I have had two open houses this week. No, not the homemade skylight in my bedroom kind of open house - at schools. One was for my seventh grader. We got to go out as the family and meet her teachers, etc. It was a harsh lesson in "letting go". First of many lessons in that area, I'm afraid. See, in the seventh grade, our children here in my town go over to the high school. That's called rural, folks. So, she has no transition of middle school, really. It is just boot straps up straight into the high school.
In meeting her teachers, some of which were MY teachers when I went to high school there, I sensed that the overall message was "Stay organized and on top of things." Wow. As a parent, how can you not shriek at making sure your preteen 'stays on top of things' on her own? And as my teacher/parent independent research tells me, the smarter the kid is, the more disorganized. So, my smart preteen is way disorganized might I say. So, I have to let go and let her sink or swim. I can prompt her about things, but it is ultimately up to her. Damn. This parenting stuff is hard.
The second open house was last night at the school where I am teaching. It is a larger high school than the one in my town. It has roughly 880 students in grades 9-12. So, guess how many parents I had show up? Go on. Guess. What would be a good percentage? You're wrong. I had seven sets of parents show up. SEVEN! Parents need to be more involved, I tell ya. I won't even go into that soapbox realm right now. Gosh!
I must fly away to get ready for another school day. It's FRIDAY! Have a Coke and a Smile.
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3 comments:
Yay for Friday! I hear you on sink or swim with the kids. My daughter is only entering 4th grade, but I'm trying to get some sort of drive instilled in her. It's not working. Ack. I'm screwed for high school!!!
Only 7??? What's with that? The rest must really trust you, or just don't care. I never missed a 'open house', even for my high schoolers. Not that it solved all the problems, but at least the teachers knew I was involved. And only 880 between 9-12... small...My kids HS had 2000 when it was just 10-12. I'm so glad they're all through school. Ohhh.. on the funny side... one year I was volunteering at the JR. High and was late for my assignment in the library, so I was sort of running in the hall(kids were in class).... and.. uh... a teacher yelled at me. I turned... showed her my volunteer button... and she just laughed. It's not easy being short!
YEA! for Friday! Diet Coke is on the desk.
Hey Brenda: I am so short that I walked into the library today and the helper asked me for my pass. She thought I was a student. haha
If only she could have seen my face better with the wrinkles and all...
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