Why Teachers Get Gray

By the end of the school day yesterday, I was so out of sorts that I figured I would snarl at anyone who crossed me. During 5th period, I heard an angry male voice in the hall, yelling. Turned out to be one of my colleagues reading the riot act to a couple of our youngsters whom he had banished to the hallway. My students, of course, were curious as to who was in trouble...and why. The boy of the duo--I'll call him "James"--was getting the worst of it. One of my kids asked, "I wonder what he did?" My response was, "If you ask him, I'll bet he'll say he didn't do anything at all." And sure enough...before the period was over...I heard him plying his plea with anyone who walked by: "I didn't do anything." Sure! (This only showed me that I'm not the only one experiencing problems!) *(Oops! Check the asterisks for paragraph breaks...again!) In my last post, I mentioned a lost textbook. The lit texts are brand new this year--and quite thick. I suspect they are $75-$80 books, so when one is lost, it's a big deal to a kid whose family will have to pay for it. This student's book has been missing for a couple of months. He had left it in the classroom and it just disappeared, thereafter. He (I'll call him "Craig") was convinced that another student ("Stan") had taken it just to make his life miserable because Stan harasses Craig all the time, under his breath. Just to accommodate Craig, I did a book check in all of my classes, where students had to produce their books and convince me that they had the ones that were assigned to them. We uncovered one mix-up, but not the missing one. I figured we'd have to wait until the end of the year to uncover the book. In the meantime, just this week, I issued Craig a new book--mentioning in class that he'd have to pay for a new one if the old one didn't show up. That very same class, Stan asked what would happen if a student paid for a lost book but then I found out that someone else had it. Interesting question! Today, sometime between 3rd and 5th period, the missing book mysteriously appeared on the counter in my room! Of course, Craig wants us to watch surveillance camera video to see if we can find out who had it...but I doubt if it would prove anything. Kids lie, you know? *Back to yesterday. During 7th period--last class of the day...and my worst--I put up with a chronic perpetrator of immature antics for awhile, then finally banished him to the hall. He has spent more time in the hall than he has in the classroom, but it hasn't improved his behavior. SO, when I heard him singing out there, I sent him to the office and called his parent. He is accusing me of picking on him. It might be true! I am less patient with him than with other misbehaving students because HIS misbehavior is constant attention-seeking immaturity...and correcting him has no effect. I feel sorry for his parents! *Thus, when I got home yesterday and Robin replied "Why should I?" when I asked to take her book to her room, I just about came unglued! With each passing day, I am more and more certain that retirement is the right decision for me. It isn't fair for the rest of the people in my personal life to get the brunt of my frustrations carrying over from school! *I felt a little better today re: the cold. I guess I'll live...darn it! *And speaking of cold, I am SO read for the weather to begin to take a change for the better. May the Force be with you all!

Greetings from the House of Tired

It's been a week since I last posted on here. I haven't because nothing of any import has transpired that could possibly be of interest to anyone...but one of my friends complained, so this is for you, Mike!

I have caught the cold that the rest of my resident family has. It isn't a major deal...just enough to make me cough and blow ugly stuff. My bad ear is stuffy, too... My mother always said, "It's hell to get old." And she wasn't even talking about illness!

