Daniel has officially been withdrawn from public middle school. We’re going through a two week period of deschooling before starting any kind of curriculum. Deschooling simply means that we’re taking a break from school and anything too school related. This is so he and I can learn what he likes and where we’re going to run into resistance, and to try to unlearn our clashing habits when it comes to school work.
Toby is going to the vet today, in about fifteen minutes. Because that jerky is peeing on things he is most certainly not supposed to be peeing on. It’s probably behavioral, but he is up for his yearly checkup and we might as well rule out any physical reason he might have for needing to pee on our towels and Target bags.
The vet suggested that we get a urine sample by placing an empty litter box in a bathroom, with food and water, and leave him there overnight.
The vet did not count on Toby being an asshole and screaming and clawing at the door for hours until finally you realize he’s trying to open the cabinets…probably so he can pee in them instead.
And the vet certainly did not count on Toby OPENING A DRAWER that is a centimeter from the door, so that when you finally check on what your fool cat is doing in there, you find that you cannot OPEN THE BATHROOM DOOR because that drawer is way open right inside.
You and your partner get up at 2am to try use everything possible to budge the drawer close, pushing pushing pushing through the tiny opening in the door at the open drawer that’s preventing the door from being open.
The cat is howling at you through the open crack.
You are pissed.
Finally, your partner closes the drawer somehow doing exactly what you were doing for thirty minutes and the door can open. The cat runs free.
There is no pee sample.
So, fine, whatever CAT.
Today, I got home from work and put Toby in a different bathroom with an empty litter box and a Target bag on the floor. After an hour of him freaking the hell out and screaming/scratching at the door, you just say FINE and open the door and let him out.
Do you know what I found in there? A mess of trash on the floor, the toilet paper ripped up, and the box empty…but a wet puddle of gross pee NEXT to the Target bag. Winner!
So, how do you get that into a tiny container? Of COURSE you get a bulb syringe and SUCK IT UP.
Now I am going to try to shove said asshole cat into a carrier to take the the vet. Happy day!
So, I have this you know, KID, who is hell bent on failing 8th grade. Well, why wouldn’t you when you’ve lagged behind and the class has moved on, when you already have had a difficult time from kindergarten to now, the curriculum has gotten harder, and your teachers are asking you why you are even trying anymore (seriously). And when your guidance counselor tells you that you are going to fail, you believe her. And you’re probably depressed, shutting down, and feel you have no worth. I understand, even though he maddens me, why my son is failing.
I think, in part, he’s been failed.
I’m about to pull him out of school for the remainder of the year and homeschool him.
I have always done some form of homeschooling every summer…with varying results. I even wrote about it a while ago on DotMoms! About how I SUCK AT IT.
I should totally try that again, right? With a different curriculum plan and a different mindset? I kind of think the boy and me having nothing to lose here.
I never met her in person, but she would have got a hug whether she wanted one or not had I did meet her. As it was, I was lucky to email with her, talk to her on the phone, and get promised a painting that never got mailed. It was an honor to have her even think of me, she was a smart smart happy woman.
And she will be very missed.