Breathe, just breathe...

So, how are you?

Me? Oh, I'm crazy... I mean fine, really, I'm fine.

We started homeschooling this week. Monday, in fact. I still have all my hair. The kids are still alive. That's good - right? I have been researching homeschooling for about 3 years now. Do you know how good those books, articles, blogs and e-zines can make it sound? How easy? Check it out - you'll see.

There is a part of me that thinks I should be wearing a hippy-cool, hand-dyed, organic shirt over some fab linen slacks (full leg, of course) while chanting and holding hands with my children as we learn of far away places and their cultures. We'd fix fantastical meals based on the country we'd study, learn their music and art, their religions. Then, we'd fall into each others arms with a blissful, well-educated sigh.

This is not our reality. Our reality is that I just realized today that we have yet to cover any history or social studies. ANY. At all. None. We have covered the basics of Chemistry. They love it. We have started into multiplication while refreshing our addition and subtraction. We've worked on the tenses, prepositions, dual-meaning words and various other grammatical items. We've read. We've written. We've cried. We've cursed. Oh wait - that was just me. We've smoked way too many cigarettes. Again - just me.

Sitting here tonight in the silence, with all kinds of books, notebooks and learning materials surrounding me, I think I've come to a new way of thinking. Stop stressing. Stop worrying that he's meeting every Mississippi requirement. Isn't that why we're homeschooling? To learn at our paces? To learn in an interesting way? Rokimus is having a very difficult transition with his Mom becoming his teacher. I'm also having difficulties. In the back of my head are the voices of those around me who are not on board with this endeavor. The ones who doubt I can do this. Honestly, those voices may be imagined, but they are still there. Am I good enough? I feel like a horrible person when I get aggravated that he won't sit down and pay attention. That he won't think for himself - just think. Read something, think about it and implement it. Do they not teach that in the school system anymore? Is it just me? And then, when he's done complaining and whining and figures out that I'm not giving into his crap - he'll do it. ARGH. Why did it take him 20 minutes of all that just to figure out that he's still got to do it?!

So, luckily Moosie is loving this. It helps to know that. I think I may attempt to work them separately somewhat. I may even slack off on the formal educational side of things and work on their thinking/implementing skills. This mainly shows up in worksheets that I've given them. We'll still be working on the education, but I've got to find a different way to approach it with Rokimus.

Anywho. That's what's going on here. That and we're traveling to Missouri next week. You see, Rokimus has won a really large contest through a racing magazine. He's going to represent them in a really big race up there next week. Then after the race, we get to pack up that about $6000 kart and bring it home. So, cool, huh? :)

Take care - Me

Where do these science genes come from?!

Rokimus, who placed first locally, won 2nd place in Div. 1, category microbiology.

Moosie, who placed second locally, won 1st place in Div. 1, category microbiology. She then went on to take Best of Fair for Div.1.

Division 1 consisted of first - third grades. Here is a brief write up about the event. I haven't been able to find the results anywhere, and while our school did not do as well as last year, we took both Best of Fair awards and I had a lady comment that we'd been the ones to "rack up." Not too shabby, but still not enough for me to stop researching home schooling.


Take care - Me

Science at the Hump...

We're at Mississippi State today for Regional Science Fair competions. Both children are competing against each other. The good news is that they are sitting next to one another. I'll try to keep you posted as the day progresses.

Take care - Me

Follow up...

This is Speedy's email sent yesterday after being informed of my email.

Mr Principal,

The incident last year occurred when I went to the school for one the year end functions. I believe it was awards day. I was walking past the cafeteria and one of the workers ran outside and called me inside to pay the past due bill. I was 99% sure that the account was not past due so I asked what the charges were for. She replied that they were for the previous Friday when my children were not even in school. I questioned this so she went to the back to check. When she returned she said that the charges must have been for a previous day but was unable to produce any sort of documentation supporting the alleged past due balance. To avoid any more confusion I just paid the charges as I believe they were less than $5.00

I do not dispute the fact that we owe money now. I sent a check to cover the first and second week of school but I let the third week slip up on me. The point is that the cafeteria staff are rude and should not be hounding children for money.

Please have someone send me a statement for Rokimus and Moosie and I will gladly pay the bill. I will try to make every effort to send a lunch with my children from now on so that they do not have to bother the cafeteria staff.

Thanks,
Speedy

This is Mr. Principal's response to Speedy's email. I have not yet received a reply. We'll see what happens when I pick the kids up from school today.

Mr. Speedy,
I apologize for this occurrence. Believe it or not, I have no
jurisdiction over the cafeteria but I have forwarded this to the Central Office. Thank you for letting me know and I will do what I can to help with this situation. We at the Elementary office and staff absolutely adore your children. Again, I apologize for any inconvenience.

Principal

And, finally, Speedy's response to this one.

Mr. Principal,

Thanks for the reply. I knew you weren't over the cafeteria but I felt
the need to vent to someone.

The generalization that the cafeteria staff are rude is not fair. Both
of my children said that Ms Moneyhog was not rude when she kept Rokimus' money. Ms Moneyhog and Ms Server are always nice and I'm sure most of the other staff are as well. I'm sure that Ms Moneyhog was just following instructions but it doesn't seem fair that they kept his ice cream money to apply to his lunch balance. To my knowledge they don't let them charge ice cream or other treats to their lunch accounts. Last year we would sometimes send extra money for the special events so that they could share with other kids who's parents may not have had extra money
to send. If the extra .50 cents had been used to buy ice cream for a child that couldn't afford any that would be different.

Please let the Central Office know that Ms Moneyhog was not rude.... It's the policy that may need to be reviewed.

