Shhhhh it's QUIET!

School is back for Term 4! I cannot believe how quiet the house is. Well perhaps I can & I am enjoying it while it lasts.

I had such a rotten sleep last night. Perhaps it was due to the fact that school was starting back today and I didn't want to sleep in & make Brodie miss the bus. I don't think he would've let me sleep in any way as he was excited about going back .. however that being said I did notice a bit of a pattern occurring.

On the first day of each term I have noticed that Brodie gets awfully defensive & testy before we leave for the bus stop in the morning and he begins barking orders not only to Angus but to me as well. I am wondering if it really has anything to do with his routine changing again & the fact that he doesn't know exactly what will happen on the first day back.

Angus at least was one semi-happy chappy this morning. He told me he wanted to go to school but he didn't. I knew what he meant. That it would be great catching up with friends he didn't see over the holidays but he didn't necessarily wanted the school work to start up again. Especially since I know he didn't complete the holiday homework he was given. Come to think of it neither did Brodie. Oh well they will learn eventually (I hope).

Anyway, I'm gonna continue enjoying the quiet at least until I pick Brodie up from the bus stop this afternoon. Maybe I'll get a catnap in *yawn*

Educating the New Leadership Team

I got a phone call from Brodie's High School this morning from the new librarian, she's the one in control of first aid & sick kids at school, stating that he wasn't feeling well & she wondered what she should do about it. So I let her know that Brodie is a little bit of a hypochondriac, well maybe that's not the right term to use, and that he is ultra sensitive to pain. I spoke with him briefly stating that if he still felt the same way at the end of recess time to let me know and I'll come collect him.
Sure enough 30 minutes later I received another phone call.

I had a brief chat with one of Brodie's aides. She told me that he didn't seem to be coping so well with all of the changes at the school. There is a new Acting Principal (P), Assistant Principal (AP) & three new teachers. This made me wonder if that was the reason for his not feeling terribly well today.

Last night Brodie told me that he had to see the principal this morning because he was very loud while waiting for the school bus to arrive for the school run home. If anyone truly knew my boy, they would know that there is NO real volume control for this kid. He is quiet while sleeping but when he is awake he is either loud or louder.

I explained this to his aide and said that may have been one of the reasons he didn't feel well. I can't say that he was foxing or anything because he did have a snooze when we got home.

On the drive home Brodie & I got to have a bit of a chat. He said that the new Principal & Assistant Principal were making a lot of changes at the school & he didn't like it. What kid truly likes change but what Aspie kid likes change. None that I know of. He also stated that with all the changes at school it now makes him feel uncomfortable & he doesn't really want to go any more.
Not only did he lose an AP he liked & knew well, the regular P is on long service leave but his favourite aide retired at the end of last year. Brodie misses him terribly. These three people understood him. They got to know where he was at. They knew how to calm him down if needed. They helped him adapt. Thank goodness the teacher who works with all the special needs kids is the same person. I am so grateful that she hasn't gone anywhere.

Brodie is a senior now. Although he loves the things that come with it like the white shirts he can wear, the VCE jumpers, sitting at the back of the bus. All the things that let the other kids know he's a senior. He is however not so sure about the workload that comes along with it. He understands that its a lot harder for him now. That more is expected of him & that he can't have too many days off or he will get too far behind to catch up. I am so proud of him today for talking with his teachers so that he could get some work.

I am worried that it will become too difficult for him, that he may have a meltdown because of the extra stress placed on him. I am also worried about the new leadership team who know absolutely nothing about him. I have visions of them trying to make him fit into a round hole when he is actually a square peg. Just like that teacher back in Year 7 & 8 tried.

I totally understand that as a new leadership team they have to place their mark on the school. That all the students need to know what is expected of them. That they have their own boundaries to set & programs to implement. I'm just concerned knowing how Brodie behaves in new & strange situations that they wont be as understanding if he implodes/explodes unless they truly know him & the struggles we've had to get him where he is today. And the leaps & bounds he has made in the last two years.

So, I have decided that I am going to make a phone call to the school & arrange a time to meet the new 'team'. To let them know how concerned I am & that he isn't like all the other kids.

Oh dear. I just read the school newsletter (thankfully I get it emailed to me) and found out that our 'regular' principal will not be returning at the end of the first semester like we believed he would. I am so sad to see him go. Brodie adored him & I thought he was pretty 'cool' myself.

