Wet Wednesday PWYC

[Ramblinrose]

Great… This should be fun. The electricity just went out in my house. I know they’re doing installment of cable for our new cable network so I don’t know if that has anything to do with it, but this is not a good time for that.

[lucylee]

Oh, Rose! You definitely did your good deed for the day, and to have no ac now!? (((HUGS))) (((AIR HUGS))) because, as I told dgd at the Friday night football thing, "DON'T TOUCH ME! IT'S TOO HOT TO TOUCH ANYTHING!" I do hope they get your air back on soon.

LadyM -- our state has ruled no phones in school also. Kids can have them in their lockers, etc, but absolutely no use during the school day. I don't know how that's going to work out, either. People have become so dependent on constant contact. BUT... they were a problem in the classroom 12 years ago, so I can only imagine what the teachers were up against by now. I think a phone call to the office to tell dd14 the afternoon plan would be fine.

So, I slept pretty late (despite my long nap last night) and I am still not s2s, but I must get going... get my gear in butt.
LOL -- I have talked to dmom and she relayed a funny story from her/my friend who was fussing at her then teenage daughter, laying down the law, etc... saying, "And you, young lady, are going to get your gear in butt..." at which point they both began laughing.
I must start moving, however, because I expect I will be doing school pick-up this afternoon.
I have eaten and walked away the pounds, so I'm not being a total slug... but I'm giving slugs a pretty close run for the money. To paraphrase a senator who is interviewed often on tv -- I'm not the laziest person on the planet, but I better hope the laziest person doesn't die.

[Lady Maverick]

RR - Oh No! Surely that isn't a planned outage. Thinking of the people who are without a/c and maybe without oxygen. It could be life threatening situation.

DD14 situation resolved itself. Without knowing that I made a doctor appt for her, she went to the office and asked them to call me. She didn't feel well enough to stay in school. I picked her up and did a covid test (negative). DD14 is somewhat concerned that this is the 4th day of school and she has missed 2 days of her afternoon classes. She has at least 2 more autism related appointments in near future. So that is 4 missed days. She can only miss 10 days before having to retake the classes.

Re: calling the school to pass the information on to DD14. They do this by pressing the intercom button and announcing the message to the entire classroom. That would mortify DD14. I tried sending her an email to her school account but they have that blocked.

Want to hear an eye-roller? One of DD14's teachers sent a message earlier this week asking her to install the ClassDojo app. Seriously? They want a student to install an app on their private cell phone so the teacher can send them messages.

I understand the need to restrict wasted time using cell phones instead of focusing on school. I'm tired, stressed and overthinking a frustration.

[Nancy]

I have been out side after some reading time took notes to go in my planner to fill in later for next Q.
I did one more water task took out 1 2/2 gal. of water to clean the out door kitchen sink with.
Not really using it but it needs it at least one or two times a summer. Happy that's done now.
The work space out there is good I did it last week some time just hosed it off.
Having Cran. juice next. Not really hungry.

[Twins' Mom]

Forecast looks like more rain this afternoon, but ending for now, thank goodness.

I came up around noon for the 12:30 zoom meeting and have been on computer up here. I did a little genealogy research and also entered the three HOA checks I need to print in Quickbooks and printed copies of invoices. So when I'm back downstairs I'll print the checks. One needs to be mailed right away. I also transferred HOA money.

Dh is in his office cleaning up and unpacking stuff that came from his office. Since dcleaning lady was here he decided to do something upstairs himself. He's getting a massage later.

I saw dfriend M walking by with her ddog so Millie and I yoohoo-ed at her and she waited up for us. So we got a second walk.

My Stampin up order came today so I have goodies to unpack. I also need to clean that desk up first.

[lucylee]

Well, I can understand the problem with announcements to the whole class! Good grief. I know some of my students wouldn't have cared one bit no matter what the message was... but others, like your dd14, would have been mortified! How strange.
Do they have student assistants in the office? If the office is short-staffed, I know the secretary probably doesn't have time to take personal messages to every student whose parent calls each time, but at my high school, there were usually two student aides in the office and it wouldn't be too much trouble for one of them to quietly take a message to a classroom.
Anyway -- too bad dd is feeling bad, but glad the afternoon was taken care of.

Another question -- is this 10 absences regardless of excused/unexcused? I saw where a county in TN is no longer excusing doctor's appointments, and at a certain number of absences, regardless of reason, students will have to repeat classes (and I think parents are referred to truancy court.) I think that's crazy too. I mean, for instance, dgd has a LOT of doctor's appointments because of her Juvenile Arthritis. She has to see the rheumatologist 2 hours away, the eye doctor 1 hour away, and -- because Humera affects her immune system -- several other appts with pediatrician as viruses move their way through the school population. It is impossible to leave at 3:00 pm and get a doctor's appt 2 hours away. I foresee a lot of law suits with this school system. IMHO, if a student is keeping up with work, doctor's excuses should not count against their total number of absences.

