Jordan did get shuffled on to ninth grade. I have mixed feeling about this; while I know he is more than capable of doing the work, his grades however did not reflect this. I irks me that every child gets pushed on to the next grade rather they are capable of the work or not. Jordan is enjoying his freshman year thus far. His elective classes are his favorite weight training and surprising Spanish. Until this year he's dreaded Spanish class, he says he only likes it because his teacher is so much fun. His grades last year did come with consequences, he was placed in pre-algebra which he despises because of the extremely slow pace for the class and he gets pulled from weight training twice a week for language arts remediation.
Joey has a wonderful teacher!! I have spoken with her a few times and she is very open to working with parents. Joey still qualifies for resource room assistance but has not needed to visit the resource room. He is keeping up with his classmates on his assignments with no modifications. To help prepare him for middle school I am not meeting him in his classroom at the end of the day. He is to fill out his agenda and the teacher double checks that he has all homework assignments before he meets me at the end of the hallway. He still digs in his heels about doing homework, but does it with little help from me. The grades he's been earning on his assignments are nothing lower than a B. Thank God Almighty he really enjoys his teacher, they seem to get along well.
Jacob hit a hiccup before school even started when not even one of his friends were in his class. Jacob is Jacob though and within a week was okay with only seeing his buddies at lunch. He is looking forward to running for student council now that he's in 4th grade. He really likes this teacher, says she's really funny. Both Joey and Jacob have taken a new student under their wing. Both volunteered to be their locker partners and are still playing with their "new student" during recess.
Jordan is planning on trying out for the school's basketball team this year. He hasn't done much in the sense of conditioning but is hoping through his weigh training class he won't be at too much of a disadvantage. Jordan has recently become involved with the youth group through our church. The group consists of high school students, so majority of the kids are older than him. He prefers to hang out with people older than him, he is more comfortable in this group than he was in the middle school one. I'm not 100% sure what they do at the youth group meetings, but from the pictures they share they have way too much fun :) *Pictured is the outfit he chose for their "Thrift Store Homecoming Dance"
Joey has joined Jacob's soccer team and both are doing awesome. Jacob is the leader scorer for his team although most of his teammates have played for a couple of years. Jacob is still strong as a forward and Joey is getting the hang of things. There are two Joeys on their team, Joey asked the coach to call him "Bob" so he knew when he was talking to him...lol. It works well, but is so funny listening to everyone cheer for "Bob". He has been wonderful at being an encouragement to his teammates, it doesn't matter if someone is upset about letting a goal get past them or if someone was injured, "Bob" is right there to comfort and encourage.
Due to soccer games overlapping the time we spend helping at the pantry, we have to wait until the season is over before returning to volunteer. They boys really miss being at the pantry and are looking forward to being back and seeing everyone. I have compensated not being at the pantry by helping out the church one day a week. I do a little bit of everything, whatever they need the day I'm there I do. One of the best parts is I help assemble the programs we hand on before our services. I have meet some wonderful people. I really don't want to totally give up my time helping at the church once we return to the pantry, it's a lot of gas to head to the church 3 times a week. The boys have agreed to helping at the pantry every other week so on the off weeks I can still do my volunteering.
Jordan also has been ushering with me at church. We work in different areas so he can have a bit more independence, but I can still keep an eye on him. The boys are too young to usher, not to be excluded though every Sunday they help with taking down all the chairs after service. They are a huge help and great workers.
The changes I have seen in Joey the last couple months has me awestruck. He has been surprising me in so many little ways from trying new foods to joining a team sport. The newest one is he has decided he'd like to be in the beginner band through the school!! He had his heart set on playing the flute, but after he tested out what instrument best fit him; he's going to play the.... trombone!! "I'm going to be the best trombone player ever, Mom! And I only have to be to school and hour earlier for practice!!" So I guess I going to see about renting him a trombone.
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