I'm unpopular

I'm very unpopular with my children lately.  We are into the last 6 weeks of school here.  This means that the schools are slacking off on the teaching.  Really, it does.  I don't know how it works where y'all live- but here, they teach till the kids take the state tests and then it's like play day.  The amount off assignments slack off.  The teachers relax rules.  The kids get cabin fever.  B, who was born hating school to start with, is a fairly good student.  He's not a kid who's going to take the AP classes but he's usually at least a B student.  Science has been his biggest struggle thru the years.  He's definitely his mom's son.  I had straight A's in high school except for science. I just didn't get it.  I got my only C in high school in science.  And did the most work for that class too.  Most unfair.  B's best subject has always been math.  It's what he's usually pulled an A in.  With fairly little effort.  It's also the class he's liked to go to the most/complained about the least.  Until this year.  B had the unfortunate experience this year of getting the same math teacher that had all 3 of his older brothers plus one of my foster sons.  This is not a first time that one boy has gotten the same teacher that one of the brothers has had.  B's 4th grade teacher had both Little Man and Ice Cube in 3rd grade.  However, this teacher is different.  His grade- he's still maintained a B average.  But for some reason, this child of mine who doesn't socialize, doesn't go to friends houses, rarely invites friends over, and that we can hardly ever get to talk has spent the whole year in trouble.  Now, I will say that Hurricane was my social butterfly.  He never quit talking in school.  There's no stop switch between his brain and his mouth.  Seriously.  He thinks it- it comes out his mouth.  It's irritating.  He was my first go-round with this teacher.  When Ice Cube was in her class, she wrote him up for being tripped.  Another child tripped him and he got the write up.  Not the child that did the tripping.  Ice Cube.  Then we get to the foster son- well, he had issues.  And that's a story for a whole another post, but lets say that he had issues.  And every bit of trouble that he got into in her class, he probably deserved.  And then she had Little Man.  My know-it-all child.  My child that argued problems with her and proved her wrong when she marked an answer wrong on his test.  Not once- but several times.  And from dealing with Little Man and his attitude for the last 16 years, I imagine that he was very condescending and irritating when he did.  So, I imagine she cringed when she got B just as I cringed when I saw who he had.  And just as she did with Little Man, she has not followed B's 504 plan.  504 plans are for children who have a disability.  One that is not bad enough to send them to special classes but one that effects their learning.  In the boys cases, it's vision.  Their work is supposed to be enlarged, state tests are in large print, and some other modifications.  

So, why am I unpopular?  B missed school last week.  This put him 4 days behind on work. For a kid who doesn't read real well (tracking issues with vision) this is not a good thing.  He was missing a few labs and the teacher (who also had Ice Cube and foster-son although in this case this is a good thing) emailed me asking me when he was available.  So, mean mom that I am, I volunteered him to stay after school tonight for an extra 2 hours.  Now, Ms Science teacher is a wonderful caring woman.  She answers emails in a timely manner, is more than willing to give her time in tutorials, still asks me how the ex foster-son is doing, and is willing to order in pizza for the kids to have while they're staying after tonight.  I'm not real sure what his problem is other than the typical "I hate school" problem.  And for that- tough.  On top of this, Little Man is missing 3 assignments in English.  I am supposed to ignore this since he "still has a B in there".  Well, it doesn't work that way.  So, I informed him that he wouldn't be going out this weekend if said assignments weren't promptly turned in.  Oh, I'm "ruining his life".  I'm the "worst mom in the world" and "why should I care if he's missing an assignment or 3 if his grade is still up?"  Yes.  It's been a wonderful fun time dealing with this today.  

Well, like my momma always told me:  "Good thing parenting isn't a popularity contest"  I'd be a failing.  I'm definitely NOT popular today.  Doubt I will be tomorrow either.  Good thing I don't care if they like me or not.  Well, not when it comes to these things at least.  I know they still love me even when they don't like me very much.  And whether they do or not- they're stuck with me.  ;) 

On another note, B and I were at the Rangers game last night when history was made.  I'm not talking about the 19-6 win to stop the losing streak they've had going.  I'm not talking about the fact that the bull pen didn't blow it for the starter again.  Although that little fact alone is relatively shocking.  I'm not even talking about the fact that last night was Jackie Robinson day.  Although I admit that it was interesting to try to figure out who the players were last night when they were all wearing #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson.  What a great honor for a great man!  What I'm talking about was Ian Kinsler getting 6 hits in 6 at bats last night and hitting for the cycle.  Now, Kinsler is only the 4th player in Rangers history to hit for the cycle.  And he's only 1 or 2 Rangers to ever go 6 for 6 in a game.  And I will admit that with all the baseball I watch and we watch usually 2 games a night during baseball season - no less than 1 game every day and there's a 162 game season - that I have never seen a player hit the cycle.  For those of you who don't know what that means: he hit a single, a double, a triple, and a home-run all in the same game.  There are players who have hit for the cycle before.  I've heard of it done before - I just hadn't been watching that game that particular day.  I have just never seen it done.  And I heard on the radio this morning that the last time a player went 6 for 6 and hit for the cycle in the same day was 119 years ago.  And I may never forget the site of Ian Kinsler's face when he tipped his hate to the crowd as we sat in awe trying to figure out if he had just done what we thought he might have and then got a standing ovation.   Another congratulations to Nelson Cruz for the grand slam.  A great game on a night to honor a great man.  I'm glad B and I went.  It was also autograph Weds at the ball park and we were lucky enough to get several autographs.  So, a big thanks to those gentlemen who took time to sign autographs for the fans there with a smile.