Tuesday was “Take Your Parent to School Day.” I attended with Sarah from 8 am to noon and Steve took over from noon to 3:15.
It’s kind of scary going back to school after being out a century or two, as I have been. In fact, it was extra scary for me because you know what the very first class of the day was?
Math.
Yes, math. My least favorite subject on the planet.
I sat in a front row desk beside Sarah and stared nervously at the handout the teacher had given me, I just knew that any minute she was going to call on me and ask me to find the gradient of the slope of the A quadrant and solve for the N after diving by 4.753 while simultaneously figuring out the angle of the area of the perimeter of the rhombus and the axis of rotation of the augmented matrix’s square root.
But you know what? I wasn’t worried. I was ready. And I was prepared.
Because no matter the question, I was going to answer “Four.”
Yep. Just plain four.
I mean, four is a good, solid and highly respectable number isn’t it? And I figured I would have a one in 2.7 billion chance of being right, so what was there to lose?
Thankfully though, I did not have to bring my astonishing mathematical skills to bear which was a good thing because I really hate making High School math students look bad.
(I’ll pause for a moment while we all share a hearty laugh.)
When the math class finally, mercifully ended (without me having to make even one student look bad), Sarah led me out to the hall while informing me, “Mom, to get to the next class on time, we’re going to have to hurry.”
And hurry we did. Up steep stairs, down long halls, we were jostled by backpacks and by football players whose arms were bigger than my entire body. For being only five feet tall, that diminutive daughter of mine can really hustle! As I sprinted hurriedly and worriedly through the halls trying to keep up with my speedy progeny, I finally realized why 49-year old, flabby woman do not attend High School. It is not so much for age-based reasons as it is for fitness-based issues. Getting to each class on time would require far more effort than I am willing to expend at this semi-advanced age in life.
After breaking every land speed record known to man, Sarah and I skidded around the corner of the next classroom just as the bell rang. I collapsed wearily into my assigned chair while the teacher graciously wheeled in an oxygen tank and called in a crew of paramedics who waited until my gasping had stopped and my heart rate had gone down from its hallway-sprinting-high of 730 beats per minute. (Or at least that’s what it felt like.)
But I’m happy to say all the effort was worth it. It was so very, very well worth it.
Because Sarah’s second class of the day? Photography and Photoshop.
Oh my. I was in absolute heaven. I’m sure that teacher had never in her entire life seen a more rapt and enraptured student being sitting in her classroom. Utter. Bliss.
However, all bliss has to come to an end and before I knew it, that class was over and my daughter and I launched ourselves out the door for yet another sprint to her next class, Honors Civics.
As I sat and listened to the teacher for an hour I thought to myself, “Hmmm. Another subject I don’t know much about.”
And then I got to worrying.
I thought, “In just a very short while, the time is going to come when Sarah is going to hit the tipping point. One day she will come home from school and she actually be smarter than me. And Steve. And then what will we do?”
It’s a real worry of mine. Being outsmarted by my own kid.
And speaking of school and kids? Sarah was given her 2nd quarter report card Tuesday. When I saw it, I had to sit her down for a little lecture on her grades because there were a few things on her card that were a bit worrisome to me.
I don’t want to share too many family secrets with you all because Sarah does need to have her privacy protected, but this is something I feel like I need to talk about.
I sat Sarah down with her report card and I said, “Sarah, honey. There need to be some serious changes made here. You can’t keep on bringing home grades like this. You’ll need to make some adjustments in your study habits, spend more time on homework, and maybe I could even help you a little bit in math. Because frankly? If you could just start earning a few D’s and F’s, we wouldn’t have to pay you so much money.”
Yes folks, our supposedly learning-challenged student whose brain was supposed to be damaged by massive amounts of chemo has once again brought home straight A’s.
And since we’ve always paid Nathan and Sarah a little something for each A and B they get, that was the reason I felt compelled to sit her down for The Talk. That was the reason I pleaded, “Just one D, Sarah. Could you possibly just go ahead and get one D? It would really help out our budget!”
