Friday, November 9, 2007
November already?
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Ignoring the noise... www.momtofive.com [Note: Several hours of sitting and picking away at this post made it quite lengthy...anyone who gets to the end of it should get some kind of prize. I don't actually have a prize, but isn't the thought that you deserve one the important part?]
I can hardly believe it is November 9th. When I was little, all the old people would tell me that times moves faster as you get older. I would respond with a skeptical look but decided not to argue.I must be old now. Because time seriously flies by. I'm sitting here at the kitchen table while Brenna is taking a Math test, Tanner and Braden are studying for a Grammar test, Caleb is having his computer turn, and Kraig is sleeping. I figure I have about ten minutes until something or someone needs attention. Of course, since I'm old now, ten minutes will seem much less. Our week was full of ups and downs. I thought it was going to be a slower pace, but I was sorely mistaken. I had a couple doctor appointments (girl doctors....no detail needed) and today I have an eye doctor appointment. I'm not sure how all of that ended up in one week. Anyway, we also had Awana, youth group, Brenna's Daisy group, worship team practice and haircuts as well as soccer and football games. School went really well this week -- one of those times you see actual progress. We're working on Tanner's reading speed and comprehension with a program called "The Reader's Edge". It is interesting how it works and he doesn't mind it very much. It's not that he doesn't read well, but I call him a magazine style reader. Lots of pictures and short clips of information. His comprehension is great, but he gets intimidated by a lot of chapters. I know a lot of adults who are this way. Right now periodicals are the majority of my reading just because when I get involved in a good book I end up reading at the expense of laundry, cooking, sleeping, caring for the children, paying attention to my husband....you get the picture. But I do want Tanner to be able to read longer pieces...it's vital for college and there are so many good books out there. My husband isn't a big reader - he said he was burned out in college. Twenty-four credit hours each semester at the AirForce Academy will do that to you, I suppose. So all that to say, I'm glad we got Tanner started on this program and I hope it gives him more confidence to tackle the books. Brenna is funny. She's so smart, but man she can dilly-dally. I wouldn't push her schoolwork at this age, but I'm finding for issues of character I have to give her a more challenging set of goals. Learning to apply herself and complete a job in a reasonable amount of time is my goal. The other day, she had a math page of two-digit subtraction. She played with her pencil, talked to her brothers, played with Kraig, tried to get a snack and only a couple of math problems were done in about 20 minutes. I told her she had ten minutes to finish the remaining problems (I think there were 25 total) or she would be disciplined. She started to whine and pull out the poochy lip to convince me that was impossible, but I ignored her. I am not kidding... FOUR MINUTES LATER she showed me the completed page - and every problem was correct. Even she started laughing when I pointed out the minute hand on the clock. (big pause here - had to grade grammar tests, find Tanner's protractor, listen to Braden's poem and help Brenna divide her money into Tithe, Save and Spend.) Braden had a lesson in humility this week. On the way to Awana Wednesday night he bragged to the family and one of Tanner's friends who was with us that he had never gotten less than a B+ on a test. We scolded him at the time for boasting, but life-lessons are so much more effective. The next day he took a Math test...he scored 70%...C-. Isn't that great? You wouldn't think that a good homeschool mom would be thankful for the C-, but I know the character lesson was way more important than the academic lesson. It wasn't that he didn't know the material, he had completely skipped two problems and one whole section, then made a few silly errors on other problems. He was genuinely upset - quietly asking me if he would still maintain an A average. That made me chuckle. By the way, he re-took the test without getting to see his errors, and scored a 92%. Both scores will go on his report card. This morning we went over to the football field at the school to join the elementary and Junior High students in a Veteran's Day Ceremony. I was singing the National Anthem with one of the teachers at the school who is a personal friend. The ceremony was well done and I think it's great that the principal stresses a holiday that is often over-looked. The principal heads up a Cadet Corp for the Junior-Highers and it is great to see the kids learning the silent rifle drills, presentation of colors (the flags) and how to stand at attention for long periods of time. I would love for my boys to be involved in that. It's cloudy today. I love it. For those of you in colder climates I know you think I'm crazy, but when the sun shines 362 days out of the year, the few days of overcast skies are a nice break. Our weather has been warmer than usual, still getting up to the mid 90's, so I am loving today. I think the high temp is supposed to be 84 degrees. Tanner had quite a struggle last night. He has been quarterback on his football team all year, but after they lost a couple games he got frustrated. In his mind, it is never his fault. In his opinion, the refs didn't call it right, the coach didn't give the right plays or the receivers weren't catching the ball. His coach sensed his bad attitude and pulled him out of the QB position half way through the last game and put him at wide receiver. In our minds, that was a good thing. At the time, his team was down 20 to 0, and with a different quarterback throwing to Tanner and the other wide receiver, our team came back and tied up the game by the end. You'd think this was good, right? Nope. Tanner was not happy. Then last night at his practice the coach flat out told him that he was moving him out of QB for a while. Tanner came home very upset. Now, I'm not telling you this because I'm proud of my son's attitude and actions. But this is one of the "downs" in our week, and if I only share the "ups" then I'm not being real. We could tell that Tanner was totally wrong, and after trying to discuss it with him for a minute, J sent him downstairs to eat his dinner and then take a shower. In the mean time, J called and talked to Coach. Coach was gracious, but said flat out that Tanner had changed some of the plays in the huddle, walked through the routes during practice, and left the practice early. J asked the Coach if he wanted Tanner off the team and the Coach said no, so J and Coach agreed to work together on Tanner's attitude. When we confronted Tanner later he was defensive and again tried to blame everyone else. But it got really funny when I asked Tanner what HE thought he had done wrong. Looking down at his feet he begrudgingly replied: "I argued with my coach." "What else?" I asked. "I was lazy during practice." "Uh, huh, what else?" "I was disrespectful" "Yep...anything else?" "I wasn't a good leader to my team." "Ok, Tanner," I replied, "would you want a kid like you on your team??" "Nope." he responded. I would like to tell you at this point that Tanner was totally repentant and contrite, but that would not be true. He continued to try to argue that he was trying to do what the coach said and coach kept changing his mind. We didn't buy it, but told him that he could consider this a life-lesson and coaches, bosses, spouses and friends will not always be fair. Tanner is not one to be mad long, so he woke up more cheerful this morning, but he is grounded from his favorite computer games for a week, he has to do ten laps around the field for being lazy, and he has to sincerely apologize to his coach for his attitude on Monday. If he can't apologize sincerely or he stands on the side line with a bad attitude, then we'll increase the discipline. Bottom line is that he has to learn to respect authority, regardless of whether or not that authority is always right or always fair. So, after telling you that ugly story, I'll end on some up notes:
Ok, this book really needs to come to an end. I hope everyone else is enjoying November and gearing up for the Holidays. |
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