Redo, redo, redo

Well, after my husband returned from conferences with J's teachers, it looks like J will be one busy boy today and through next week which is Spring break. J is able to redo assignments that got poor grades (F, D, C) and he's also able to retake two Math tests that he failed. YAY!

When hubby and I were speaking to J at lunch today, we stressed the importance (yet again) of bringing his grades up. J was upset about the Math assignments that he swore he handed in, but I asked him if maybe he just didn't hand them in because he didn't want to do them. He swore he handed them in. I asked J if he thought his study habits were a problem and he simply said, "No." I asked if he thought he had it all together and he said, "Yes." I said, "Then by all means, keep going the route you're going. If you think things are hard now, just wait until you get into high school. It's even worse there. But if you think you have it under control, by all means, keep doing what you're doing." Hubby agreed with me and reiterated what I said and put it into his own words.

If J can spend all the time in the world playing board games and card games, he apparently has a whole lot of extra time that he can spend studying. We ask him every day if he has homework and he says 'no.' Apparently his teachers say different. He should have something each and every day.

Oh, and get this - J has to rewrite some papers that he claimed to have handed in and/or that got poor grades, and he never saved them to his flash drive because he used the computers at school. I told him to get in the habit of saving everything no matter where it's typed up. Save, save, save!

Well, anyway, as is usually the case after hubby and I talk to J about school, he clams up. He's usually pretty silent and tends to tear up and cry. Today, he basically kept his mouth closed unless asked to say something. I asked him how he felt about his grades and what we want him to do (redo the assignments that were either missing or got low grades) and he said, "I don't know." I said, "Oh, I'm sure you know. You might say 'to heck with you' or something. I know you have something to say." He did go on to say he didn't understand why he got low grades in Math and we explained that it was during a time earlier this year when a substitute teacher was present. The actual teacher did state that he'd look over grades when he returned, and in this case, our child would be able to retake tests and redo assignments.

I just hope we are going in the right direction with J. He knows how we feel, but I don't know if it will actually sink in. Will he get his act together and actually try the next time? His dad and I both told him that we know how hard school is because we went through it also. We want him to do well. His teachers know he is capable of doing better. Why can't he just TRY????