It’s the 4th week of school and behavior is starting to hazily resemble something that would be deemed almost appropriate for classroom. Reading levels are assessed and I have a general idea of how far behind each individual student actually is and yet as I find everyday, when one hurdle is crossed it is only to find 100 more lying in your wake. The newest hurdle is attendance. There are now 14 students enrolled in this class, today 6 showed up. Two are suspended and six are just not here. One girl, who is quite bright and does for the most part want to succeed in the class, came back today after being absent the last 6 school days. I gave her the work she missed and I am confident that at least she will make it up. However, most of the students do not. They don’t ask what they’ve missed or what needs to be made up. I have a folder of all the work the kids miss when they’re absent. It’s overflowing at this point. One month into school and many of these students are failing simply because they have not been here. How do you combat that? I give them their work, I explain to them what they have missed and what needs to be done, and then 2 days later they are gone again.

Yesterday was my birthday. My present to myself, I took the day off. I have the weekends off yes but rarely are they not filled with errands, grocery shopping, cleaning, and other things that are just not done during the week. It was a good time for reflection. To simply be able to sit at a café and read, uninterrupted, with no one wanting anything from you, was the best present I could have given myself.

I still have yet to be paid. I filled out my paper work and registered at payroll. They said it would take 3 paychecks for direct deposit to go through so my first few paychecks would be mailed to me. I have student loans that are going un-paid. My cell phone company is calling but I have no money to pay them. Rent is due in 2 weeks and I have cleaned out practically my entire savings at this point. Just another hurdle to jump.