i put a hex on....myself, darn it!

yeah, homework tonight was a complete f'ing MESS.
it shouldn't have been; he knew what to expect, part of it was a repeat process & the other part i had told him about in the morning. the work wasn't difficult he was being difficult [i'm being really nice with that because i'm his mother & i love him, but OMG, this kid is SO going to be the death of me!!!!].

in the end i wasn't even helping him. "fine, read the book, make up whatever words you want, write the sentences however you want, i don't care, it's not my homework."
[he'll be writing his own version of mommy dearest one day]

so then, THEN, after we're all done with the fripping homework i go through his backback to see if there was anything & i find a letter from teach. i asked for it, i know, stupid me.....
work on the following at home:
* counting by ones to 100
* " " 5's to 100
* " " 10's to 100
* writing numbers to 100
* counting on to add (locate the larger number & count up)
* commit to memory addition & subtraction facts to 20
* recognize coins (name & value)

um, he knows this stuff, he's tested on it.
what he is though is S-L-O-W. really slow, like you can't even imagine slow, like you think he's doing something else but he isn't slow.

so i don't know.
i'm torn.
maybe i was wrong.
maybe he isn't ready for 2nd grade &
maybe he would be better off repeating 1st.
i know i can't do another year of fighting every single night for hours to help him get his homework done. i don't want him to think of me that way nor do i want him to hate school & learning.

bits & pieces

[i believe joan jett did a remake of that song, not sure]
not much going on around here...the boy continues to get up at 7am. i guess i shouldn't complain though, could be worse, there could be tears & a wake up battle every morning, right?
yesterday i got up about 7:45, i hadn't heard any sounds so i thought he was still in bed [only to scare myself when i found it empty]. he was already dressed, had breakfast & was sitting on the sofa wrapped up in a blanket. it must have been my semi-annual night of good sleep is why i didn't hear him...
& today i found him playing outside with the dog when i got up.
he also did better on night 2 of homework, so all is well on that front.

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the painting bug is about to bite soon. i'm looking around here, i want to do things, but its really difficult to commit to something huge [like redoing the ENTIRE kitchen] when i'm unemployed & B is schooling. so paint is cheap...although i cringe every time i look at the 18 year old linoleum in the kitchen, or find another frozen item in the refrigerator, or accidentally use the micro above the stove instead of the 1980s one on the counter [because the installed one is slower than cooking on the stove!!!]. somewhere along the line this house turned into ghetto house numero dos - wtf?

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i have not made a single bit of tangible progress on Z's costume. i've thought about it a lot, conceptualized how i'm going to do it [no pattern, straight winging in...i know, i'm just WILD like that....or maybe stupid, whatever...semantics people...]. part of the problem is the only working space i have to set up the sewing machine is the dining room table & right now, that's homework central for both boys. so what am i supposed to do? work in the backyard? i mean, let's be honest here, neither one of them are really gung ho about homework in the 1st place [ok nobody is, but compared to average]. B's already dropped his speech class & is still complaining about homework & tests blah, blah, blah, wait until he takes a 200 level class!!! i'm so happy i don't go to school anymore lalalalalala.

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i FINALLY got this blog under my "sayittojustme" username. it wasn't that complicated once i figured it out, but it was a pain in the interim. so yah for me!

made contact

finally! i brought my homework from Z's class in this morning; i was shocked to find his teacher in the classroom. i put the stack of math lessons on the counter & she asked "this is the whole book?"
"yes, that's all of it" [she said we could do chapters, but i'd rather get it done & back to her so i don't have it looming over my head]

Z was still there, so i asked him to go to the playground so i could speak with teach some. i told her once she had spent some time with him, because we came from a different school district, i was very concerned about where he fell in comparison to his classmates.

teach said she had done some evaluations last week already & could tell me he was low. [surprise] however, this school is nothing like the old school: he's already going mon-thurs to a reading lab [YESSSSS!!!], she's changed the seating arrangement so he sits next to one of the best readers in class so a peer can help him & she also said there's a group of slow readers in the class that she spends extra time with [bonus, he's not at the bottom of the barrel by himself].

the other thing she mentioned is he has trouble focusing. yeah, i know but i don't know what to do about it....i find it infuriating as well.

never wake a sleeping bear

it was a long weekend, but we didn't do anything special, made a bit more progress around the house.
oh, Z decided to be a vampire for halloween. i bought the fabric to make a black & red cape, so we'll see how that works out. this costume won't have as much leeway as the frankenstein....raw edges were acceptable on that one.

on mon night i made sure to tell Z the next day was school & he would get homework this week. he actually said "yah!" [whuuut? he must have thought i said he was getting chocolate pudding, not homework]

he was up at 7am today. that may not sound alarming, but hes a boy, he can get ready in about 10 min, so he could get up at 8:15 & be ready on time for school. he was already in the kitchen getting his cereal, so i told him it was early, really early, that he should go back to bed but he didn't.

i did though & quickly fell back asleep; only to be wakened shortly thereafter by his little face about 1 inch from mine whispering "what do i do now?" i told him to brush is hair, his teeth & get his shoes on & he was off & i was back asleep as it was still only 7:15 or so.

before i knew it there he was again, whispering "ok what now?" & when i open my eyes he's right there almost nose to nose with me. i had been awake between 3 & 5 am so i was kinda tired; i think he was hoping he could watch cartoons, but with the way things happened i told him instead to practice writing his numbers.

back to school night

really wasn't much...
started out in the cafeteria, an introduction to the school, a few rules, etc. the biggest thing was the school is part of a healthy eating district. i think that's great, especially after the crap they served at Z's old school. [their pb&j's weren't even made on real bread, they were made with graham crackers & were prepackaged!!!]

