District Champs

Christopher's seventh grade football team won district. What an exciting football season!

And, to watch Christopher mature in some many ways -- playing for coaches who are not his dad or dad's friends, not starting on defense to not only starting on defense, but also on offense and being the main kicker for the team. Persistence and effort pay off.

He can't rest on his laurels . . . already in basketball practice. He's one of the top 24 players. While he thought he made B team, picks haven't been made yet. He has a great attitude about it . . . knows size is what some of the selections are based on.

Today's devotion was "Late Bloomer." How timely. Yes, Chris, you will grow.

Grow in more ways than one!

Pre-AP Math

The battle continues. Christopher insists he should not be in pre-AP math even though he has a very good grade -- the bad grades resulting from his not turning in homework or not studying for a test.

I'm about to give up.

But I told him, if he moved to regular math, we would expect a 100 average. After all, it would be easier and there would be no homework, according to him.

Second Debate

The first debate this year must have been uneventful as Christopher didn't mention anything about it.

But this past week, he had his second debate. He had to memorize his part. While this sounded more like a short speech to me, he insisted he was giving a debate.

So Friday rolled around and as we drove to school, Christopher continued to talk about how he wished he didn't have to give the speech. He even suggested going to his debate class for tutoring and giving the speech to his teacher.

I talked through the look over their heads, make eye contact with someone nice, take a deep breath stuff and I don't know if he was convinced. I did tell him to pray and said I would to. He mentioned there was a girl in his class who didn't even want to go to the front of the room she was so nervous. I said he could be a good support for her.

The day goes by and I hope everything went well.

I picked him up and he said he did his debate went good. He did it. He also said the girl who was nervous managed to give her speech in front of the class, too.

Whew.

Agenda

At the beginning of the school year, we buy an agenda. It is a spiral-bound book that includes each week of school with blanks to fill in for homework.

This year, Christopher has decided not to fill in the blanks in his agenda. His reason -- he'll remember his assignments.

Yet, this week, we've had a few forgotten assignments. He remembers either at 8:30 p.m. or at 7:15 a.m. This morning was quite a mess. As I was going through his backpack, out came a sheet of paper with eight math word problems. There were no answers . .he had not done the work. So, he hurriedly tried to finish before he and Gervais left at 7:30 a.m. Then, he went to tutoring. Math paper was turned in incomplete.

The agenda blank for math . . . was blank.

3 times 4 is what . . .

We are big time in fractions. Yuck. Thank goodness Gervais is home to help Christopher.

I think I've heard the question 3 times 4 equals what about seven times. Ironically, Christopher has said the answer is seven a few times.

He's tired . ..

First Football Game and a PAL

1 - 0

First game, chalk it up as a win. Harris played Driscoll today and both the white and dark team one. Christopher plays on the purple team. He started on offense and on the kick-off team. He didn't play defense, which was hard for him, because his best buddy moved to his team and started over him. Ouch. He had a great game and I know the coaches saw him make some great tackles. He has instinct that few kids have. He knows how to play. I think eventually he will be playing defense.

And, he was nominated by his art teacher for the Outstanding Achievement Award. Each week two Harris students get to go to Madison High School football games and are honored by the high school PALs (peer assistant leaders). Hopefully, he will be selected.

He's such a great kid, great football player and a great PAL.

Quiet

I know Christopher is headed toward puberty. He will eventually get there and all those changes I've heard about, read about and watched movies about will occur.

But I'm not ready. I still want him to be my little boy who still says "mama" every so sweetly when he is tired. I want him to still wave to me when he is around his friends. And, I want him to quite simply want to be with me.

All that requires us spending time together -- which is hard these days. Between football practice, taking care of the girls and just life, he and I sometimes say only a few words to each other.

Like tonight. He's been quiet in his room while I've been busy around the house getting things ready. I think that quiet thing is part of puberty, but is it also part of him still being my little boy. He's quiet that way -- can be by himself. He's always been able to do that. He can go into his room and draw or write or just sit and look around. I want that to continue, of course, because I like the quiet and so does my husband. But I don't want it to be quiet because he doesn't want to talk to me or because he doesn't want to be with me.

I like the quiet, but I don't know if the quiet will always be the right quiet.

Scrimmage by Jill

Today, Christopher played in his first school football game. It was a scrimmage, but a game nonetheless.