I haven't resorted to marking the days until retirement off a calendar yet, but the absence of stress is more and more desirable as the semester goes on. I'm just, in a word, POOPED. I have friends who work longer hours and longer weeks than I do, but they aren't all on stage chasing hormone-driven students around all day. When I am at school, there is a constant adrenaline rush. It isn't just a matter of teaching; it's all about making sure that no one's sensitivities are insulted. It is reporting a mess in the girls' restroom when someone (two days in a row) threw a used sanitary product against a wall. It is tracking down the truth in a situation where one youngster's book has been missing for months, and another asks "What happens if a kid pays for a lost book and you find out that someone else has it?" And when that same kid reports to a classmate that he saw someone throw away his student ID (and didn't report it to anyone, nor fish it out of the trash), I have to follow up on that, too. Then there is a young lady who reports that the boys in the seats near her are "touching [her] butt" every time she walks by...and someone else calls a classmate or a teacher a "faggot". There is the baby mouse that came out of a locker, only to be stomped on by a student...the banished cell phone that goes off in class...the rampant cheating, and trying to explain to a parent that her kid was cheating when he swears he wasn't...the parents and students who ask if there is any extra credit to bring their grades up (when simply doing the assignments in the first place would help)...getting homework together for an absent student...grading papers and getting the grades on the computer software that parents see...answering parent emails, writing up behavior infractions, making modifications (Response to Intervention) for kids who are failing, attending conferences for special ed. kids or kids who are misbehaving miserably. There is bringing a little extra food from the grocery store for a family with four kids who is down on luck. Oh, yes...and the "no gum" rule... (Our classrooms are carpeted.) And I can honestly report that all of the above have happened in the last 24 hours! I could add more...but you get the drift. IF I can get control of a class at any given time, I MIGHT be able to teach them something!

Tomorrow morning at 7:15, there is a conference with a parent about a youngster that drives me nuts. I'll let you know how that goes. Several of us (teachers) have expressed that we could look the other way if someone in the high school next year decided to "clean his clock"...

When I get home, I start supper, pick up the grandchildren and hope for the best. Do dishes....usually supervise homework or something...and fall into a dead heap.

Meg is the Vacation Queen! Her free time is limited, so she has been working on vacation time for us. Apparently, we will be going somewhere in early June...genealogy, just the two of us...and she has already booked a place for us in Gatlinburg for a long Fourth of July weekend. Her nickel. I can't get excited about it right now. Have to get through the school year, first!

Time for bed. Nightie.

Crabby Appleton

Most people reading this...(does anyone?)...are probably too young to remember a cartoon program that was in my baby brother's generation, called Tom Terrific. There was a character on the show named Crabby Appleton. I have felt like that character all day today!

The day didn't start well. I have taken on the job of making the children's lunches. (I HATE making lunches!) Last fall, Meg decided that the children should make their own, but that didn't last long because they have to be made the night before if the kids do them...and with supper, homework, stories, baths, and frantic bedtimes for tired mommies and grandmothers, there just isn't enough time or patience to have them do lunches, too. Okay...so...somehow, Robin's lunchbox didn't make it home from Grandma Judy's yesterday. We have a spare, but her thermos and the little frozen gel things that keep food cool were in the missing box. I was trying to put together lunches that would work without the "necessaries". Blah! Robin, who had made her way to my bed during the night again, didn't wake up in the best mood. Just getting everyone up, dressed, lunched, and out the door was a hassle.

At school, I was put in charge of collecting field trip permission slips and money. The deadline was yesterday. As of today, we were still almost 50% shy of having them all in. I had to talk to each student independently to figure out why they hadn't turned anything in. A couple truly didn't want to go. Several really don't have the funds ($10). Most of the rest simply had lost their permission slips and hadn't bothered to ask for another. Argh! The absolutely amazing part to me is that the one youngster who has complained TWICE that they didn't get a field trip last year because the 7th grade teachers had given up on their behavior is one of the latter! Then there was the youngster who vented that if we wanted them to go on this field trip so bad, the school district should pay the fees...and they should AT LEAST get lunch out of the deal. (I told him that I didn't think he should go because his attitude wasn't great. We'll see if he brings his stuff tomorrow!)

Behavior in school, for the uninitiated, is always the worst in February. That is proving true this year, as usual. By the time I get to 7th period, I am ready to strangle several kids! Had one approach me at the beginning of class today, during our ten minutes of silent reading, to ask, "Can I go to the library to work on my social studies project?" Excuse me??? For the last two days, we have had some charming young lady cast her used sanitary product against a wall in the girls' restroom near my classroom. Lovely...