so, healthy eating, that's great right? yes
HOWEVER, the pendulum swings to the other side now....
no cakes, cookies, ice cream, candy or sodas are served by the school & are not allowed at the school.
not even for birthdays, they suggested a fruit platter!!! [sorry, just not the same as a deathbychocolate cake]
the principal said she's actually confiscated a cake before.

after that we went to Z's classroom for a talkin to by teach. she had paperwork handouts for all of us, which she also read to us. the main thing was she talked about how bad budget cuts were & how she needed all kinds of help, in the classroom, outside the class, even supplies [like paper, every kid was asked to bring in a ream of paper].

so i offered to help out on one project & also told her i could come in to the class if she needed anything. i plan on asking her for a parent/teacher conference once she's spent some time with Z & can give me some feedback about where he's at, what he needs help with & what i can do.

week 1 is done. on sat Z got up, got dressed & was getting ready for breakfast when i found him. he thought it was a school day although i had specifically told him the night before that it was a stay home day. he was really upset, but i guess that's a good thing. we'll see how he feels after week 2 & he gets homework!

such a girly girl

my back has really been bothering me the past few weeks, i've been doing all kinds of stretches & yoga & anyfrickenthingicanthinkof to try to relieve the pain. really, i even wake up throughout the night because it just hurts.

so today i asked B if he would try to pop my back for me.
it didn't work.
then he gave me a back massage.
it was nice, but no dice [such rhymer!]

then i gave up & asked him to put some weight on me. i was laying on the living room floor face down & he laid down on top of me, but he didn't put all his weight on me so i told him not to hold back. so he let all his weight down on me.

then i said "holy shit you're heavy!!!!" & proceeded to get a case of the giggles.

he replied "ok, once you stop giggling i'll get off of you"

me "i'm crying from laughing"
snort
& more laughter

2 more days down

well, really only 1 1/2, but that's splitting hairs....

yesterday morning when I took Z to school he asked me to go into class with him. i told him we could ask teach, but it probably wouldn't happen, that she doesn't like having parents in the classroom. so Z puts her on the spot right in front of the entire class "can my mom come to the classroom?" [i don't know if that's a kid thing, or a B trait, but even at 38 i can't imagine doing that]

anyways, she gave me a deer in the headlights look, so i quickly gave her an easy out & said to him "today's not a good day honey". teach then asked if he wanted to show me something in the class & he said yes, so she said he could show me at back to school night.

at the end of the day Z told me he had been called to an office to do some reading. i'm guessing they're evaluating him because he's a new student, or it could be that they are checking to see if he really does have a reading issue. if it's the latter, i hope this means Z will finally get the help i worked so hard for (& failed to get) for him last year at that stupid school that preferred to have him repeat a grade rather than provide assistance.

this morning, again Z asked if i could go to the classroom. teach responded with "i wish you would have asked before the bell" so i responded with "oh, i didn't realize you were in the classroom" then she told me "i'm not, but the door is unlocked". maybe it's just me, but i would not feel right about entering her classroom without any previous discussion about it. i did catch that she has a slight accent & her words are a bit delayed, so i think english is probably not her primary language which is part of her hesitance to speak with anyone. [or maybe i'm looking for excuses for her]

so here's the paper Z brought home yesterday, the only real feedback i'm getting about school so far:

My First Week of 2nd Grade

The first time I walked into my new classroom, I liked that everything was clean. [like his father, likes stuff clean but sure isn't gonna do it himself]

On the first day of school I sat next to Camila

The most surprising thing about the first day of school was that my teacher was nice. [do you think she gave them the answer for that one?]

My new teacher likes to drink Jamba juice. [with a double shot of vodka]

The most interesting thing we did in class this week was making paper Dolls. [of themselves]

I have made some new friends. Their names are Alonzo, Alex and KC. [finally, he's been complaining about not having any friends]

I think that this will be a good year because it will be easy. [little does he know]

so all his spelling was good, capitalized appropriately (except for Dolls), each sentence ended with a period & his writing wasn't bad [well, you know, for a 7yo boy]

tonight is back to school night, i hope to get another chance to speak with teach more & ask her to contact me to set up a p/t conference to discuss where he's at academically & what i can do at home to help him. i also will let her know if she needs any help in the classroom i can come in, maybe that will soften her up a bit. [otherwise i'm bringing out the sledgehammer]

the new teach

so yeah, yesterday she was quite....um.....how do i put this? not friendly, yeah, that's the best i can say.
nothing was said at the line up spot, she walked everyone to class, had the kids enter the classroom & said goodbye to parents.
i stopped her as she was shutting the door & told her Z was new to the school & needed to be shown everything, she said she had a couple of new students & would take care of it.
then she shut the door & all the parents had their wet noses faces pressed up against the glass, it was comical!

[wow, this is the 3rd time i've logged into type this post today...i don't even have a lot to say, but this is my life]

at the end of the day when we picked up Z, he said he had a good day & he liked his teacher. she sent home a little letter saying we would all meet at parents night along with outlining class rules which required parent & student signatures. he got a star for the day - YAH!

this morning we walked to school, Z was happy to go. we just had enough time to drop off his backpack at class & were heading towards the playground when the bell rang, so instead we went over to his line-up spot. he was the first one in line but some other kid weaseled his way in front of Z, he took it in stride though & didn't say or do anything!!!

that kid has no idea how lucky he is to not have had pavement for breakfast!!

so B acknowledged to Z how good it was the way he handled the situation & didn't floor his classmate. i didn't even realize it but teach was standing there & said "oh, you're Z's parents?"

wow, existence acknowledged!

Z had another good day today, so i'm happy for him.
i'm not happy about the way teach is doing things though.