He started at cornerback. He did great! He's one of the smallest kids out there so he automatically gets assigned to cornerback and wide receiver. The good news is he can really play so he's out there!

His quarterback only passed two times -- not a single time to Christopher, but he blocked well.

We didn't get home until about 7 p.m. . . so game days will be long days.

Scrimmage by Chris

I scrimmaged today. I started at cornerback.

It was good. I had a tackle, almost an interception and a broken up pass.

Greenback Night

The PTA puts on a 30-minute meeting and then asks for money. All the while, parents are anxiously waiting for 6:30 p.m. so that the tour the classes portion of the program can begin.

I skipped the PTA meeting to avoid the anxiousness . . . and yet, I still managed to be late to Christopher's first period class. A habit repeating itself from high school!

First period: Art. Our friend teaches the class. She's exuberant and excited about Art. Christopher loves art and quite frankly, loves her! There is a chance for him to be in National Art Junior Honor Society. Field trips, special contests, etc. . . .

Second period: Reading. The teacher seems great. She provided us the names of the books he will read this year -- we will be buying those to reinforce class activities at home.

Third period: Debate. Again, the teacher seems to know her stuff. This may be a struggle for Christopher. He's not big on presenting and that's pretty much what debate is all about. She was excited about UIL competition -- don't think my child will be participating.

Fourth period: Athletics. At last, the place where my son feels most at home. The gym. The field.

Fifth period: English. Christopher's favorite teacher! She does seem fun and determined to make learning the subject an adventure!

Sixth period: Science. A favorite class of Christopher's because of the big project this year -- dissecting a frog!

Seventh period: Math PreAP. Fractions galore right now, but he's doing eighth grade work.

Eighth period: Texas History. The teacher is on fire for history. She seems good -- can make studying history interesting.

All teachers have tutoring and all limit the amount of homework. Really, math is the only class that will regularly have homework.

And, I forgot to turn in my greenback envelope. Wasn't that the point of greenback night?!

Math Homework

So far, the math homework has been the repeat offender.

Fractions to percents to decimals and the other night, the teacher threw in square roots. Is the proper name "radical." That was on the worksheet. Yes, I believe math to be radical. So radical -- I can't figure it out.

But finally, we had a breakthrough. Last night's homework was easily completed by Christopher.

We now know 1/8 equals 12.5% and 1/9 equals 11 percent. We are on a roll.

Radical.

Football practice

At football practice, we do hitting drills. I am on the purple team. I think I'm a receiver. I don't know if I'm a running back.

In hitting drills, I got the kids littler than me. They were weak.

We start practice like at 3:5o p.m. and end at 5:30 p.m.

My pants are like crooked and too big. My helmet it stinks and makes my hair itch.

Week One

We're done with the first week and only had two bits of homework.

The first -- a reading survey. There were two pages of questions regarding Christopher's interest and choice in reading. First question: "Do you like to read?" Christopher's answer, which repeated itself throughout the survey -- No! He did write that if he has to read, he'll read non-fiction, biographies of sports stars. And, he acknowledged he reads the Sports section of the newspaper each morning. Well, I guess the teacher wanted honest answers . . .and she got it.

The second piece of homework was from his pre-AP math class. Cobwebs grew in the head over the summer -- for both Christopher and I. The 15 question worksheet was taking fractions, making them simple and then translating the fractions into decimals and yes, the dreaded percentage. He and I plugged away and got through it. I think once everyone gets into the swing of things, memory will come back.

He does have a project due Tuesday -- a biopoem and some other thing about himself. He'll be starting that and completing it this weekend.

Overall, the week was uneventful. Lunch was easy -- he ate a lot -- and classes were OK. He really likes his English teacher and is glad to be in Art again with Mrs. Fox. Athletics is a hit and so is football practice. Friday was pads and there was 8 a.m. practice this morning. He thinks he'll be a running back on the purple team. He's one of the fastest kids out there.

On to week number two.

School Clothes

I hear from friends that their 12-year-old sons don't really care what clothes they wear, much less their socks.

Well, I've got a 12-year-old that not only cares, he passionately cares about his clothes and yes, his socks.

And, he doesn't do mix and match -- he has outfits. So if a certain navy blue shirt goes with navy plaid shorts, don't expect the shirt to go with a pair of khaki shorts. Oh, no, it doesn't go together.

