See What Happens?

CH got his report card yesterday. Or maybe it was the day before. I’ve got my days all mixed up as of late. Life with an infant will do that.

Any who, at the beginning of the year, his chemistry grade was a H.A.M. There was tutoring available and he wasn’t taking advantage of it. He was acting like a D was cool. Uh, no.

So needless to say, I was psyched to see his final grade as a B! Like maybe some of what I said was sinking in. He did get a C in math, but there’s some delay in the final grade on the state exam. He could possibly end up with a B in there as well.

I got home today and HH told me to go look in CH’s room. I knocked and went in to find a tv on his tall dresser.

Me: nice! See what happens when you bring those grades up?

Him: wait. This is because of my grades?

Me: not solely, but do you think this tv would be here if your report card had C’s and D’s?

Him: *looking as if a lightbulb came on* nope!

Now, I actually didn’t know HH was gonna get him a tv today. We need to flesh out the rules for usage and what things constitute removing the satellite box and Xbox. But I hope he sees now that there can be good consequences for doing what you’re supposed to do. It’s a welcomed change from having to discipline all. The. Time.

We shall see how long this lasts. LOL

Teen Tales

CH’s bedroom was the only one without a ceiling fan when we moved in. We thought that was odd, and HH went out and bought one. Then when he took the light fixture out, he realized why. The structure wasn’t there to attach it. We had to have an electrician come out to check some other things, so we had him check on the fan. He had to go up into the crawl space, but now the teen has a ceiling fan.

Which he feels the need to leave on the high setting, even when he’s not in the room.

Uh, did Duk.e Energy announce that power was free this week? No? OK, then I’mma need you to turn the fan off when you are chillin’ in other parts of the house. Thanks!

On Thursday and Friday mornings, HH works first shift, so he leaves for work around the same time CH leaves for the bus. I heard him ask the teen had he turned the fan off in his room, and I heard the teen say yes. Matter of fact, he even went back into his room before he left for the bus stop.

So, imagine my surprise & chagrin, when following instincts, I went to check his room and the damn fan was on high, just a blowin’ away at nothing?!?

Dude. Seriously? Seriously.

I am going to fight this kid!! LOL!

Open House

Today was open house at the teen’s new school. This will be his school for his last two years of high school. It will be Baby H’s high school unless we move or get re-zoned.

Anywho, I left work early and met the guys over there. That school is pretty big. They gave us a map and we went around to all his first semester classes. His first semester involves alternating between gym and JROTC for his first class, then Algebra II, Contemporary Law and Justice, and last but not least, Chemistry.

At first I could tell he was being a little timid. As we walked around and met the teachers, he seemed to perk up. His algebra teacher looks like he could be one of the students! I’m sure he gets tired of hearing that.

The JROTC teacher is an older black male. I really liked what he had to say. The kids will have a uniform that they will have to wear once a week. It must be worn all day, from school bus pick up to school bus drop off. Changing during the day results in a call to the parents and an F. D’oh! The uniform is (surprisingly) free; we just had to pay for his t-shirt that he will have to use on designated ROTC PT days. We need to get him some black shorts. They also go out into the community and do community service work. JROTC keeps a record of this, so the cadets can refer to it when filling out college apps. Love it! He told us they are not there to push kids into military. They are there to teach them discipline and knowledge, and to learn how to do their best in school. I’m excited about his upcoming experiences with that.

His law teacher is a coach and used to be the athletic director. We had a nice little discussion about Syracuse joining the ACC. I Love his syllabus. Under extra credit it basically says “don’t ask – do what you’re supposed to do and you won’t need it.” LOL! I love it.

As we were walking to his chemistry class, I was telling CH that chemistry is one where he needs to be paying attention from the beginning, because it just continues to build upon what you learn. We get to the class and the teacher basically tells him the same exact thing. His class will have homework every night. I support it. #winning

I am excited for him for his junior year. It’s a good foundation for him. His second semester classes are just as interesting. I hope he takes advantage of all that’s being offered to him. If he can bring up the grades from last year, I’m going to have to come up with a nice surprise for him.

Social Media to the Rescue

To supplement what he’s doing in school, and since he doesn’t get much homework (a whole OTHER post), we usually have CH check books out of the library.

I want him to read the things that he enjoys, but I also want him to read educational books, the classics, and books that will prepare him for being a black male in this country. So, I reached out to my FB and twitter friends for book suggestions, and boy did they come through.

I’m going to put together a list with a brief synopsis of each book, and let him pick what he wants to read next. If I can find copies on half dot com I will just purchase there. I have a feeling the school library won’t have all we need. Not to mention, he can reference the books in the future if we purchase them.

Social media is not all mindless. 🙂

He might groan at this new project, but I think he will enjoy the books once he gets into them.

Get Your A__ Up!

The teen is pretty good about going to bed at night. He’s almost always in bed before I am. Every night, out of habit, I ask, “you got your alarm set? Got your clothes out for tomorrow?” His answers are always “yes” to both of those.

I’ve noticed since we moved, some mornings he doesn’t come out of the room until 6:15 or 6:20 (sans that infamous 12 SAUSAGE BREAKFAST FIASCO. No, I’m not letting it go. Ever. LOL), and he needs to leave by 6:25 as the bus gets to his stop between 6:30 – 6:35.

Recently, I asked him what time his alarm was set for. He went through this elaborate explanation about setting one for 5:00 and then another one at 5:30, blah blah blah…i tuned him out, because at that point, I just thought, “that’s stupid.” Set one alarm, and get your azz up. Period. Which is pretty much what I told him.

Me: I don’t know how much time you need to get ready, eat breakfast, etc. But you need to take that time frame and work backwards from the time you leave the house. Just set one for 5:45 and then when it goes off you get up, go to the bathroom, splash some cold water on your face and stay up.

Teen: OK.

And even though I said I wasn’t going to be checking on him, if he doesn’t peek out that room by 6:15 I knock on the door. He will usually say he’s up or getting dressed. This morning, I was in the shower and something told me, the one morning I don’t check on this dude he will oversleep.

I knocked, no answer. I knocked extra hard and when he answered, you could tell he was started.

Me: dude, it’s 6:23? What are you doing?
Him: it is?
Me: *facepalm*

I just walked away, because I felt myself morphing into Flora (my mom) and about to start a speech with, “didn’t I tell you to…” followed by “one day you’re gonna learn to listen to me…” sprinkled with “funny how you can get up on the weekends at dark o’clock to play Xbox…” rounded up with “a hard head makes a soft behind!”

Turning into your parents is real, people.

I heard him futzing around in the bathroom and hollered, “it’s 6:25!!! What time does the bus come?” He said 6:35, but I swear he told me before that it was 6:30. Either way, I’m gonna need you to get out this house and get to that bus stop expeditiously.

I handed him his money for his lunch account. “You’re cutting it real close, dude. Have a good day at school.”

I know Samuel L. Jackson narrated a book called, Go The %#*€ To Sleep! I wonder if he’d do a recording for me: “Get Your A$$ Up!” I could play it on the surround sound in the living room at volume 87.