I saw his name. Again. I almost choked on my apple.
Mom and I are in cahoots, having already forged an alliance. But it seems that our combined efforts weren't working.
I checked his schedule. It said he was at lunch. Just like me.
I grabbed what was left of my lunch in my lunchbag (some blueberry yogurt and a classic PBJ; have to eat cheaply in these economic times), slid his netbook out of the cart, and took a stroll down to the cafeteria.
I found him at a table with his friends. There was an empty table right next to it. I strongly suggested he come and join me at the empty table so he and I could do his homework together before class started.
You can just imagine the look I got. But he got his lunch and came and sat with me.
As I cracked open my yogurt, he fired up his netbook and got to work. He shot me an evil glare and hissed, "Why are you doing this?"
"Well," I said, "There are two main reasons. First, I only ask you to do homework when you need to practice a skill that is required in the objective we are studying. When you don't do the rare homework that I assign, you are missing out on learning a skill you need to have. Making a data table and a graph to organize your data is a skill you will need when finishing your self-designed lab report, as well as when you organize that report into a presentation to the class so we can analyze your findings. It's also a skill you will need in other classes, such as social studies and math. Plus, it makes you a better person in general because graphs, by their very nature, are inherently filled with awesome."
I paused, eating a spoonful of yogurt.
"So what's the other reason?" he asked with a roll of his eyes, tippity-tapping away in his Google spreadsheet.
"The other reason is because I'm an old woman with nothing better to do during lunch."