I basically watched Top Gear UK and The Unit in Alabama. And countless Diego and other Nick stuff, but I refuse to count that. Watching Top Gear with a car geek is awesome fun.

I am home and mostly unpacked. Goddamned baggage handlers broke 3 really well packed things: plastic mixing bowl, glass in a frame and the ornament Tyler painted for me. The latter really pisses me off, but it is at least easily fixable.

Lunatic that I am, I got home, shot Mister Kitty and went out and swam. 1.5 miles. It's always interesting after a period of time off. Then unpacked and ate dinner.

Loki is nuts, Devi is needy, Mister Kitty is asleep.

Eventually, I'll take the empty luggage downstairs, go through my mail and really find homes for things. Eventually is not now.

Pix, the upside to Panera is unlimited iced tea, which is a bonus... the downside is the distractibility factor. I'm highly prone to distraction. So I'll leave the choice up to you.

sara, glad you're home safe and sound.

It's 7:30 and both kids are in bed (asleep is questionable). Grace didn't have a nap today and Noah certainly didn't have a long enough one.

I have taken codeine in an attempt to get my neck to unspasm.

But I'm headed to bed.

Sleep well! I'm not betting on whether my nephews are asleep. Their schedule got all ferwonked Xmas day when they and PJ took a 6 hour nap. D's isn't so bad, but T? Oy. Child would be wide awake from 6 until 1 am and utterly immoveable before 9. And that's changing tomorrow.

Loki is lying on the suitcase like it's his royal throne. And I'm discovering his shredded paper stores....

Okay, I just got an email from a student. We submitted midterm report cards a week before winter break. The kid had been in class 3 days of the 20 classes we had during that marking period. Final grades won't be submitted until February.

He asked me if he had any chance of passing. He's missed half the semester, the half where we do much of the work, as a matter of fact. If I say no he doesn't, he won't attend school. If I say he does, then I am either lying or willing to give him make up work.

What should I do?

What should I do?

I guess the proper answer is putting the onus of responsibility on him. 3 out of 20 is not even close to enough.

However, I would take into account his willingness or likelihood of him actually turning himself around.

Is it likely that this is a real turning point for him? Or is he simply desperate and postponing something inevitable that he's not ready to deal with yet?

Well, given his past track record, I'd say that it doesn't matter so I may as well say, "sure! you could pass, but you have a ton of this work to make up, like 1000 points worth of work which includes 3 compositions of at least 1500, including one on a book you never bothered to read!" because I don't think he'll actually do anything.

I can't remember if I passed him during the last semester (we do a full-year's course in 20 weeks... so every 10 weeks you get a full semester grade). But if he didn't, he still needs to repeat this course. I'm the only teacher of the course and I will be reteaching it in the Spring. So....

I would probably say no, but I am a hardass. I would probably also have a talk with him about the benefit of attending school even without the pass, but I can see why he wouldn`t. It is generally much easier to keep a student in school than to get him back once he`s left, if you want to take that into consideration in your make-up work. Would you be able to assign enough make-up so that it`s fair to the other students who did show up? Again, hardass, but the vast majority of my students do not graduate.

Well, and if he has to retake I would definitely stress how this would be a benefit for him if he were to be familiar with the material for the second go-round, but I can see why this would not appeal.

Again, hardass, but the vast majority of my students do not graduate.

Me too!

I said, the only way of passing is to make up all the work assigned, attend tutoring every day it is offered after school (it's a 5th period that is mandatory for failing 10th graders and technically I'm in the 10th grade academy though I only teach 12th graders) and attend all of the remaining classes then you have a slim chance of passing.

So I can make it onerous enough that it's a punishment while still giving him (false?) hope.