My student came back today. He set out to be a total nightmare right from the beginning. I don’t think he said anything other than “**** you” to me today. I told him you stay in your square and don’t disrupt class and I will stay in my square and leave you alone (completely ignore you). I would hold up my end but he was itching for attention/something to be pissed off about so he would push and push and push until I HAD to say something. Then he would curse at me.

I really don’t care. He’s virtual for the rest of the week so he has no way to physically intimidate us, and I’m quite sure he won’t speak to us in a threatening manner if his parent is there. They say he’s doing just fine at home. I imagine he’d like to keep the illusion alive.

Starting today I have put my son on an electronics detox program. He can’t have his iPad during the week anymore and he can only have it for a limited amount of time on the weekend and ONLY after he has completed his chores. This will be for about a month and if he shows improvement in his behavior I will relax the rules a little bit. Right now he just doesn’t clean up after himself at all and he ignores us when we are speaking to him because he is too focused on his device. He will be ten in a month and I am tired of it!

Other than that I’m doing ok. I don’t think my student will make me quite so anxious anymore given he’s only there for two days out of the week. I’ve also had a shift in mindset. I could feel myself getting aggravated today but I just went back to what it was like when I was in my old school. Those kids tested the hell out of me but eventually they came to respect me and leave me alone, even protect me from the other kids. I don’t know if that will ever happen here but I’m not going to waste my mental energy being aggravated by a student who has no regard for me anyway.