Showing posts with label jr. high. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jr. high. Show all posts
7/3/08
The No Name Post
So one of my sons' has decided he is in love. I call it his "kindergarten crush". He calls it his girlfriend. I call it a girl that he likes he says it's his best girlfriend ever. I didn't realize this would be so hard for me as his mother. I have so many dreams hopes and aspirations for all of my children. In my opinion, girls are worse than gangs. They keep you off balance, unfocused and soft. I've watched him in the past few weeks doing all the things that I'd hoped he never would. Thank goodness for unlimited text. He has been texting non-stop...when I say non-stop, I mean NON-STOP! His myspace has been updated with her picture to match. I walked into his room only to find him laying in bed, listening to his ipod with some sappy music while staring at his text waiting for it to release the new message. The last few days of school he couldn't wait each morning to get to the yard to see her. I found out from others that he had even abandoned his group of friends to hand with her at recess. I've sat and had 50 discussions with him regarding this put alas, he is "sprung". I asked him had they kissed and his response was yes...I said "french???" and he said "NO MOM, THAT'S NASTY". I figured if this was "nasty" there was no reason to ask about anything further especially since from the time he leaves the school yard 'til he is home he is in my line of vision. The issue for me is that he used to go to the park to shoot baskets. Now he wants to go to the part to meet her. I've said yes a few times, pending you take your little brother! "Watch them closely CJ and don't let them out of your site". I watched him be heartbroken on the last day of school as he said goodbye to all of his friends and he literally came home and went straight to bed for the rest of the day. I'm sure "all" of his friends included mostly her. During 8th grade graduation he took a few family picks but quickly dragged her over to introduce her and have me take a few pictures with her. He then went to meet her parents and I could see in the distance his armed drapped around her, he hugging her around her waist. I'm thinking to myself "what father lets some little black boy take pictures all hugged up on his daughter". Not any father of a 14 year old I know. Craig has been good, I guess. He's the father that says, honey this too shall pass. Let it blow over. High school starts in a month and she'll be forgotten by the end of the summer. I'm sure they'll be a new one to replace her though. I've had at least 4 heart to hearts with him regarding this girlfriend business. I've sat down and analyzed this whole thing. It could be so much worse. He could be with some little hoochie hot mamma who's blowing up my house phone, knocking on my door or trying to teach him somethings. My I still am not ready for this whole girlfriend business. I miss the days of them only loving their momma, aunties and grandma. I pray to the Lord for guidance each day and to help me bite my tongue each time I see him texting. Distractions...sigh. I know each person needs to learn on their own but if I could just keep them from making some of the mistakes I did. Life is too short to learn all mistakes on your own. Sometimes you need to learn from others....I'm hoping that as football and high school begin he'll be entirely to distracted to think of anything but I'm sure he and the rest of them will find a way.
6/25/08
8th Grade Graduation
Monday I had the honor of attending my boys' 8th grade graduation. I was excited as most parents were to see them dress in a tie and slacks instead of a white tee and baggy jeans and march in front of their peers and parents. They've worked hard during junior high to do well and move to the next level. I felt bad though as I have been fighting this feeling all week of a little something stirring inside of me. It begin as I watched an acquaintance fussing over invitations to her daughter's 8th grade party that was well over $3000 for the party cost. Standing in line to buy a balloon was a mother who was fussing about the graduation cake, her mother who was not attending and the whole family being upset about it, the $300 suit her son would be wearing etc etc etc only to find her sitting a few rows down from me at the graduation ceremony. Am I really that non-chalent about this whole thing? It seems that everywhere I look this 8th grade graduation is a serious ordeal. Boys wear ties, girls' are dressed like it's prom, with 10 inch heels to match, flowers and car decorations with white shoe polish. The kids had 3 rehearsals to assure a flawless filing in and out of the multi purpose room. We were even given 8 tickets for each student. Not to mention the graduation gowns. I just kept thinking, they are only leaving junior high school. I guess I have to look at it in terms of the fact that we do live next door to Stockton Unified...termed a "drop out factory", just a few years ago by some "scholars" at a University. I guess some will not make it to the next ceremony. I was quite amazed when the boys told me just how many of their peers were not able to compete in the ceremony because they had not met 8th grade graduation requirements. I would prefer that this ceremony be scaled down to save the climactic celebration for future graduations, like those in high school and college. My concern is that the over-the-top ceremony too closely resembles high school graduation and implies finality rather than a transition to further education. Leave it to me to want to call it "8th grade promotion". We are promoting them to high school. It's not really a milestone but more of a benchmark. Going through the ceremony makes us feel proud, for some they've made it halfway through. They aren't the class of 2008 but instead the class of 2012. I bought them a nice outfit and clapped as their names were called, took a few pictures but I want them to be sent the right message. This is nice and sweet but we have work to do. They are going on to high school.
