Found on the counter today

I checked W.'s grades online again and blew another gasket. It'll be bad when I just stop caring, right? His grades are completely mediocre again and he's sporting another "D" in the admittedly boring elective. But boredom aside, he is definitely smart enough to be getting far better grades with very little effort. SO I wrote out a list of the assignments (and one quiz) for which he has earned a zero (ie didn't ever turn them in--and whether he did them at all is debatable). He was not happy with my pronouncement from on high that he's not playing with friends again until the grades improve. He sat down and did one of the assignments, all the while protesting that he'd already done it once. Then, to show just how put upon he is, he wrote me a note and left it on the counter next to the homework for me to see this morning. It says: "I just want to be loved --W. K. brother son underapricated [underappreciated]" There was also an arrow pointing to the contested homework and the comment "my Homework thats been done twice." All I can say is that this is going into his baby book and it's a good thing he wasn't awake to hear me belly laugh. Me, my unrealistic expectations, and my lack of appreciation for my oldest, very aggrieved boy--child. ;-)

W. and grades update

My children have been testing me lately to see if I am serious about the consequences I've determined should accompany any and all of their poor choices. Trash the basement? No tv or computer for a month. Check! Eat candy all over the house and stash wrappers to hide evidence? All halloween candy gets donated to the local hopital's children's wing. Check! Don't pull up your grades? Be confined to doing homework of mom's choosing (home-schooling on steroids since he'd also still have to attend school in addition to my lessons). Thank the good heavens that I haven't been tested on this one. I am happy (well, happiness is relative since I know W. is far smarter than his grades show and that means he spent the first 3/4 of the grading period not working to his potential) to say that he's pulled all grades to C and above as of the end of October. With any luck, one or two of those might morph into A's and B's by the time all quarter grades are recorded. So I don't have to make him the world's most miserable 6th grader ever although he is going to be annoyed to find that I'm still going to have a conference with his teaching team to suggest that they don't cut him any slack and let them know my philosophy on my children's schooling (ie: he needs to learn accountability without us lowering expectations given his wily but under-worked brain).