Oh for Pete's Sake.

Who the heck is Pete anyway? If I knew, I'd punch his lights out. Deep breath. In. Out. Try to remain calm. That's it, old girl. Steady.

((Inhaling)) So, you know my eldest child, Jack? Cute kid. Glasses? Seriously smart? Yeah, that's the one? No, not the red hair. Right. Right. The dark headed one. Got an email from his math teacher today. Mrs. C wanted to let me know that Jack's very first grade for the new six weeks was going to be a ZERO...((dramatic pause for effect inserted here))....because he and his table neighbor had been cheating from one another's test......apparently, without much finesse, I might add. Couple that knowledge with the fact that I find out he is going to have his First Ever C (third letter of the alphabet...yeah, we prefer the first or second and no less around these parts) on his report card for the first six weeks which ended yesterday. Earlier in the week, she notified me that he would have lunch detention and lose his recess for a week for giggling at another student who was having difficulties learning a hard math concept during the class lesson.
What has come over my child?
Is this what happens when a child is golden and lovely for too long?
Fourth grade does not look good on us.
We are not wearing it well.
It's not, thus far, turning out to be my favorite grade.
By a long shot.
I thought these moments came much later....like 8th grade? I teach middle school. I have long-prepared myself for when these moments rear their ugly, pre-adolescent head. Not now, though. Not now! It might help to know that Jack was recently put into the GT program at his school, and he is loving it. He gets pulled out each Friday along with a handful of other kiddos to go work with the GT teacher on different paced lessons that the kids can really sink their teeth into. The GT kids also write the campus newspaper, and he's insanely excited about this. He recently learned that the GT class would be researching the US Presidents, and the president that he selected to research was Ulysses S. Grant. (Side note: I have always loved Ulysses because he looks like my Uncle Gaylon. I bet, if our trees were traced, I'd find that I am a direct descendant of US Grant. Ok, maybe I'm being overly dramatic, but it's working. )Anyway, he is loving GT. He can't wait from Friday to the next to go do his research or whatever it is that they are working on. Wanna know the kicker? You can't stay in GT if you make a grade lower an 80-the second letter of the alphabet. I talked with the school counselor today, and he thinks that maybe it's just an incentive and not something that is a hard core rule. I sure hope so.
This raising big kids is not for the faint of heart, I tell you.