I think we've made it. September is over in less than twelve hours. Looking ahead to next week, I don't see any day that has more than two events -- most days in the past few weeks we've had three or four. We're starting to find a new routine that accommodates the new fall activities -- well, all except for Son, who is still forgetting to bring the right book, turn in assignments, etc. The school district changed its electronic grading system right after school started (bad timing, no?) so I was not able to view his grades online until this weekend. Currently he has a perfect 100% average in science -- but two Cs and an F, all due to lost/missing/late/ignored assignments. He's been insisting that he has all his work done, and finishes his homework at school during the study period, so we were buying his assurances that all was well. Not anymore!
Fall is here in the weather as well. The air is now chilly, even when the sun is out. We held out for a while, but finally turned the heater on this morning. And September can't end without acknowledging my dad, who just turned 82. Happy Birthday, Dad!
September 30, 2007
Whew!
September 22, 2007
By way of explanation...
Since my last post, the following family events have occurred:
- six soccer games
- two potluck picnics
- one orchestra audition (son)
- two school open houses
- one all-day field trip (daughter's class - I chaperoned)
- two mornings of standing outside greeting new students as they came on campus
- one book club meeting
- multiple sessions online at various airfare sites wrangling tickets for Thanksgiving travel
- four sleepovers (two for each kid, thankfully at locations other than our house)
- one karate belt award ceremony (daughter)
- three trips back to school to retrieve forgotten items or bring them from home
- one sick day (me, with a head cold)
- oh, and a full-time job (me), two days of consulting at sites two or more hours away (spouse), 6th grade (son) and 3rd grade (daughter).
September 14, 2007
Time Warp
Son started middle school last week. After nine days of classes, he has yet to bring home any work other than a "get to know you" assignment from his homeroom teacher (he had to collect objects that represented his family, how he liked to spend free time, his future plans, etc.). But yesterday he brought home his math book -- by accident, he said, he really didn't have any homework, though how he could not notice that he had an extra 4 pounds in his backpack is a mystery, because that book is HEAVY.
Anyway, I took the opportunity to look through it. I was curious what we would be in for as the year progresses. He's in the only 6th grade section of pre-algebra, which is usually the 8th grade course in the math sequence. I flipped through the chapters, vaguely recognizing things I haven't used in a long while like factorials and graphing equations and finding the slope of a line, and recalling bits and pieces from long-ago math classes. His book looks brand new, though it was signed out to students in two previous years. It has decent graphics, and good review summaries at the end of each chapter, and I was thinking it all looked pretty up-to-date. Then I read the problem that started "Billy Joel and Elton John are giving a concert..." I looked at the copyright date: 1999. I think that reference was dated even then...
