So I reserved all day Saturday for the creating of this thing (at least he got Louisiana which is super easy), and put finishing touches on today. It was a ton of work. But I feel pretty good about his level of involvement, considering. Tonight I made Rice Krispie treats for his class pot luck tomorrow. I’ve only made these a couple of times in my life, and I can see why - what a sticky, impossible mess making these things is! Ugh. But it’s all done now. Do I get a medal?
Every day Theo comes home with disappointing information about his teacher - she’s basically just showing them videos now, and he keeps bringing home all the textbooks and assignments of things they “never got around to”. Although I don’t really know the real story of what happened in that classroom, it makes me kind of pissed. They haven’t done any spelling tests for weeks, they’re not reading, and Theo hasn’t had any math homework in ages.
All of this brought me to a thought - what, exactly, the fuck is the point of his staying at this school for 6th grade? There’s some kind of problem there - I keep getting calls about a “community meeting” to address issues at the school (what issues…?), and then today there was some hubbub about the principal being absent for the remaining week of school and the vice principal taking over. What? Theo’s been strung along being wait listed for the gifted program for three years now. He could really be at any school. So the thought occurred to me - why not have him back at Mount Washington?
I got all in my head thinking about this - figuring it shouldn’t be hard for him to get back into our designated school when all elementaries are struggling to keep 6th graders, and how the only issue would be pick up timing since they’d no longer both be walking to a library. However, I asked if he’d be interested in going back to his old school, and he said a definitive no. He likes his new friends and doesn’t want to be shifted around again. I asked wouldn’t he like to be with his old friends, but he still said no. So, that’s that. He’s old enough to make his own decisions about things like this, especially when there’s no clear advantage or disadvantage to either (neither school can get him in a gifted program). I have to keep reminding myself it’s only 5th grade - it’s not like much that happens this year really matters. Next year could be a whole different story. So getting to have the Mount Washington 6th grade experience was really my dream, not his. Sigh.
In the meantime, we’re in single digits for remaining school days. After Wednesday, it’s all half days until their final day Tuesday. Then all of our lives change. I’m not convinced any of the plans I carefully constructed for the summer will actually be a hit. The new one week summer camp, the one where they do volunteer work every day, could be something they end up not liking and not wanting to go to. I may end up hating the cruise we’re doing at the end of the month. They both might be over the woke sleepaway camp. And Bobby is likely to not take to being a CIT at their parks & rec camp. I can see him being sullen and bored and not helping out at all; at the orientation meeting last week, many of the parents were up in arms about the presence of cell phones at camp, and although the camp can’t officially bar the use of phones, they can discourage them. So I’m just not going to let Bobby take his at all. I can picture him sitting in a corner watching TikTok all day with crowds of seven-year-olds leaning over his shoulder trying to see, too, and the parents losing their shit and getting him, and thereby me, in trouble. So, no goddam cell phones at camp. If he’s going to just sit on a screen all day I might as well have kept him home. So yeah, there’s a chance the kids won’t enjoy anything I have them doing all summer. Join the club, kiddos! Between every weekend ruined by my Knott’s gigs, the stress of my event, and the fall of democracy, the next three months ain’t gonna be a picnic for me, either.
No comments:
Post a Comment