Report Cards Came Out Today.

Report cards came out today and Finn did fantastic! He is such a smartie-bo-barty. That kid blows me away.

Seamus improved or stayed the same in all areas except one. Unfortunately, that one subject plummeted to a D. ((((heavy sigh))))) Honestly, I was satisfied with the rest of his grades. His report card wasnt fantastic, but it was better than the first quarter. About 2 months ago we were notified through a progress report that Shea had a few bad grades brewing - three to be exact. Im proud to say that he turned those trouble areas around by working hard and attending homework club. Hooray for Seamus! Unfortunately, it seems that by focusing on improving his language arts and science grades, he let the math slip away. He was really upset about it earlier today.

As a parent, Im having a hard time figuring out how to proceed. He pulled up the other grades and Im sure he can pull up math. His best effort gets results. He is very capable. Still... I wonder if I should get a tutor. I wonder what else I can personally do to help him be successful.

To add to this dilemma school is starting a boys soccer team this Spring. Seamus is desperate to play. When Seamus' grades were poor this past quarter, we told him he couldnt play Spring baseball. He was upset about it, but has accepted our decision. When I heard about the school soccer team, I was so nervous. I didnt want to have to tell him he couldnt play soccer if he didnt pull up his grades. All week he has been asking me to turn in the form allowing him to play and all week I have told him I needed to wait to see what his grades were.

Today I finally went in and sought advice from our principal. Her response: let us deal with it. She told me she could not recall what his grades were this quarter, but that if they dipped below a C average she would inform him that he could not play soccer for the school. They have an academic standard for athletics at St. Francis. She told me to submit his form and in the event that his grades dont not meet the standard, they will not allow him to play. When I got off the phone with her, I felt mild relief. For once, I didnt have to be the bad guy.

Even with the D, Seamus has calculated that his grade point average is at least a C average. Our principal has the final say on what happens so its out of our hands. We shall see what happens.

Finn is here asking to get on the computer and my glass of wine is calling.

Happy Friday.