Thomas is in 5th grade this year. His teacher is really frustrating Tina and me. Last week, he assigned science homework to be done the next day, but there weren’t enough books for everyone in the class. In fact, there were only 7 books for 20 students. Thomas’ teacher made it the responsibility of the students to get together with other students after school to finish the homework. Luckily, Thomas coordinated with two students who live close to us. Unfortunately, Monday night is Cub Scout night and there was really no way we could get him to the friend’s house and then to Cub Scouts. So Tina retrieved the book on the way to Cub Scouts and copied the pertinent section on the school’s copy machine. Thomas was up 2 hours past his bedtime finishing his homework.

This is not the first time we’ve had problems with this teacher. Earlier in the year he assigned math homework to Thomas but failed to copy the necessary sections of the book. Thomas was the only one in the class who didn’t have the book. We offered to purchase the book for Thomas to use, but he declined and promised he would make sure Thomas had the material he needed in the future.