By the way - this goes for those wonderful parents who also think it's such a wonderful thing to throw parties for 6 year olds graduating from Kindergarten :-). Congrats to my boys...now get to work. 4 more years of work to do....and 4 more years after that.
3/13/08
School and Views (Just mine)
My husband and I have been blessed with talented sons.
They are bright, articulate, creative and motivated, and they love more than anything to excel in sports, which presented us with some options when it came time to choose a high school.
We could have let them follow their junior high friends to the next level, the local public school. We could have settled and went against what our minds were pulling us to do. We have chosen to pursue the academic/athletic excellence of a private school. We have chosen to send them to a private school for a more favorable teacher-to-student ratio. We've chosen to guide them in a direction we feel will best benefit them in their future.
It requires a full-time, family commitment to the curriculum, many long nights-into-mornings of homework, it means we will have to provide transportation to and from school every day.
We are doing it for one reason: Our responsibility as parents is to give our children the best possible chance to succeed in life, and preparing them to receive a college education is the cornerstone of that creed.
In junior high they expressed a desire to find out more about this school, we followed are minds and hearts and decided to follow what we feel. The question is, 'is their athletic aptitude great enough to serve as a gateway to a college education?' For this decision some feel we should be commended others feel we are backstabbing our community and have chosen to ostricize us as well as our children for it.
Those sports, for now are basketball and football. To get the best football/basketball instruction available in our area, to test their skills against the most difficult competition, and to have the chance to be seen by scouts and coaches representing the nation's elite college programs. All this, while getting the academic attention necessary to meet NCAA entrance requirements.
In my opinion no athletic program in the our current school district has displayed the resources, ability or desire to match the complete commitment this school has shown to pursuing excellence in sports.
Anticipating the comments, I would like to point out that I am not on the their' payroll. I am not the school's head cheerleader. I do not serve as the sports information director.
But I do understand the sporting climate in our area, and how by building itself into a regional powerhouse the school has opened itself to criticism, including facing many of the same accusations hurled at some of the other privates in our area for basketball and football over the the last two decades.
It's so easy to blindly accuse a private school of recruiting players, when the truth is that the exact opposite is occurring -- players and their parents seek out and recruit themselves to top programs.
Every student at every private school, whether an athlete or not, resides in a public school district. For each parent, the private school provided something for their child not offered at their designated public high school.
But somehow, when that primary reason for enrolling at a private school is a sport, it's deemed seedy. Parents and schools are accused of losing perspective when in fact they're the ones seeing the big picture with clarity, understanding that whether in the classroom, the athletic field or in life, the goal is the same -- to struggle, sweat and strive to learn, because only then can you gain the confidence necessary to perform at the highest level in life's difficult situations.
You enroll your young athlete at childrens' high school knowing the time commitment can be overwhelming. There are long practices, summer leagues, perhaps travel ball, and it all comes on top of and after meeting the school's academic requirements.
...to be continued
They are bright, articulate, creative and motivated, and they love more than anything to excel in sports, which presented us with some options when it came time to choose a high school.
We could have let them follow their junior high friends to the next level, the local public school. We could have settled and went against what our minds were pulling us to do. We have chosen to pursue the academic/athletic excellence of a private school. We have chosen to send them to a private school for a more favorable teacher-to-student ratio. We've chosen to guide them in a direction we feel will best benefit them in their future.
It requires a full-time, family commitment to the curriculum, many long nights-into-mornings of homework, it means we will have to provide transportation to and from school every day.
We are doing it for one reason: Our responsibility as parents is to give our children the best possible chance to succeed in life, and preparing them to receive a college education is the cornerstone of that creed.