Today marks the beginning of the wearing of school clothes. We put together a calendar each week so we have everything we need ironed following the rule of at least two collared shirts worn a week. He can only wear basketball shorts and a t-shirt once a nine weeks. Usually, he burns through that in the first or second week and then has to wait it out until the next nine weeks.

He requested Hollister shirts this year. Collared and t-shirt styles -- we bought three collared shirts and two t-shirts -- all on sale. He also received new shorts from Kohls. Kohls carries the style he likes -- baggy, belted, long shorts. He's going the plaid route in shorts this year for the most part.

We also purchased undershirts because he needed new ones, but what does he wear most days? Sleeveless, UnderArmour shirts are the undershirt of choice for Christopher. That would work really well if he had more than two. I'm thinking the white Hanes undershirts will become a part of the circulation.

I'm fortunate Christopher cares about his appearance, but some mornings I think, who cares if the undershirt neck looks slightly stretched out under the collar of his t-shirt or the socks are long or short or if the black socks he has are too faded to go with the black slip-on Nike shoes!?

Yeah, socks. They are a big deal 'round here. Last year, it was two pair of long black Nike socks (hit around the calf) that he would layer. The bottom layer was scrunched down a bit and the top layer was folded down. For his birthday this year, he added six more pair to the mix. He has a drawer full of long black Nike socks.

He also has short black and short white Nike socks. These go unworn. I think he may wear them to mow the lawn.

To throw a wrench into the whole sock outfitting, he has to wear white socks for football. I think this is easily accomplished because he has a drawer full of white long socks. Oh, wait, they are Addidas and his cleats are Nike. Nope, can't wear Addidas socks with Nike shoes. I promise you these are his actual words!

He has one pair of long white Nike socks. He has practice tomorrow. He's wearing the socks right now because he's playing football outside wearing the Nike cleats and he has to match.

Tomorrow, we're buying more long white Nike socks. I am not doing laundry every night with the load consisting of one pair of long white Nike socks. Or Under Armour T-shirts.

School Supplies

School supplies for seventh graders are the same no matter the school. We bought Christopher's a few weeks ago knowing we have to take full advantage of any grocery store visit.

We only strayed from one item. We didn't go with the 3-inch 3-ring binder. According to Christopher, it is too big. So we went with the 2-inch 3-ring binder. That inch is critical when it comes to fitting in his new backpack.

Not an expensive list, but it's a study in multiples (kind of like our life now):
3-ring binder
2 packs of wide ruled notebook paper
6 pocket folders with brads (in different colors)
6 spiral notebooks, wide ruled (in different colors)
2 composition books
1 zippered pencil case
2 red pens
2 blue or black ball point pens
2 no. 2 or mechanical pencils
1 package of lined note cards
1 ruler
1 package of colored pencils
2 glue sticks

Lockers, Textbooks and Shots

Locker open: Check
Textbooks covered: Check
Shots recoreded: Check

Whacked out schedule: Check

Yep, had to knock out a couple of e-mails last night because my star athlete child was erroneously placed in Physical Education, not Athletics.

Thankfully, it was a mistake and his schedule was changed today.

I mean the whole reason my child wanted to attend Harris this year was to be in Athletics. Sad, but true. Pre-AP math, Debate, Texas History . . .no those classes didn't matter. It's all about sports!

Here we go again . . .

That time of year is upon us. School is about to start. August 24 is staring us in the face. Well, staring me in the face because Christopher is still asleep and it is 9:45 a.m.

As every parent says, the summer flew by. Ours was extra busy -- the twins kept us hopping. We didn't go on vacation, but Christopher did keep busy. He played in basketball tournaments most weekends, including a trip to Corpus, and he hung out at our gym with his buddies.

With the start of seventh grade comes football. And, yes, Christopher is playing. He had a camp a few weeks back that required early mornings. He received his football uniform and locker last week so he is official.

Tonight, we have seventh grade orientation. It's nothing like sixth grade orientation. Last year, we dropped off Christopher and he spent half a Saturday walking around to his classes. This year, it's an hour long and he gets his locker, textbooks and advisory period. The first day of class he gets his schedule. Wow. I guess he'll know where to go.

We'll probably only be posting a couple of times a week. We're busy!