School Conference

I just came from my parent/teacher conference with my son's teacher.  He has three C's, two B's, and an A.  I am very disappointed in this school's policies.  When I was in school, parents could go visit their childs classroom whenever there was a problem and see for themselves what was going on.  They do not let you do that anymore.  It is due to the child's privacy.  If I go and observe my child, I might see another child do something and comment on it.  I do not agree with that.  I think it is to cover the teachers butt.  The teacher tells me one thing and my son has a different story.  I don't know the truth because I can not go and find out for myself.  His teacher said that he does not turn in all of his work.  He has missing assignments.  I have repeatedly ask for some communication when he has missing assignments.  He has a journal that he brings home everyday with her smart remarks in it.  There is very little positive feedback from her.  If she notes in there that he has missing work, the paperwork or books are not there to go over it with him.  She tells me that he doesn't put it in there.  She will not do it for him.  He tells me that she will not give him anything.  I have given her my e-mail so that we can communicate privately, but she has only e-mailed me once.  I ask her if she could have my son miss recess or come in early to make up any work that is missing.  She said that the school will not let her keep him in from recess because he needs to run out some energy and she is not always there early enough to come in before school.  I feel like I am trying here and not getting anywhere.  When I get a bad report in his journal for talking, my son gets a spanking or grounded.  If the teacher will not give me the assignments by sending them with him, or e-mailing them to me, I can only punish him at home.  I have had to keep all of his papers that he brings home because when he started having missing work, I could go through the stack and find a couple that was supposed to be missing.  The paper would not be graded, so I would send it  back with him to school with my note on it showing that it had not been graded.  Two of the assignments that she shows as missing, are in her pile of work to grade.  I am really lost here in how to help the teacher and my son.  My stepson went to this school and because he had missing assignments, he would have to have the teacher sign his journal in each class stating that he had no homework due or missing assignments everyday.  He was in 7th and 8th grade.  My son is in 3rd grade.  If anyone has any suggestions, I am all ears. 

Teenagers

My younger daughter just turned 18 at the end of January.  She graduated high school early last semester because she wanted to start college a semester early.  Her boyfriend in going to college in Indianapolis and will not be home until December.  She was hoping that she would have her nursing classes done by then so they could start on their life together.  You can't tell them.  They just don't listen.  I tried to tell her that it would take longer for her to get through her classes, but she just wouldn't listen.  She had it all fighured out for herself.  I think she is realizing it more now, but she don't admit it.  I am happy that she is trying to get a nursing degree and do something with her life while she is still so young.  She is definately not following in my footsteps.  By the time I was her age, I had quit school, got married, and had a baby.  Now, she wants to move in with her girlfriends.  She has been wanting a different car, but she don't make that much money.  I told her that she couldn't afford to have a new, or newer, car and be able to pay for rent, utilities, and food.  She agreed with me.  Boy, was I shocked.  She has been a really good girl.  She don't go out hardly ever.  She don't stay out late.  She watches Ghost Hunters with her little brother.  She even lets him fall asleep with her and then takes him to his bed.  She helps out around the house with the laundry, dishes, and vaccume.  She don't ever ask for money.  I can tell that I have managed to lead her in the right path to her adulthood.  I am very proud of her.  I hope it will be this easy when my son gets her age.  I might need all the help I can get with him.

Mom

I don't know what I would do without my mom.  She is the smartest person that I know.  When she was 14, her mother passed away, so she did not have her mother to go to when she needed to.  I can't imagine what that would be like.  I can't go a day without calling my mom and asking for some kind of advice, or just to talk to her.  There are so many things that go on in life that I know she will have the right answer on how to handle it.  When I was younger I thought I knew the right answers too, but I was wrong.  There have been many times that I kick myself because I should have listened to her.  I know if I ever need anything she would do what ever she had to to see that I was ok.  My mom tells me when I do something that she doesn't approve of.  She talks to me about it so that I can see her point and think of a better solution.  No matter what though, she has always took up for me.  She will not allow anyone to talk to her about her kids.  Even if someone was trying to tell her the truth about something that I had done, she would not listen.  She will come and talk to me about it later.  I will always love my mom for the way that she has brought me up and has guided me through a rough life.  I will always look up to her.  She is my HERO!

My education

How many of you are glad that we are almost halfway through this semester?  I know I am.  When I started going back to school, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do.  I quit school when I was 16 and waited eight years before I got my GED.  A year later, I decided to take a few college classes.  At that time, I really wasn't focused on school, so I quit.  Then in 2003, I decided to buckle down and get my education so I didn't have to work in a factory for the rest of my life.  Because I worked during the day, I had to take night classes.  It was hard to take care of the girls, work full time, and go to school.  After taking all of the keyboarding classes that were offered, I decided to go into the Accounting field.  I graduated with my Accounting Associates degree in 2009.  There were a lot of classes that I took that I didn't need, which is why it took me that long to get it going part time.  Now, I am working on my Bachelors degree and I need all of my core classes.  I hate to admit it, but I dreaded taking this class.  I did not think I would like it at all.  My mom and my daughter are the writers in my family.  I don't think it has been too bad so far though.  I have really surprised myself in what I have done already.  I think writing on this blog has helped me to free write on different things that come into my thoughts.  Really, I thought it would just be a waste of time.  But, it hasn't.  I hope I can get through the rest of my classes that I need to finish my degree and say the same thing about them. 

Fireman's Wife

I met my husband 11 years ago.  We dated a while and then went our seperate ways.  During out time apart, he decided to persue a career in firefighting.  When we started dating again and finally decided to get married, I didn't think the it would cause too many problems in our everyday life.  Well, let me tell you.  It is very worrysome, lonely, inconvenient, and relaxing all mixed together.  We have a scanner that I listen to some times so I can follow most of what is going on if he gets called out on a structure fire.  That is when I am at home and not trying to work on homework.  With our city cutting jobs recently, it has made it very dangerous when they get called out and don't have enough manpower to watch each others back.  My biggest fear is that he is going to go into a burning house to save someone and loose his life in return.  It is also very lonely at times.  He works 24 on and 48 off.  It was very hard to get use to at first.  I like to come home and share with each other on how our day went.  When he's not home, and I have had a crappy day, it can be a lonely night.  I can not ever plan anything ahead either.  Most of the time, he is working one day of the weekend.  It really stinks around the holidays.  It seems like he has had to work all but two of the last seven Christmases we have had together.  Either he has had to change shifts, or it falls on his shift to work.  There are also times when I can't wait until he has to go back to the station.  I get to where I enjoy some time to myself.  It seems that I can get more homework done when he is not home than when he is.  He does help out with the kids, but they all carry on and make a lot of noise causing me to get distracted.  It has been rough, but I admire him for what he does.  As long as his job is there, he will always be there.