Subject Matter

Since we just got back from parent-teacher conferences, I will divide up my Monday briefs by school subject matter...

Reading: We got a scare the other day when Carter got an overdue book notice in the mail from the city library. He had 2 Mayflower books checked out and renewed for his research paper. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite done with them when the second renewal came up. And he didn't renew them. So the letter stated the books are due. And the only monetary figure listed: $29.95. What?? I told Carter he would have to dig into his fish bowl and pay for at least half.

He was prepared to do so, too, but when we got to the library, the worker said we only owed $2.60. "Are you sure?" I asked. "Because we got a letter..." She quickly jumps in and says, "Oh I wish they would be more clear in those. They consider the book 'missing' so the total is what it costs to replace the book." So we didn't owe $29.95 and no, Carter did not learn a lesson. As soon as he knew he didn't have to fork over 20 bucks, he says, "Can we stop at Wal-Mart then so I can get an iTunes card?"

Writing: Carter was quite upset to learn yesterday that I blog about him. Seriously? What does he think I've been writing about for 5 years? A girl can only pontificate so many times on my love for ice cream, the Vikings, the Twins and scrapbooking. He mainly doesn't want me to say anything bad about him. I understand that. But I also can't paint the picture that he is a perfect child when he's not. Sure I like to brag about him, but I can't overlook the fact that he is becoming a snarky teenager. In the coming years, I suspect that will fuel more words from my fingertips than anything else!

Arithmetic: If you do the math -- and Carter's good at it -- he should have known that if he divided his homework over his 4 days off, he could have gotten it done with minimal stress. Instead, despite prompting from his nagging parents over the long weekend, he waited until today. He told me last night, "Call me when you get to work, no matter how early it is, so I can get up and get going on homework." Well, I called at 7:30, 7:35, 7:40, skipped to 8, then 8:02, etc. The caller ID registered that I called 29 times over the course of 3 hours until he finally got up. Guess who's fault it was? Not the teenager's. I'm sure he's still stewing about as he struggles through his 70 pages of reading in the basement. Do the math next time, kiddo, and save yourself the headache!

Social Studies: As long as I'm writing this whole blog about my favorite subject matter, I might as well wrap up with his parent-teacher conferences. It's usually a pretty positive experience. The teachers like him and appreciate his polite manner and respect and effort to get good grades. We learned tonight, though, that we have a blossoming social butterfly in the house. I don't know where he gets that from, but neither hubby nor I are taking the blame on that one.

Or is it the credit? Thanks to my big mouth, you know him as well as we do. You decide.