On Friday, Geoff got into a fight on the bus. He also ended up threatening to "destroy" his good friend because his friend sided with the other kid. I'm driving him today, staying home this morning, and waiting for 11:30am when school is let out so I can go pick him up when Fifth Grade is done for the year. I'm tired of this academic year. I'm tired of this behavior. I'm just tired of it all.
I don't even want to write in detail about the fight. It's stupid. It's over stupid stuff. It's just so draining to me that he can't control himself in social situations. I am so sick of this and I don't know what to do. He'd been doing really well. Or I thought. I come to find out that there hasn't been communication coming my direction from the school... and I am just plain flat out frustrated.
Several times in the past few years I've said that I don't think Public School is the place for my boy. I fully believe that, but right now my salary and Doug's salary are just enough to keep us afloat. Us losing one of those to stay home and teach Geoff or pay for some alternative private education is just out of the question. If you ever win Lotto or Mega Millions or Power Ball, keep me in mind... a little "grant" money to start my own little unschooling set up here for the boy... your altruism would be very much appreciated by me and the rest of the civilized world.
I didn't even WANT to send him to school today. I just wanted to say "screw that half a day crap, you're staying right here and watching cartoons." I never thought I'd tell my kids cartoons were a better investment in their time. But he wanted to go to school. He wants to give his friends his new email address (which I monitor and read, and which he basically only sends me email saying 'Hi, John Lennon Here. My ear hurts."). He wanted his report card (dude, I can pick up your report card... later).
The kid loves school, and loves the bus... but can't keep it together enough to be a good boy on a daily basis. And I'm just sooooooooooo over this. Meh.
Anyway. That's mostly what's been going on around here. Jess has emailed daily from Germany, and is updating her facebook page so I can get her little quippy status updates, so my missing of her is minimized just by virtue of a little thing called teh internets.
She called on Saturday and I was so happy to hear from her. She said her German is so bad that she can't really communicate with her family, so it is a very good thing they speak really good English. The weather has been rainy and cold, which is disappointing when you go on a Rhine Cruise and there's nothing to see because of fog and clouds and rain. On Saturday she told me they were going to see A Midsummer Night's Dream in German. She emailed me after and said that it was very good. Her lack of German knowledge was balanced out by her detailed knowledge of Shakespeare, so she was able to follow and enjoy the entire play. That was good to hear.
On June 11th, she celebrated her 16th birthday. Our German (the girl who stayed with us in September, who she is staying with now) told me she would "make Jessica a party" for her birthday. Jess emailed me and said the morning of her birthday her family woke her up with presents, and random Germans walked up to her at school and "sang at" her... not sang to her, but sang at. She was a bit overwhelmed by that. Anna did make a party, and a few people came over and there was a delicious strawberry cake.
For her birthday here, I thought about buying a cake (funnily enough, I was eyeballin' a white cake with strawberries and a light butter cream frosting...) but I didn't. It felt kind of creepy to sit down with birthday cake for someone who isn't there. So when she gets home, it's my turn to "make her a party." With cake.
Doug put in a ton of heirloom and regular tomatoes in the garden, and our meadow plants are starting to grow. There is scant coverage in a few places that we can mark and augment next season... but for the most part things are growing nicely and that makes me happy. We have a tea rose bush on the side of the house that has not done well since we've been here, and this year I've paid it close mind and it seems to be doing very well, with blooms and all. And it's got aphids so I'll be out there with a squirty bottle of lightly soaped water, once it stops raining and misting. Our pansies up front need some miracle grow, so maybe while I'm here this morning waiting for 11:30 I'll run out and care for those. I have some serious weeding to do, but other than that the garden thrives and that's nice.
All told, things have been quiet here aside from Geoff. And I am at a loss as to what to do over on that angle. Suffice to say, happy end of school year. Let's look forward to next and hopefully a better run. On that note, I'm going to move some laundry around, tend to those aforementioned pansies, and have some toast before a shower... and then off to get the Boy and then off to Grandma's with him until Thursday. Huzzah.
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