But no. She insists on getting A’s. All A’s. Sigh.
And the reason she’s getting A’s? Besides having a good work ethic and being a good student?
It’s because I am NOT helping her in math.
Because you can only write four as an answer so many times.
Here are a few recent photos of our sprinting, A-making, almost-smarter-than-us child. (Who we are very proud of.)
And one of my all-time favorite pictures of her . . .
To close out this School Post, I just want to say that if you are a teacher, or if you have ever been a teacher, thank you.
I told Sarah that teachers are right up there with doctors, nurses, policemen and missionaries to Africa in my Book of Heroes. As I sat and watched Sarah’s teachers invest their lives, hearts, knowledge and gifts into Sarah’s life and into the lives of her fellow students, I wanted to stand up and cheer. I wanted to raise their salaries to a million dollars a year and send them on paid vacations to the country of their choice.
Because we will never, ever be able to do too much to repay those amazing individuals who partner with us in helping us prepare our precious children for life as adults.
So once again, to any teacher reading this: Thank you. You are my hero.
I am a teacher…a middle school teacher…which I believe should earn me some points in Heaven. One being that I never have to spend another day trying to settle a dispute between middle school girls, but I digress. I want you to know that in my 20 years of teaching middle school, I have taught several children on the surviving side of chemo and do not remember any making straight A’s and it was not for lack of effort. Chemo does a number on the brain and kids (especially as young as Sarah was) rarely come out without some deficit. As a teacher, the whole time our Sarah was enduring chemo, I must admit that while praying that she survived, I also worried about her cognitively. Unfortunately, as you know, we never got to find that out with our Sarah, but I do pray for your Sarah’s cognitive abilities because I know how hard school can be if learning is hard. Again, I feel so blessed and appreciative to God for all our collective prayers being answered for Sarah Smith. I know we celebrate again soon for another year with that precious young lady and I am so relieved to hear that she is succeeding and at Honors’ classes at that!! Woo hoo…go God!!
Lisa,
Yes, if you’ve intervened in middle school girls’ Drama, you have definitely earned some extra, extra points. Middle school girls can DO some drama!
I hadn’t realized you’ve been teaching for twenty years! That is quite a record for you and quite a gift for your students. THANK YOU for investing your life that way.
And as always, thanks for your kind words about our Sarah, when your own heart so misses the gift-called-Sarah that your own family was given. Thank you for rejoicing with us about her grades and recognizing with us how miraculous those grades really are especially, as you said, since she’s taking Honors Civics and English. We are so very grateful.
As a teacher (on medical disability) after 15 years working on schools I wish more people shared your sentiments, Becky! If I had a nickel for every time people made a comment on how easy teaching was I would be living in a 50,000 square foot mansion on the beach! All we hear is you only work 9-3; if only that were true. I arrived @ work between 6:30-7:00 to finish the work I couldn’t the night before so that my students got their tests, assignments, projects, book reports and other things the next day (when I didn’t work through my DUTY FREE lunch hour grading tests so they got them back the day they took them). The days I wasn’t grading papers, I was working with students whose were home sick, gone for 10 days to Disney in the middle of the year because the parents didn’t plan around a school schedule and then wouldn’t bring them in early or let them stay late to get the help they needed during my non paid time so lunch it was. They would eat and work and I would work all the while letting them know that I had a big breakfast or would eat a bit later. I couldn’t keep them out of PE or MUSIC because why should I? They love those classes and required by state laws. And you know what, I didn’t mind, really I didn’t. I think it’s the parent’s job to teach the importance of school and pulling them out for 10 days isn’t showing them school is important. But what bothers me the most…..when parents lie. “My daughter and son are having surgery on Monday and will be gone seven school days; at least! Me, being concerned told them not to worry about homework and just concentrate on recovery (I sent work but let them know that we would get it finished not to stress). I called the house a dozen times