In junior high they expressed a desire to find out more about this school, we followed are minds and hearts and decided to follow what we feel. The question is, 'is their athletic aptitude great enough to serve as a gateway to a college education?' For this decision some feel we should be commended others feel we are backstabbing our community and have chosen to ostricize us as well as our children for it.
Those sports, for now are basketball and football. To get the best football/basketball instruction available in our area, to test their skills against the most difficult competition, and to have the chance to be seen by scouts and coaches representing the nation's elite college programs. All this, while getting the academic attention necessary to meet NCAA entrance requirements.
In my opinion no athletic program in the our current school district has displayed the resources, ability or desire to match the complete commitment this school has shown to pursuing excellence in sports.
Anticipating the comments, I would like to point out that I am not on the their' payroll. I am not the school's head cheerleader. I do not serve as the sports information director.
But I do understand the sporting climate in our area, and how by building itself into a regional powerhouse the school has opened itself to criticism, including facing many of the same accusations hurled at some of the other privates in our area for basketball and football over the the last two decades.
It's so easy to blindly accuse a private school of recruiting players, when the truth is that the exact opposite is occurring -- players and their parents seek out and recruit themselves to top programs.
Every student at every private school, whether an athlete or not, resides in a public school district. For each parent, the private school provided something for their child not offered at their designated public high school.
But somehow, when that primary reason for enrolling at a private school is a sport, it's deemed seedy. Parents and schools are accused of losing perspective when in fact they're the ones seeing the big picture with clarity, understanding that whether in the classroom, the athletic field or in life, the goal is the same -- to struggle, sweat and strive to learn, because only then can you gain the confidence necessary to perform at the highest level in life's difficult situations.
You enroll your young athlete at childrens' high school knowing the time commitment can be overwhelming. There are long practices, summer leagues, perhaps travel ball, and it all comes on top of and after meeting the school's academic requirements.
...to be continued
1/28/08
High School
...last week begin the start of the twins descent into high school. It started off with their honor roll assembly, followed by incoming freshman meeting on Thursday. Earlier this month I attended a scholarship meeting that included about 30 people some of who arrived late. I figured such would be the case for the incoming freshman meeting. What was I thinking? The parking lot looked to be similar to a Friday night football game and the entire gym was almost at capacity.
The next day was 8th grade day, a day in which incoming 8th graders get to have a "short" day in the life of a student at the high school. A game was played in which all 200+ kids were expected to throw both shoes into the middle of the gym floor and then go search them out while meeting new people. The thing is Jalen had the classic vans on. You know the classic vans (black vans with white soles). So did about 20 other people. Although I had a carpool and took about 6 kids to 8th grade day I was happy to hear that they all new lots of kids and also met several new kids as well.
"Incoming week" ended as the boys took their placement test at 7:30 am Saturday morning. I was a bit nervous because I knew the test included a writing essay. The boys are not were I would like them to be in their essay writing but I didn't want to pressure them with last minute critiques of their writing skills. I gave them a few pointers and said a prayer.
Upon picking the boys up I was happy to hear that they said it was easier than they had expected it to be. They were smiling and happy to have it over. The rest is in the Lord's hands. We'll see in a few weeks which classes their tests enabled them to receive.
The next day was 8th grade day, a day in which incoming 8th graders get to have a "short" day in the life of a student at the high school. A game was played in which all 200+ kids were expected to throw both shoes into the middle of the gym floor and then go search them out while meeting new people. The thing is Jalen had the classic vans on. You know the classic vans (black vans with white soles). So did about 20 other people. Although I had a carpool and took about 6 kids to 8th grade day I was happy to hear that they all new lots of kids and also met several new kids as well.
"Incoming week" ended as the boys took their placement test at 7:30 am Saturday morning. I was a bit nervous because I knew the test included a writing essay. The boys are not were I would like them to be in their essay writing but I didn't want to pressure them with last minute critiques of their writing skills. I gave them a few pointers and said a prayer.
Upon picking the boys up I was happy to hear that they said it was easier than they had expected it to be. They were smiling and happy to have it over. The rest is in the Lord's hands. We'll see in a few weeks which classes their tests enabled them to receive.
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