Now I definitely have to go to the school to educate the New Leadership Team if I want Brodie to feel comfortable about the rest of his schooling.

Angus's Report

I am beginning to wonder why Angus's High School posts all kids reports home instead of giving them to the kids. Is it so that the parents actually receive the reports? Is it timed this way for the parents to receive them during the holidays so that they cannot pick up the phone and complain about the grades (and comments) their child received? I am beginning to think that they are both true and that the last one seems to be the main reason!!

I am not very happy with Angus's report. Not the fact that he isn't at the level that he should be for his age and grade level but for the simple fact that only one of the teachers he had informed me at any time that he was floundering in their subject and needed help. The rest did NOT bother. AND to top it off they ALL place comments about what the Parents can do at home to ensure that their child is more successful.

HELLO!!! I have been doing all of the things they suggested. Things like asking what he has learnt in class. Do you have homework? When is your assignment due? How's things in class? I've asked ALL of these questions and more.

How can I do any better? Do I need to become a homework demon for the next school year and make the kids do nothing but homework straight after school? Do I banish after school sports and activities to make sure that they do their assignments? How about taking away computer privileges? I've done all that before and it obviously hasn't worked!

Now that I feel bad about myself for letting Angus down do I get mad at the school for not letting me know sooner that he was struggling? Do I 'tell off' the teachers for letting him flounder and fail? Do I talk to them next year as soon as school goes back and explain the situation at home and how difficult things can be with all of our issues? Will that prejudice them against Angus? Will it label him? Is he already labelled as a lazy child?

I have way too many questions and not enough answers. Some how I have to make school more enjoyable for him. He hates it already. He gets teased at home, at Church and at school. When does he get a break? Its no wonder he is either depressed or angry all the time.

I don't know what to do to help him and it breaks my heart.

I Give Up

I don't know what to do any more and I feel like giving up. I do my best to help Angus with his school work and check his work online like the school wants. I check when his assignments are due and let him know. I encourage him to complete his work. I check his grades to see how he is going but nothing seems to be getting through to him. I even let him use my computer to do some of the assignments.

When I was checking his English grades tonight I noticed that his teacher had written in capital letters no less!! that he had to submit his work as a word document. He did last weekends homework assignment on my computer and I do NOT have word installed. I use Open Office. So of course she never graded his work. I am not impressed with her right now. Shouting at Angus (even if it is in upper case letters) is just not on in my book!
I re-saved his work as a word document thankfully Open Office has that option and I sent it to her in an email stating that there was no place for him to resubmit his work online.

I am so upset about how slack Angus is with his school work. I don't even understand the grade system they use. What in the world is an E anyway? Is that a fail? I no longer know what to do to help Angus pass. As far as I can see he is failing most of his work & I am truly at a loss as to what to do.

Feeling Lazy

It's really unusual for me to not want to be on the computer at all but that is exactly how I have been feeling over the last few days. I just haven't been interested in all the usual things. I love creating stuff using PSP9 and making my Incredimail stationery and tags for people over at Sassy's. In fact I haven't even been interesting in blogging anything either.

It's weird how apathetic I have been feeling. Now don't think that there is any major thing wrong because I don't believe that there is. I have just seemed to have lost interest in the computer, well to be more accurate, to being online. Maybe I will be inspired later and that will all change.

Now onto something else ... the little dude finally brought home some homework last night. Not bad considering they've already been at school for a month and this is the first lot he has had. So last night he happily sat down at the kitchen table and did some of his work. He also read without being nagged like usual, which was a pleasant surprise.

Since the little guy brough some home I thought I would ask the big fella this morning when we were travelling to the bus stop if he had any but of course he has said no in the past I thought he would've said no this time round but he said, "As a matter of fact Mum I have a 100 word essay." So I am thinking HELLO!!!! How come this is the first I have heard of it. Well if he thinks he will be going back on the play station or the computer today after a loss of privileges (both boys lost the PS & Computer for a couple of weeks) he has another thing coming!! To think of all that time he wasted yesterday when he could've had it over and done with.

Hmmm it makes me think now as to why he was extremely helpful last night and did all of these jobs without being asked to. Perhaps this was why .. so he didn't have to do any homework. I suppose I should be glad that he told me because if he had said NO I would've phoned the high school and asked whether they had set any for him!!