at different times of the day and nobody answered, ever! I stopped by once or twice but the driveway was covered with snow and no evidence of anyone being home for at least 6-7 days since the last huge snow. Thinking there was a problem I began calling local hospitals asking for room numbers to find no admittance and finally started on the emergency contacts (left messages after stopping by too so it was more like four calls)! I called one of the middle school teachers asking if she knew if they were okay (she had the bother) asking if the children were okay and she hadn’t given it much thought because this is common place behavior in schools. It happens no less than three times month. So, she just thought, “Whatever, I don’t have time to track down ever family!” Still not satisfied I called emergency contacts (grandparents, aunts, etc., to no avail)! And when she arrived back at school 10 school days later she looked very tan and quite healthy. Her checks were rosy and she looked well rested. She was only nine (in the second grade because she had to repeat the first grade due to too much missed school for non-illness—didn’t know it was another district) and was at the mercy of her mom. I asked her how she was feeling, that I was worried. I stopped by twice, called four times, tried her aunt and grandma and even the local hospitals because I was worried. I went on to say that if I had known you were going to be in the hospital for so long I would have visited and helped you with your lessons (I wasn’t made or yelling I WAS WORRIED). B broke down into hysterics, “I, I, I, wasssss on, on a DISNEYCRUISE not sick! Mommy made me lie to you!” And at that point she went to hug me almost to say, “Please don’t hate me it wasn’t my fault!” I returned the hug and told her, “B we will figure out a way to fix this problem. It wasn’t your fault and you are such a good girl for telling me the truth. You couldn’t tell mommy no and stay home alone; but you could’ve stayed at my house (which she thought was absurd because I didn’t have a house I lived at school; and of course she couldn’t have anyway)!” I was really trying to make her feel better for something that was clearly NOT HER FAULT! And what nine y/o wouldn’t want to go on a Disney Cruise? Well, not one piece of work was finished (I spent six hours gathering work and told the mom there would be more when they return and this can’t make up for what hands on activities she would miss at school. I couldn’t recreate the experiments but we would do the best we could. If she needed surgery, well I had emergency surgery that year too (was at school on Monday and by the time the day was over I was in the ER and by midnight I was in recovery). Well, her Mom said that since she was having surgery I told her to rest and we would finish things up when she was back. This little Sunshine girl told her mom that she wasn’t sick and she had to get the work done for me (she was smart but when you miss more than 90 days of a 180 school day year you can’t be promoted; especially when a majority of those days she wasn’t sick) and her mother said it was at home that she didn’t want to deal with it on vacation. Arriving home at 8:00 the night before returning to school was not enough time to get the work finished so she went to bed early! Technically, unexcused absences result in a failing grade on every assignment, test, quiz, project they missed, or didn’t’ turn in and I am not required to help ‘re’ teach concepts (check your child’s school policy you might be surprised what your school policy is). Well, I was not penalizing a little girl. Her bother, an 8th grader wasn’t given that same courtesy. I spent 15 lunch hours working with her, and two, daily 15 minute recesses (state law where I live on days they don’t have PE) working to catch her up and ‘re’ teach concepts (she was thrilled to miss recess, lunch play time, and loved eating in the room). As other teacher’s know, teaching/learning is about building on concepts you already know. You need to know how to add before subtract, multiple before divide. Everything builds on what you learned before. Missing that much school, unexcused, means she missed no less than ten new math concepts as just one example. And parents do this multiple times a month, every year! Enough so that their children are having to repeat grades. Is a trip to Disney worth your child being 20 when they graduate HS? Once, in 12 years, no problem I can work with that. Annually, not so much. You get school calendars two years in advance. Also, I am not as evil as I sound. I have had parents come to me and say my father in India is dying can I take N out of school for three weeks to say their good-byes, or we have the opportunity to