And then I get to come home to the chaos here. Robin's mood wasn't great. Ryan declared that it isn't fun "here". (That bit the big one. We run full tilt to try to keep things somewhat fun, even during routine times.) I couldn't find the vocab list that Robin will be tested on this week. Meg finally found it, but because Robin was tired and not attending to it, Meg heard the impatience in my voice from her bedroom and chastised me. And so it goes...

Yes, I am aware that in a few months, 50% of the stress will be gone. I will no longer have to go to school every day, but I will take on other responsibilities...and will have to be careful that I don't take on too much. Right now, Meg and I are BOTH overwhelmed...and it's not pretty!

Bah! Humbug!

My Heart Aches...

There are times in life when we feel bad that all we have to do is look around to discover that others have it worse than we do.

One of my colleagues at school--7th grade English teacher, favorite of students and all-around really nice guy--has terminal cancer. He has been battling it for a couple of years now, but it seems to be winning. Rich is 34. He is married to our high school's French teacher, has three-year-old twins and an infant...and we are all very worried about the whole family. He was rushed to the emergency room this morning with severe abdominal pain...and was admitted. No one knows what the problem is, at present. The flurry of activity at school has been to donate unused sick leave days to Rich and his wife so they can at least maintain their level of income while they continue their battle. I calculated that I have enough sick days accrued that I could be absent for the rest of the year and still have some days left. I have joined the list of donors.

If you are reading this and are a praying person, please add Rich and Julie Dimmack to your prayer list.

The other sadness that I encountered today has to do with one of my students. Had her brother last year. There is another brother in the middle school...and a 3-year-old. The father has abandoned the family. Last fall, my student reported to me that their power had been turned off. What I didn't realize was that it was off for six weeks!!!! She reported to me a couple of weeks ago that they were about to lose their power again. When I asked if there was enough food at home, she said, "Sometimes." I went to the administration about it...and I am glad I did! There was a flurry of activity today. Don't know what is being done about the power situation, but the mother has been directed to a local food pantry, and one of our staff went to the house today with toiletry articles. The mother broke down when toilet paper was delivered. Can you imagine how horrible it must feel not to be able to afford TP for your family??? The 3-year-old wears a size of clothing that Robin just outgrew, so I have two bags of clothing to deliver. Help is on the way. I just don't know how much it will help. These are nice kids. They don't deserve this.

And with that, I say thanks be to God that my daughter and grandchildren are with me. I totally didn't understand that they were sometimes in the same situation as the family I just wrote about. Since they came here, we have struggled for space and time, but we have food on the table and a roof over our heads...and vehicles that still work. We have sacrificed some important things, but both Meg and I accept where we are in the scheme of things. Family is everything to me. If I were to drop dead tonight, I would not have any regrets!

Look around. As God has given you, give back to your fellow man. The returns on your efforts will bless you, doubly. (Gosh...that's deep!)

Bedtime for this old lady. Nightie!

Day Off???

Because it was President's Day (Great American's Day) today, Robin and Ryan and I had the day off. Megan had to work. The children came back from Muncie in good moods, although it was a little traumatic. Daddy's car began to overheat at exit 14 north of Indy, so Meg had to meet him to get the kids. Hope he got back to Muncie okay...somehow.

Because today was a holiday, I invited Ryan to have a sleepover in Grandma's room last night. (Robin had already had a turn at that a couple of weeks ago.) Robin decided she wanted in on the deal, so she slept on the floor next to my bed, and Ryan snuggled with me. (Those days are soon to be over. Little boys do not need to be sleeping with Grandma. I was just trying to even the score.)
Robin, unfortunately coughed most of the night...and most of today. No fever...no sore throat...no earache. Just cough.

I kept the kids with me today. They were mostly good, but we were busy! I bribed the children with a reward for cleaning their rooms. Robin dug right in. Ryan decided he wanted "teamwork". In between, we went to meet Megan for lunch and deliver Girl Scout cookies to Meg's co-workers who had ordered them. "Here are the cookies that you ordered ." I'm sure they were happy to see us leave!

