Stress relief?

This is one of my favourite explanations ever.

I would also like to do this for some stress relief.

I am having one of those evenings.

The realisation that my computer is not up to my demands and I fear I have a fundamental issue with Windows products. It has taken two hours tonight to make some minor amendments to a photo book because this infernal machine is as capable of making minor adjustments as an elephant trying to ballet dance.

Frustration led me to the point of tears and nearly to the point of punching the computer.

Then James and I had a conversation about his school work from the first three weeks and alarm bells started to ring. I fear he is not having basic expectations reinforced to him and therefore his work in his books is not to the standard that I would expect of a child of his level of intelligence and ability. I am more aggravated because I know what I (we, at my school) expect of our students, and this does not seem to be mirrored. Conversations about being 'allowed to talk quietly whilst we work' inflamed my angst, and caused me to pose the question about his ability to concentrate properly if this is the case.

I wasnt mean, I promise, but if the messages about work ethics aren't being given in his classroom, then I am damned if he is going to be sold short by me as well.

Then, a deja vu moment when he told me that he is struggling with Maths again. Different teacher from the one he got at Christmas who completely turned him around.

The icing on the cake was no evidence that his books have been marked in the first three weeks of term, so no-one has yet offered any feedback about how to improve.

Words echo in my head from one of his teachers last year who told me "oh, we don't bother really about presentation as long as the ideas and explanations are there". Not good enough for me I am afraid, particularly from a 'good' school.

It smarts more because we are working so hard at our school to get the basics right, and to do all of the things that I am currently finding fault with in terms of Jimbo's current experience. There are so many good things about his school and he does have some amazing teachers who inspire him. But there are some fundamentals that need to be addressed.

So now I need to figure out how to have that conversation with someone at his school in a way that is not aggressive, that won't make like difficult for James and that impacts positively on what he is doing and how he progresses. I really don't give a toss if they consider me to be an interfering parent, because at the end of the day, I want him to do the best that he possibly can - and for that to happen, he needs to be guided by the adults who teach him, as well as me.

Rant over.