spend three weeks in Israel at a school that my sister teaches @ can we go? I can’t give them those experiences. Goodbyes to dying relatives, or three weeks of schooling in another country (I saw the work they did in Hebrew to prove it). Also, paid summers off? Our salaries are based on 180 days of school. Paid over 365 days. Imagine getting your last check at the end of June and nothing again until two weeks after the new school year started. Could you budget that well with no extra income? Some teachers who have a second income choose to get more during school time and nothing during the summer. We work more hours than you think. I can’t get all my work done between 6:30 when the building opens and 3:30 when my students leave (that only gives me 2.5 hours w/out them). So, it needs to be finished after school or at home. I would rather leave at 4:00-4:30 go home and change, relax for an hour and have dinner and then work until 10:30 (after the news) and start again in the morning. And weekends, there are always enrichment programs that need staff to volunteer or work to be finished so part of my weekend is working. I signed up for it, I knew going into it what I was getting into but it still doesn’t mean I have it easy, work paid over the summer, six hours days, etc. One set of report cards take at least 48 hours total (unless you only want one comment on the report card…..Joey is a nice boy)! So, when Becky says, she thinks of teachers like doctors and nurses, sings their praises and are grateful for them, it makes me smile (mind you I didn’t read any comments before writing/posting this novel)…..I ask how did they get to be doctors and nurses. TEACHERS! Someone had to TEACH them to be what they are. Just saying! Stepping off my soap box!
Jodi,
Jodi,
It is so sad to hear that parents would teach their child to lie about something like that, especially when it involved so much concern, worry and extra work on YOUR part! Kudos to you you for going the extra mile and caring about your student enough to try and track her down to see how her “surgery” went. I know that teachers have to develop a mammoth supply of patience and it sounds like you have have done that, way above and beyond what should ever be required.
Thank you for investing into the lives of so many students and truly, truly caring about them. It’s the caring that makes a really great teacher. Which is what you are!
Way to go, Sarah!!! I think a parents’ day at school is a great idea. So many parents really have no idea what their children are doing all day. I would have loved to go to school with my kids. 🙂
Gayle in AL
ps. My answer was always “3”. 🙂
Gayle,
When you don’t have any idea what you’re doing? Three works great, too! 🙂
Yes, I thought it was a great idea to have a parent’s day; it gave me a whole new appreciation for what Sarah does all day. (Also makes me understand all the more why she loves coming home to a quiet, calm atmosphere.)
Congrats to Sarah! While words, vocabulary, and reading have always been my strong suit, I have a slight learning disability in math so I’ve always hated it and been terrible in it. And this is funny, but for years as a joke my stock response to any math question has always been ‘4!’ I can’t believe you said that too! I’d look at a complicated problem, sit back, and say, “Four,” every time! See, I knew I was right!
Melissa,
That is is hilarious that you are a four-er, too! May I just say that great minds think alike? We are very possibly unsung mathematical geniuses.
Yay for Sarah! Straight A’s are wonderful!
Thanks for your touching post too 🙂 I am a 3rd grade teacher and words like these inspire me to keep touching the lives of children! It’s a tough job, but it is totally worth it!
Melanie,
I will say it again–YOU are my hero. Thank you for what you do. I’ll bet third grade is pretty interesting to teach; they’re still young enough to say really cute things!
Congratulations, Sarah!!! You go, girl!!!! As a former high school teacher I am so proud of you because that is not easy to do. Share some of the info from your photography class with us. Take care and happy rest of the year. Becky, we used to have to almost run to get from class to class when I was in high school because we only had 2 1/2 minutes between classes. Some classes were at one end of the building and the next upstairs at the other end. I remember those times.
Ann,
I’m not sure whose idea it is to make those in between class times so short but I can imagine you really having to sprint to make it in 2 1/2 minutes! And thank you for all your years of teaching.
Way to go, Sarah! I’m as impressed with the work ethic as I am with the actual grades… motivation was always my scholastic downfall! Congratulations!!