When we got back, we worked some more on the rooms. I took the kids to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things...and their rewards for working on their rooms and being good. Then home to get supper together. I was not very happy about the amount of candy that the children were consuming, thanks to Valentine's Day. (I was unaware of most of it.) Which leads me to this:

We start the year with Valentine candy...then progress to Easter candy, then Halloween candy and Christmas candy. We made Christmas cookies and Valentine cookies...and now it's Girl Scout cookie time! Neither of the children ate well today (surprise, surprise) so I declared at supper time that if they weren't interested in eating supper, the candy would ALL be confiscated. (Both had some stashed in their rooms!) We need to eat better around here. 'Tis a battle!

Meg has a course assignment due tomorrow night that wasn't posted as of 5:00 this evening. That is just totally not right! She is pretty much done in by the fact that she has had zero personal time. (I haven't either, actually, but at least I'm not under the constant deadlines of school assignments.)

Meg has to put in for her vacation time much in advance of need. For the first time in my life, my "vacation time" after the school year is over, will be open. Part of me wants everyone to leave me alone for a little bit in order to ease into the retirement deal...but I am aware that the rest of the world just keeps on spinning. She is challenging me to help detail vacation trips. All I can think of is "How can we afford it?" Maybe this is good for me. Maybe it is irresponsible. As usual, I respond...we'll see!

Valenstime's Day

First, understand that Valentine's Day holds no romantic meaning for me. When I was a married lady, I expected some recognition of the moment, sometimes disappointedly...but having spent the last 18 years as a single lady, I am not the least disturbed that I don't spend the day with someone "special". I'm not into self-pity. I AM aware, however, that the children are eager.

Last week, Grandma Judy had Valentine mailboxes that the children put together, made of foam. Since Valentine's day this year is on Saturday when the children are in Muncie, Meg decided that it would be fun to put something special in their mailboxes all week, upping the ante with each passing day. At first, they didn't get it...but it soon became of interest. Today, they both got Webkinz animals. Woo-hoo!

This semester's classes have buried Meg in homework because the instructor of one of them doesn't post assignments too long before they are due. Her system of using the weekends to do assignments while the children are gone doesn't really work, and her inability, therefore, to help with housework puts us all under the gun. I help out as best I can. Tonight, I volunteered to take the children to Muncie so she could get a major project done. Took Ryan to get a haircut, then both kids out for dinner, then delivered them to Muncie 1 1/2 hours away. They were good as gold.

Wish I could say that my students were also "good as gold". Unfortunately, the last class of my teaching career doesn't particularly make me proud. I won the "favorite teacher" poll for the yearbook, but I don't hold much store in that. I have told them all not to become pilots or surgeons... (Don't think there is any chance of that!)

Happy Valentine's Day to whoever cares!

Movie Night

Yesterday, Meg promised Ryan that she would take him out to buy a new bike because he had pretty much outgrown his old one. Never mind that it is still winter! I took Robin to Girl Scouts and Meg was good on her promise. They came home with an Optimus Prime (Transformers) bicycle...and it wasn't all that cheap. THEN Meg looked in Ry's preschool folder and found a note from his teachers saying that he had been totally disruptive during school that day. Had she found the note first, there would have been no bike! She and Ry had a long talk about his behavior at school. He didn't respond all that well. I think Meg was more concerned about his bad response than the behavior that created the need to talk about it. I don't blame her!

Tonight, because the weather was warm, both children wanted to ride bikes when they got home. We had already declared that it would be Movie Night this evening, which meant that Robin had to do homework early. She didn't like having to give up some of her play time to do homework, but she is enjoying movie night now!

Imagine my surprise to hear Major Pat (WW9E) on our local repeater tonight. Apparently he is going through Indy on his way home to Michigan from Chicago. Methinks his map is upside down!

Big winds due tomorrow. Heads up!

My Mind Was In the Gutter...