In our school system there is a new thing this year. DGS (8th grade) brought home a paper that ds had to sign, probably a syllabus or something, but it explained that if a student is unhappy with a test grade, he/she can re-take the test. Any text, any number of tests (one per test, but any number of times throughout the year.) I just think this removes a LOT of accountability and creates a gradebook nightmare for teachers.
I am so glad I am no longer teaching.

I am s2s, morning exercise done, have done my Bible reading, first load of laundry is in the washer, ate the leftover spaghetti, and now I am waiting for ds to drop off dgd before he leaves. He's headed to MN and WI this weekend, but expects to be home before dgs' ballgame Monday night.

[Ramblinrose]

LadyM... If I remember correctly your DD has an IEP for speech. Can you contact her teacher and explain your concerns about your DD missing classes due to tests and so forth and see if she has any suggestions? Once your DD has an official diagnostic of Autism, she will qualify for a new IEP to focus on that. Somewhere along the line, I would think accommodations should be set up for that as well.

Lucylee...your DG should qualify for an 504 plan because of her illnesses. That should help with missing classes due to appointments. I don't remember if she has an IEP either, but I know your DG does. Check with his Sped case worker to see if she has any suggestions or since you still have many retired teacher friends, perhaps they can help you.

We had student office aids at our school and that is a great idea to use them for personal messages from parents. I believe as more schools start to deal with parents needing to get information to their children while at school, that student aids will become most useful for this.

BTW...teachers are really upset about the use of AI in their classrooms...1-12...when it comes to writting assignments, that many are going back to old school and making students do their work at their desk with paper and pen to be turned in by the end of the class period.

[MysteryWoman]

Hey, everybody! (I just heard that in Grover's voice, so imagine me running across the room doing a Muppet flail. )

And I just went down a computer rabbit hole so far that I don't remember how it started.

So. We had some rain overnight, and the morning was gloomy, but all is sunny here now. I think it's cooler than before the rain, but not by much.

LadyM, ask your pediatrician how long they're willing to continue seeing DS17. It might vary by doctor, or maybe insurance will have something to do with it. As far as the school's method of passing along messages goes -- ugh!

I don't know about any state laws here, but DH's school is going phone-free this year. They're using a system where the kids keep their phones on them but in lockable pouches, no signal in or out. I guess they will have the stations to unlock them (magnetic lock or similar, I think, where they will just have to swipe) at the entrances to the school. I guess they will turn them off during the school day, and if you absolutely must use your phone, you go to the principal's office. I'm pretty sure they run a note down to the classroom in case of emergency, but now I want to ask DH.

Oh, blessed! How hard for you, not being able to make things better for fear of making them worse. I'm glad your dd had a wonderful birthday!

Oh, Rose! You have done your good deed for the day, haven't you? That poor fellow. I hope your power comes back quickly.

Got DC re-registered for classes. Apparently something didn't take when we set up her payment plan, so she was un-enrolled. Grr! But all seems well now. Although the initial payment does not seem to have come out of our bank account, so fingers crossed.

DH is on his way home, so I should go make myself busy!

[Twins' Mom]

bw2, I'm afraid I'd be "that child" and insist that I be added to the POA, or even made the primary person on the POA. You have been caring for your mother daily and know best what is needed, and you have had help to support your mom in your own home. But that's just me, I couldn't just let it go. Your mom may be past being able to do another POA anyway, I don't know. Thank goodness I got my mother's POA and on her bank account and and got a will settled before she was past being able to. Had she died earlier while my dsis was alive and on Medicaid and in nursing home it would have been a disaster for dsis to own 1/3 of real estate. Sorry for the long digression and unwanted advice.

And thank you RR, for the IEP reminder. DD had the "gifted" IEP and ds, in elementary had the ADHD IEP. He would have qualified for gifted as well but in elementary gifted programing was very artsy and writing oriented and he would not have enjoyed the programing.

MysteryWoman this is my life! Something to do with insatiable curiosity.

And I just went down a computer rabbit hole so far that I don't remember how it started.

Dd didn't have a cell phone until she was driving at 16+. I do understand the issue with cell phones in schools, OTOH, the number of people walking into a school with a weapon makes me want to be in touch with dkids, if I had any school age.

Yeah. An announcement to the whole school or class? My kiddos would be mortified.

[lucylee]

Rose, the absence rule is not a law in our state yet — it is just something one county in TN is trying. I think both dgrands have IEPs that can be used if their absences became a problem. So far they haven’t had any issues. And of course, we’ve stopped checking out for college ballgames. But even when they did that, no one ever complained about their attendance.