No Baseball.

A completely honest post.

Tonight I logged on to Infinite Campus to see (yet again) that Damon had 2 missing assignments in Science and Spanish. Then I checked the rest of his grades....a C in gym. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? At this point my friend Stacey would talk me off my ledge and remind me that until this point he was getting an A in gym....why you ask, because he does participate in gym, he does try during class and generally his teacher enjoys him. So you must be wondering why a C....well, all because he brought home his progress report, showed it to both his dad and I, then left it on the end table for a week. Never once did he say he had to turn it back in with our signatures, he just showed it to us. Because he didn't return it with a signature he failed that portion of his grade, worth 20% of his over all grade. Stacey would say, "Really in gym aren't we suppose to teach them to live a healthier lifestyle." Honestly educators of America : can we teach an organizational skills class in middle school?!? I mean Franklin Covey has one for adults....don't you think it's a little effing late at that point. And Stacey, I love ya, but it may really not matter that we sign a piece of paper for gym, but his teachers think so and I am so so so very tired of him not writing it down, losing it to or from school or simply not doing it. And to be perfectly honest in this blog....I don't know what else to do to help him understand that it's important, grades are important, college is important. I know science extra credit is a lot of extra work with not much point, but his grade needs help and this is the only way I know how to give him extra points. To any one reading this, help.

So tonight, I did what I never thought I would do. I took away baseball. It lets down his dad, it lets down his teammates, and quite honestly I'm disappointed too (I love to watch him play). I said no baseball until Science extra credit is done and until missing assignments are done. If that means his misses his game tomorrow night, his practice on Thursday, 2 games Friday, 1 game Saturday and 2 games on Sunday.....well, then he misses baseball, we miss baseball. I think baseball (activities in general) keeps him active, he's met a ton of kids and we love to watch. However, we've taken away the PS3, the TV and hanging out with his friends...this is my last desperate straw. Probably too late, but none the less I had to do something. He instantly teared up, looked to his dad to save him and the lip started to quiver. Luckily for Terry he backed me on this one. He's gone to the other room to study Art vocabulary and I sit here with tears streaming down my face because I feel like I've failed him, failed me.