We have open "trough" gutters on our house. They are a real pain in the neck...have to be cleaned out twice a year...and neither Meg nor I do well on ladders. In the past, some of my ham friends have taken pity on me and cleaned them out. (Ham operators are used to climbing on roofs to install antennas!) This fall, the cold weather hit before we got all of the leaves raked or the gutters cleaned out. A week or two ago, a fellow knocked on the door, standing under icicles that hung from the clogged gutters in the aftermath of our 12 inch snowfall, and asked if I wanted a free estimate for a "maintenance free" gutter system. I figure I'm due for a new roof and gutters, so I accepted--just as a starting place, to get an idea what's out there and how much it can cost. The appointment was set for yesterday early-afternoon. *(System, once again, won't let me double-space, so look for the asterisk for paragraph breaks!!) *I've been through these in-house estmate deals before. You have to listen to their schpiel about how they are a reputable company with a superior product. Then, finally, they get down to the nitty-gritty about price...and it's always expensive. (Sears came--in the mid-90s--to give me an estimate on refacing the kitchen cabinets. Remember that my kitchen is small. The price was over $10k. I pretty much just laughed nervously at the guy. I could have a whole new kitchen for that much, even now!) *The salesman was personable and polite. I listened patiently to his litany for an hour; then he went out to measure. Then we had to play a little game about prices. THEN, he revealed his Gutter Shutter one-year guaranteed price: just over $5,800. The cost was obviously too high, but the real kicker was that he wanted a "down payment" of over $2,000 for work that wouldn't be completed until sometime in the spring. (There are constant reminders on the news about not paying for services before they are delivered. Even **I** know that!) *In the course of our conversation, "John" started calling a guy on one of those Nextel Direct Connect deals--like a walkie-talkie. (This is like the used car salesman saying he has to talk to his manager to see if he can cut a deal.) As he talked to the guy, in my earshot, suddenly, I could have some kind of discount, which brought the price down to $4k+. Then there was the "coupon" which brought it down another $500...and yet another discount. In short order the price was down to under $3k IF I BOUGHT THAT DAY. The down payment now was about $300...but he kept calling the guy on the walkie-talkie, even after I said "no" about a dozen times in a dozen polite ways. The guy on the other end of the phone was getting obnoxious. Finally, I said "The conversation is over." When John told him that, he said, "No, it's NOT over until she tells us what it will take to get her business." Excuse me?? I told John he would do well to turn off the phone. By this time, Meg was out of her bedroom and ready to call the police. John SEEMED to be embarrassed, saying "I don't know why he is acting this way"...but he never shut off the phone. As John was packing up to leave, the guy on the other end of the phone was still blabbering on about how I would fall off a ladder and kill myself in the process of cleaning out gutters. By this time, I was no longer listening. *I am convinced that Gutter Shutter has a nice product, but after doing extensive Internet research, I am also convinced that there is no such thing as "maintenance free" gutter systems. Gutter Shutter sales tactics had many poor reviews...although their product didn't. Needless to say, I was somewhat shaken by that whole deal. I've had high-pressure sales pitches before, but never had one quite that obnoxious! I look for them to call this week. Many of the reviews I read on the Web indicated that someone called back later. I won't be taking that call! *Meg and I have had several conversations about how things "should" be when I retire. I'm trying to think ahead. Typically, the first couple of weeks of summer break contain an emotional "let down". It isn't depression--just sudden absence of stress. Some summers, without a plan, I've floundered the whole season, then kicked myself because none of the things on my to-do list got done. It's all schedule-driven. Hurry, hurry because there is an end to the available time. This year, there will be no end...until I die. I hope everyone can be patient with me. It will be an adjustment! *We went out today to get Valentine things. Grandma Judy provided mailbox kits for the children....Valentine mailboxes, made out of foam. Meg decided, that since the kids will be in Muncie on the actual day, we should have Valentine Week...providing a little treat every day in their mailboxes, just for fun. I think they'll love it. *Today, Meg asked me what I have always wanted to do but hadn't. I was at a loss! I've had a pretty full life, all things considered...but I've never seen the Grand Canyon, and I've never seen the Statue of Liberty. I would like to take exploratory excursions just to take in local color in states that were a part of my heritage. But ya know...my biggest goal in life was to raise a happy family and be able to provide "them" with the roots that I never had. My divorce canned some of that, but buying this little bungalow in Plainfield and working my buns off for my daughter's well-being and happiness worked for me. If I were told that I would die in a month, I wouldn't have any regrets. I gave all I had to give. Still do. I can live with that!

