Super MOM!
My son has been struggling with his math. Part of it is the school's fault. He started out in one class and before too long they figured out that he was WAY beyond what they were teaching, so they transferred him to another, more advanced, class. For some reason they thought this class was too crowded so they switched him again. What we didn't find out until this past grading period was when they switched him for the second time M took an instant dislike to this teacher. Much like his mother, he has a stubborn streak and as 'punishment' to this teacher he chose to no longer pay attention in class and not turn in any of his homework. So, when this issue came to our attention his dad went down, raised a ruckus with his teacher and the school because no one said anything about him FLUNKING math and managed to talk the teacher into giving M the chance to turn in all his homework for full credit and retake any tests, ALSO for full credit. So, one would think that his dad (who has him every night) would start checking for homework, right!? Well, I found out right before mother's day that M STILL hadn't turned in all his homework, and after being good for one chapter, had stopped turning in his current work as well.

So, I stepped in over the weekend. We set up a schedule, figured out how many 'free' hours he had over the weekend, how many pages were due from the current chapter and set some goals. (ah, have I mentioned that I'm a project manager?) If he reached a goal any 'left over' time within that hour was his to do with what he liked. You've never seen a kid so relieved! This overwhelming task of completing an entire Month's worth of homework in a weekend suddenly seemed manageable. I spent a lot of time going over the examples in the book with him and making sure he UNDERSTOOD what he was doing, and wasn't just going through the motions.

We then set up a schedule to get the rest of his work done before the end of the year so that he could at LEAST bring his grade up to a D and not have to go to summer school. Again, MAJOR relief.

So, I get a voicemail today, from my Son. "Hi Mom, I just needed to talk to you... Later.." The tone was so... "I just needed to talk to YOU MOM" that I wanted to cry. I sometimes wonder if I've managed to portray the vast chasm that separated my Son and I for the past three years. This was a boy who actually talked to lawyer about 'divorcing' me after he heard about it on TV, and would pretend I wasn't there when I came into the room. To have him call, because he needed to 'talk' was just SO AMAZIN. But that wasn't the last of it. When I got him on the phone later he says to me.. "Mom! guess what I got on my test!?"

Being the diligent mom that I am I asked "What buddy?".

"Twenty out of Twenty!"

You could just hear the joy, pride AND thankfulness in his voice! And you can bet that this mom is pretty damn proud too! He then went on to brag about how he had been finishing all his homework AND keeping up on the schedule we had created, and how he had brought his grade up from 38% to 50% in just a week. THEN he says "I have to get a D, Mom, so that I don't have to go to summer school. Then I can come to your house!"

Yes - life is golden at the moment. Just wish my honey was here to share this 'moment' with me!