework to date in each class. Good and bad papers. Then we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally one teacher showed up. We were able to ask a couple general questions and they had to move on.

Then it was back to wait.

Wait.

Tapping toes and drumming fingers.

A couple more teachers eventually showed up and then we gave up on the last one.

I hated it. The more I write, the more I believe I am going to contact the school with this issue.

On an ending positive note, Vern had all A's and B's.


***Addendum***
I did contact the school and their response was you are welcome to schedule additional time with the teachers on a different week. We just don't advertise this.

Oh I wonder why???? Because you would have many many parents doing this and conferences would be for nothing?  No good answers but I did try.

More School Papers

Here is another sample of Vern's homework. He just makes me laugh.

The paper started with - I wish I were...

Vern said - a cow so I can eat grass. When humins eat grass they get sick.

The paper continued with - I'm glad I am...

Vern wrote - Vern because I am good at mutublcation (multiplication).

At least he didn't say spelling :-)

Book Fair - Book Fair - Book Fair

Vern must have asked 10 times to go to the schools "Book Fair".  It is an unfair money raiser that they sell and sell and sell to get the kids to bring their parents to all under the guise of helping the school.  COME ON, I pay a sh*t-ton in property taxes which the school gets a large share of and then they sell this crap to the kids.....Opps I seem to have somehow climbed on a big soapbox. Let me climb back off and get to the topic at hand the Book Fair.

Vern has been teetering on the edge of naughty/nice for a few weeks now. It is like he is walking a tight-rope and slips a LOT.  I told him we would go to the BookFair IF he did his chores and homework when he got home from school.  "YES MOM" was the enthusiastic reply.

Well you know how life gets in the way, Ann's new glasses came in the same day. She had to get them fitted and they close at 6 p.m. and are only open Monday - Friday (really want to get on my soap box about that but I won't).  So we rush home from work, have kids jump in the car and R-U-S-H back to the city to get to the office before they close. That goes well but the "I'm hungries" started.  We go eat cheap - nasty food to fill them up. Then have to rush back to our town to get to the book fair before they close.

The kids pick out their books and are very excited. I am wondering where the evening goes.

THEN....

We get home. I walk in the door and immediately see Vern's jobs are not done. Vern has completely fallen off the tightrope this time.

I EXPLODE.  Good thing I am like the terminator and can mold myself back together. (Did you know all mom's have this superpower ability?)

His brand new books are handed over and the tears start.  He cries his entire shower. I don't want to be the mean mom but the boy has to learn about consequences sometime.

It has been a few days and still no books. He has not had good enough behavior yet. I am hoping for a good day soon.

Life is tough

Vern had a bad day today.  When John called to say they were home from school. Vern was having a complete meltdown. No one knew what was going on.

When I got home he wouldn't talk nor do his jobs. Instead of saying do your jobs 25 times I implemented a new tactic. I said no dinner until 1/2 your jobs are done. OOOOHHHHH WEEEE did THAT hurt. Hit him where it counts - the dinner plate.  He threw a minor fit but it worked and he ended up doing his jobs.  When I decided he had done enough jobs to have dinner the other kids had all ready eaten. Vern started to throw another fit that the spaghetti noodles were gone. I just told him if his jobs had been done he would have been first for dinner and had noodles.  More tears...

Finally as he was sitting at the table looking at his food and pouting I got out of him what was REALLY going on. Seems that a substitute teacher at school told him he couldn't go to the reading party tomorrow as he hadn't read enough.  It devistated him. I mean Vern had taken initiative to read this week just because of that party and to be told he couldn't go really hurt him.  I got him calmed down and told him I would write an email and see what the problem was with him attending the reading party. I'll let you know the results when I find out how it went.

That seemed to calm him down after I told him I would write the email. I stressed that he had to tell me when something like this is bothering him so he doesn't get in trouble for acting out. Even though its hard to talk about things it is better than getting punishments for being naughty.  I hope he learned somewhat of a lesson.

Vern's Monday

Poor Vern had a bad Monday.  He got in trouble in school bad enough to warrant a phone call from the teacher.  Seems like he had multiple offenses levied against him today.

To start off Vern and his little buddy were in a teacher's room squat boxing. I had never heard of this until his teacher explained this is when you squat down as the name implies and start boxing each other. I guess this is allowed outside but not in the classroom obviously. Vern had no good reason when I asked him why he did it. I started my be good lecture but I am sure it went in one ear and right out the other one. :-(

Then later on he was in the bathroom and decides to let out a blood curtiling scream.  I guess this echoed quite a way into classrooms and made quite the disruption. This too is frowned upon in school.

He gets home and does not do his homework, is dallying and fighting and mouthing off. Come to find out he stayed up until after 11pm on Sunday night. WTF!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!!? He still got into trouble for being naughty.

I asked him why and he said no one would put him to bed before then and his brother and sister were all ready in bed. I stressed that he needed to start making better choices even if no one would put him to bed he should go by himself as he is old enough. We made a hand sealed with a kiss promise so we shall see if he remembers this.

You knew we were due for a post like this and I'm sure Vern didn't want to disappoint... (rolling my eyes)  Let's see what the rest of the week brings.

School - 3rd Grade

School is not Vern's favorite thing in the world. He is much more interested in skateboards, cars, football, girl's breasts...pretty much anything other than school.

This August he started 3rd grade. We talked and talked starting weeks before school began how this year was going to be better than last year. How he was going to buckle down and do better in school and NOT get into trouble on the bus or in school.

He did well for 3 days... Then he had to write a paper about how he can not talk bad and argue with girls in schools and can't wish they were dead. We had a talk that night all about that and how he needed to shape up. His exact words "Yes Mom!"

Day 4 - mid morning and the bus superintendent calls. "Good Morning Mom"
Me "Oh Hi Chuck its only day 4 you can't be calling me all ready."
Him "Sorry but Vern was leaning over the seat and hitting a girl. We have new bus rules I'm sure you saw this year. I will go on the light side and give him a 5 day suspension this time. Vern freely admitted he was in the wrong but nothing I said seemed to phase him."
Me "Thanks. You know Chuck I am trying."
Him "Yes I know if you have any ideas let me know."
Me "I sure will."

Now we will fast forward to yesterday.
Vern "Mom can you pick me up from school today?"
Me "NO, I have to work and this suspension is supposed to be punishment."
Vern "oh...Are Feraris faster than Mustangs?"
I just shake my head.

Think this is going to be a long year?