Memory Selection Day

Every six weeks or so, I assign a memory selection to my classes. Generally, the selections are poems or documents that I know students will see/hear quoted often in their lives. The first one I assign each year is the school's fight song, and they get more difficult from there. The kids hate them! Never mind that they know the lyrics to a zillion songs. They are convinced that they can't memorize anything. I always give at least four weeks from the time it is assigned until it is due. Students can opt to write it or recite it. I don't count off for spelling, punctuation, or format, and I overlook little word glitches. I will even prompt students who are "stuck".

This month's selection was from the beginning of the Declaration of Independence, starting with "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." I'm sorry, but I believe that every red-blooded American student should know those words and the ones that follow. Call me old-fashioned!

Today was Memory Selection Day. Cheating is always rampant. I have to be very alert for that. Over the years, I have had to progress to providing the students paper to write on so they can't substitute a previously completed copy for the one they are to submit. In the beginning, I gave them white computer paper...then had to advance to giving them colored paper because they caught onto the white paper. Once they figured out that they couldn't match the paper color, they became quite creative about where to hide the original in order to copy it. Today, I caught no fewer than six kids in the process! One had the text stashed on the back of the seat in front of him. Another had a copy stashed on the cart with the overhead projector on it, near him. Still another had one in a book bag on the floor at his side. Yet another had one under the somewhat transparent cover of a folder in this view. Still yet another, was holding one in her hand, held close to her stomach...and another had several near the wastebasket (looking like waste paper). What disturbs me about this is that only ONE kid was embarrassed enough about it to lie to me. The rest saw it as a challenging game that they lost. Hahahaha! No big deal, right? I will be calling their parents, but I don't expect that it will matter. I have told them all that I don't want them to become pilots or surgeons. "Uh...I forgot to read the chapter on how to land the plane. I only read the part about getting in the air."

I have considered that I could drop the memory selections, just to reduce my own stress levels, but I really think it is a valuable tool in English. Guess what? Next year, it won't matter!

Retirement

I turned in my retirement letter to the Superintendent today. There are still some loose ends that aren't tied up, and I wasn't making much progress with them tonight. Like a missing $20,000 in a VEBA account... Phone calls tomorrow!

Everything around here is so tied up in bad weather that I can hardly see straight. We have multiple inches of snow on the ground, even after a melt. It was below zero this morning. The weather is supposed to improve, but only rain...and later, warmer temps. That will make for slush and flood. The grandchildren have cabin fever. So do I!! Tense situations here.

I turned in my retirement letter today. Big step!
Some of my friends make it sound like retirement should be a piece of cake for me. Not so!
I will probably work harder as a retired person than I ever did working. The difference is stress. Teaching is a stressful vocation. Anyone who has ever faced 25 students six times a day understands. I won't be moving to Florida and I won't be lying around eating bon-bons. I will do the same as I do now, only without the stress of commuting to school, making lesson plans, grading papers, answering to parents, tending to Response to Intervention, and performing for six periods of students every day. I won't be able to sleep late. There are grandchildren that need to get to school on time. I look forward to the new situation, but I'm not stupid enough to think it will be one big vacation.

I need for the sun to come out and stay out for awhile. I need the snow to go away. I need to find the driveway again and to be able to walk around without worrying if I'll fall on my bottom. I need spring!! We have robins already. Some wintered over, which disturbs me, some. How can I tell if spring is approaching if the robins are already here??