Kristina,
Yeah, motivation is sometimes a tough thing to come by for a young person but as long as we develop it eventually, that’s the really important thing–especially when we have jobs and that alarm goes off waaaaay too early! Thanks for your encouraging words for her.
Congratulations on a wonder school report Sarah. You and your parents should be proud of you!!
I love it when children prove the doctors wrong.
Also, Becky, I’ve been meaning to tell you, I really like the current banner. Your pictures are very pretty.
Anna,
Yeah, I love doctors but I REALLY love it when they’re wrong. And thanks for the encouraging words about the banner–I’m liking it pretty well.
All A’s!!!! I had to cry a little!!! Sarah, I’m so proud of you!!!!!
Lib, I had to cry a little, too! 🙂 Happy, happy tears.
Great Job, Sarah. You are welcome, Becky. I love being a substitute teacher. I have had some of the same kids twice this week as I subbed at the same district. I love helping students. I know what you mean about feeling dumb. I taught math yesterday and Algebra was fine…Geometry…still too hard to understand.
Rachel, Algebra, geometry–they’re all too hard. I am proud to say though, that I can add, subtract, multiply and divide without a calculator. So I’m not a complete loss! Thanks again for the teaching you do.
Great job Sarah (and Becky)!
Thanks, Karen,
Give Vernie a hug for me next time you see her1
Good job Sarah. A is for awesome!
Diane, thanks for rejoicing with us! We’re proud of our gal!
Congrats to Sarah for all A’s!!! Another great accomplishment and I am not a bit surprised.
Cindy
Cindy, you are always so sweet to be an encouragement to the Smith family.
yayyyyy sarah, you rock 🙂
Yep, she’s rockin’! 🙂
Chemo-Schmemo! You rock, Sarah!!
Cheryl,
Chemo-schemo. LOVE that!
That’s wonderful Sarah! Those hallways between classes sure can be tough. John said it was like being the pinball in a pinball machine!
Lesley,
Yes, I think John nailed it exactly. That description made me smile.
As a retired teacher who now works with future teachers, I thoroughly enjoyed this post. Part of the reason Sarah does so well is that she has 2 parents who value books and learning, so I think she should share her loot with you!Congratulations, Sarah. Keep up the good work.
Jan,
Sarah sharing the loot with us is the best idea I’ve heard all year.
Thank you so much for your teaching career and for now helping future teachers. What a gift!
Congratulations Sarah! All A’s…..AWESOME! 🙂 Becky, I remember those sprinting-through-the-hallway days and your description made me laugh. It also made me glad I dont have to do that anymore!! Thanks for the chuckle.
Leeanne,
Yes, I really think they need to leave the hall-sprinting to the youngsters and let the rest of us stay home and eat chocolate.
As a teacher, I LOVED this post. Thank you so much. Love your parent perspective of the classroom experience. We rarely get to experience that as teachers.
Ashley,
THANK YOU for being a teacher!
It really was quite interesting to walk in the shoes of a student for a while and see the educational experience from that perspective. You teachers are amazing.
AWESOME Job Sarah!!!! I’m SO proud of you, so I can imagine how your parents feel! You are an amazing kid who has taught so many, so much.
Hi Dianna,
Always nice to see your name pop up here! Thanks for you sweet words about Sarah. She’s worked hard and we’re proud of her!
Congratulations, Sarah! And to you, Becky, for making it through that half day of high school. Made me stop and think…uh, oh. Is that in my future? Going back? Thanks for sharing the “four” trick – at least I will feel a little prepared!
Janet,
Yes, I would highly recommend that you keep “four” in your mind at all times when you are taken to Parent Day at school. You never know when you might have to whip it out!
Congrats to Sarah on making all A’s!! That is a great accomplishment!! Abby also made all A’s on her report card, and I am actually thinking of asking her for a loan, with all the money she ended up with from the granparents!!! 🙂
Tiffany,
Congrats on Abby’s grades; good for her! I think I’ll follow your lead and give Sarah her “grade money” and then see if I can get her to loan some of it back to me. 🙂