Monday, May 19, 2014

Bragging on My Boys

With just 7 days of school remaining for Nicklas and Seeger, I wanted to stop and reflect on how proud I am of what they've accomplished this year. Both have earned awesome grades. Seeger has really grown in maturity in regards to being responsible for his homework and daily to-do items for school. We have had very few incidents of forgotten school work this semester compared to last semester. He struggled with long division in math but worked hard to keep practicing. He also wasn't where he needed to be with complex sentences/parts of speech so we spent extra time on this so that he could earn the coveted "3" on this subject. Today, I received the following message from his teacher:




Thank you, Natalie!  I will let you know.  Also, Seeger made it to a 3 on the Parts of Speech/Compound Sentences EL!! :-)


Way to go, Seeger!

Nicklas had a tough decision to make in regards to his schedule next year. This year, all of his friends did a foreign language and one musical elective, while he chose to do two musical electives. When he realized that some of them are getting high school credit for their foreign language, he became worried that he was getting behind. Here's a summary of the decision I sent his orchestra teacher (who made him feel very guilty when he handed in his elective form!):



Hi Miss G – I wanted to contact you to see if you have recommendations for cello instructors that can work with Nicklas this summer and next school year. He wants to continue playing so we’d like to prevent any gaps – and I think he’d benefit from some one-on-one time.

I know you’re aware that Nicklas has elected to drop orchestra for 8th grade so that he can take Spanish. It was a very difficult decision for him. He has really enjoyed both band and orchestra but he feels that skipping a foreign language is putting him behind for high school, compared to his friends. I would prefer he stick with band and orchestra but ultimately, he decided he should take Spanish. This meant he had to choose between band and orchestra. He was really torn about the decision but he feels he needs more work in band since he just started playing the euphonium this year and he’s been playing cello for three years. He says he wants to pick orchestra back up in high school. We’ll see if it works out. In the meantime, I promised that we would do private lessons with the cello. This seemed to be of some consolation to him.

I wanted say that we all enjoyed the concert on Thursday; especially their ISSMA piece. It brought tears to my eyes. After the concert I told him how much I loved that piece and he agreed it was his favorite too. We both talked about how it was sad though, since he won’t be in orchestra next year. Now he’s not so sure that Spanish is the right decision. He’s still struggling with what to do. He’s even spoken with his guidance counselor. There’s no easy answer!

Anyway, I thought you should know all of this because he felt horrible when he turned in his electives paper to you and realized you saw that he wasn’t signing up for orchestra next year. There’s a chance he’ll change his mind – whatever he decides will be overly thought out. Ultimately, I’m impressed with how well he’s handling the decision making process.

I'm not lying when I say I think he should stick with the two musical electives. I know Spanish will be more work for him - and I haven't heard great things about the Spanish teacher. BUT it's awesome that he's thinking about what's best academically for him. 

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Best and Worst

Seeger's worst - 5th graders destroyed the 4th graders snow fort at recess
Nick's worst - flipped 6th and 7th periods so he missed half of band instead of math
Natalie's worst - dealing with students who are arguing their grades
Mike's worst - forgetting his lunch
Seeger's best - turned out to be one of the royals for the snow fort
Nick's best - watching Survivor finale tonight
Natalie's best - leaving work early
Mike's best - super productive before, during, and after school today so he will be able to watch survivor tonight

Monday, November 18, 2013

Best and Worst

Natalie's worst - Nick's pictures didn't come with actual pictures
Seeger's worst - hit his head on the bleachers
Mike's worst - still have to grade
Nick's worst - doesn't have god birthday 100% figured out
Natalie's best - crossed several things off to-do list
Seeger's best - found a new project to work on in art
Nick's best - last Monday before break
Mike's best - family activity tonight

Monday, October 7, 2013

Best and Worst

Seeger's worst - has extra homework
Nick's worst - Tigers lost
Mike's worst - Tigers lost
Natalie's worst - not taking all the clothes I needed to work
Seeger's best - same as dad
Nick's best - family dinner
Mike's best - Amazing Race?
Natalie's best - when Mike texted that dinner was waiting

Friday, October 4, 2013

August and September

I'm biding my time until I have to pick up the boys from school so I thought I'd do a quick post. Here are some photos from August and September.

In August.....

My mom and I watched the Madison Scouts practice one last time before the DCI Finals....


 I drank some of the bacon soda we bought during our trip to Nashville...

The Polack and I went to Hillbilly Haiku Music Fest...


The family went to a wedding of a friend....


I bought fabric and a pattern to make a dress. (A to-do item from my 50 before 50 list.) It didn't turn out so well so I went back to the store and bought MORE fabric and ANOTHER pattern and made a skirt. I've actually worn it a few times....

I snapped a few shots of campus....


 (I love these impromptu sculptures found in Jordan River.)



And in September....

We went to an IU Women's Cross Country Meet....


And an IU Men's Cross Country Meet....

We enjoyed fresh eggs from our friends who have 9 chickens. I love the colorful dozen...

We went to the IU Cardboard Boat Regatta....






The Polack and I had a date night in downtown Bloomington during Lotus Fest....

And Nicklas discovered a mistake on ESPN....

There were other activities - lots of tailgating, my uncles wedding, time with friends and family - but I'm saving that for another post. Happy Friday, everyone!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Preachy iPhone







More god texts.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013