Strange Day

When I looked outside at 6:30 this morning, it was simply just a cold morning. When I left the house to head for school at 6:55, it was snowing like crazy, and I had to brush about an inch of white stuff off the car. Hmmmm.... Where did that come from? I didn't leave soon enough to accommodate a slow commute.

The roads were horrible. Of course, it is still dark at that hour--and gets darker as I travel westward. Visibility was bad. I couldn't see where the lane was. Very light traffic on the interstate, thankfully, but we were only doing 35. When I exited onto SR 39 (a 2-lane road with no shoulder), there was a car stalled in the southbound roadway. I had just enough charge left on my cell phone to call school and tell them I was going to be late. I wasn't the only one! Students were being shunted to the cafeteria for before-school tutoring. Apparently the snow had come down at over 3 inches an hour. I had to put the radio microphone down to concentrate on my driving. Unheard of!

We were dismissed early due to blowing snow. Strange...the sun was shining by then, but the roads were still treacherous.

Before going to pick up the children from Grandma Judy's, I stopped at our local grocery store, and there ran into the twin brother of the young man who had emailed me yesterday!!! (See previous post.) We had a nice chat. He lives in Plainfield, not far from us. I don't have a clue what the significance of the coincidence is, but it sure is one! Turns out that his wife (also one of my former students) is the full-day Kdg. teacher at Van Buren Elementary where Robin goes (and Ryan will, next year).

Don't know what tomorrow will bring. The wind has created blowing and drifting of the nasty white stuff. I'm done with winter. IS ANYBODY LISTENING???????

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The Good:
I got a very nice email at school today from a former student of mine...someone who graduated from MHS about 10 years ago or so. I had him as a Sophomore and again as a Senior...and he was in one of the plays I directed. He wondered if I had forgotten who he was. Not so! He was one of my favorites...and apparently, I was one of his. He was a "spirited" young man. I was happy to hear from him--especially the part where he said I had helped to make him into the person he is today (and he is happy with who that is). Don't get those kind of kudos very often!

The Bad:
I have a couple of current students who are not working up to potential and have decided to drag the rest of the classes down with them. I'm not the meanest teacher on the planet, but I am stubborn. Everyone got a warning today that I was willing to clear out the classroom, if that's what it took, in order to keep the kids who wanted to learn in a good environment.

The Ugly:
The weather continues cold and yucky. The pristine snow that we got last week is now clumps of ugly stuff. Had a big melt yesterday, but it will take many more before we will see the ground again.

On another subject, if I retire at the end of this year, I have two four-drawer file cabinets and two big cupboards to clean out. (That won't be too tough. Just pitch it all!) I have things left over from the days that I taught elementary school--what? 13 years ago? Meg and I have yet to discuss the logistics of what will happen. I would likely take over pre-and-post-school care for the children. I already cook dinner on the weeknights, and make the kids' lunches...and do most of the laundry. I am hoping to work out a deal with Grandma Judy for the summer months, just so I can have some time for me. Last summer, the children went to day care as usual, but that is expensive, and Nathan's child support was reduced this year because Judy and Phil took over the school-year duties. It will all work out. We just have to keep talking and determining how to fill everyone's needs.

Meg ended up taking today off. Grandpa Phil had a doctor's appointment at 9:00, so Meg took the kids to school...but she didn't have her own homework done because we had Robin over the weekend, and Ryan was returned home early yesterday. (Superbowl, you know...) Schedules get complicated! As far as Meg and I are concerned, dinnertime is sacred. We eat at what the television calls the "family table"--all of us together. The tough part is that she usually doesn't get home until nearly 6:00, which makes for a late evening for the children...and she (and I) are most always tired by the time that hits. Tonight was pleasant because I BOUGHT supper instead of fixed it, and we could eat early because she was home. Plus, Robin didn't have a ton of homework. Yay!

Here we are in February now. We aren't out of the woods for bad weather until after the middle of the month. Have I mentioned that I hate winter????