We are very happy to have you at this Elementary. We think you are doing a great job and your office staff is wonderful! We are also pleased with the teachers. We love Ms 2nd Grade already and Ms Wonderful 1st Grade .... What can I say she is absolutely wonderful. Going above and beyond doesn't even begin to describe the job that she does. Ms Stephanie, Ms Joy, Ms TAG all great... they love kids and their jobs and it shows.

Thanks again for all that you do,

Speedy

I am not feeling nearly as charitable as Speedy about this situation. While I do agree with his assessment of the principal, office staff, and 2 teachers listed, I wonder if that is actually policy for the cafeteria staff. I somehow doubt it. Overall, I feel that the public educational system policies are greatly lacking in many areas. I can tell you as someone who handles the accounts in a business, if I were to approach a child about their parent's overdue account, I & the business would get sued in a heartbeat. I certainly would not want my business practices to be so unethical as that, and this system has my children 7 hours a day, 5 days a week. Do I really want that type of behavior influencing my children?

Take care - Me

Random information...

Random, not necessarily earth-shattering. :)

So, the house is still not done. In a previous post I jokingly mentioned a Christmas open house. I shouldn't have joked. I'm concerned we'll not have it done in 4 months. We are living here again, though my beloved Mac is still inaccessible to me. The new part is pretty much complete, just lacking our clothing (still in the old bedroom), vanity mirror, closet rods, bathroom storage, some baseboards/quarter round, etc.

Of course, in recent times, my week time work on the house has been hindered with doctor appointments. You see, that pesky, nerve-damaging bone spur has grown back, in less than four weeks. And it's joined by a couple of new ones. So, that's two on the thumb, one on the back of the same hand closer to the wrist. I had the MRI today & yes I have a copy of the disc. I have to say that I'm much better at reading the scans of a pancreas, liver & duodenum than I am a left hand. So, I wait until next Tuesday when I see the orthopedic dude.

The kids are doing well. They are in the TAG program this year & that's their favorite day of the school week. They are currently lucky to be attending the public school system at all after today's experience in the cafeteria. In true friend of Marcus style, I give you my first letter to the principal this year.

Dear Mr. Principal,

I am writing to let you know what has gone on in the cafeteria today concerning our son, Rokimus. Rokimus informed me today that Ms. Rudeness kept his change of $.50 from buying the ice cream bar due to his owing on his lunch money account. I find this to be ridiculous on a couple of counts. First, that she would tell our children that they are overdue on their lunch money without contacting the parents first. Is the school now holding seven-year olds responsible for paying for their lunches? Second, that she would keep $.50 of change due back to my son from buying ice-cream. My son works hard for his ice cream money and should have received that change back. I cannot believe that this person would talk to my children in front of their classmates about financial issues. We have always paid the lunch accounts as soon as we get a notice that they are due. We do not try to shirk our responsibilities towards our children by not paying for their lunches.

This had actually occurred toward the end of last year and I told Speedy to let it slide. That surely they were just worried about end of year expenses. I see that is not the case, and I am very disappointed and upset that this would happen again. How dare she take this matter up with seven year olds? The responsible and sensible thing to do would to contact the people who actually fund the accounts – the parents.

I have thought about home schooling the children, and this is just one more thing that is leading me to think that may be the direction I need to go in.


Sincerely,
KnitforKnot

So, life's been a bit crazy. And through all of this, I still have the urge to pick up the phone and tell Mother about it. I understand that she's probably here, knocking me upside the head with a mallet trying to tell me advice, but I'm just not getting it. And I miss that. I miss telling her "Mother, just drop it. Put it in a bubble & blow it away."

Take care - Me

The 4 D's of Our School System...

Dislike

Discouraged

Disorder

Derogate

I know that I've posted before on our current public educational system and my dislike for it. After meeting with my children's Kindergarten teacher, I am truly discouraged. While the kids got excellent report cards, I feel that what they are actually being "taught" is how to take a test. This is for the testing that they will eventually have to take a few years down the road. You see, thanks to NCLB, the public schools are all about testing. The are about "accountability" and "achievements." The want to get their "report cards" up there in the scores, so they are teaching our children how to take a test. Now, I'm not against taking tests. However, when you stop teaching the child to think for themselves, there is a problem. When you stop teaching a child correct spelling, and just letting them spell as they sound it without correction, I believe that there is a problem. When, what matters most, is my child being able to finish a test of "nonsense words" in a timely matter instead of the ability to read actual words for themselves, that to me is a problem.

There is disorder in the way our children are being taught in the public school systems. They are constantly spending big bucks to "consultants" to come in and change the way teachers teach. They are not actually allowed to teach anymore, rather they are to follow certain benchmarks within a specified amount of time. They must meet their benchmarks. Now, what this means for my children is that they end up spending over a month studying the same thing. They are absolutely bored after a couple of weeks of hearing about the same subject. You understand, they are not encouraged to extend the study of the subject in the classroom, rather they must hear the same thing over and over. (kind of like you're doing now.) Why, you ask. Well, because that way, the students that are too busy stabbing each other with pencils or hitting others in the head will be able to learn it too. Screw having those disrupting the class held accountable for their actions, let's just nicely ask them to stop and hope it works.

I feel that today's public education has derogated what education should be about. (I also feel that way about today's organized religions, but that's another post.) It is no longer about the actual learning process, rather about what the school's numbers are. It is no longer about my child, rather about my child's testing ability and what that can do for the school's funding.

I kid you not when I say that my heart is heavy thinking about my children's future in the public educational system. Perhaps that's why there's so many homeschooling books strewn through my house right now. I don't take their education lightly, and to tell the truth, I'm not sure I want the responsibility of that on my shoulders should I decide to take that route. However, it's more alarming to think of what lies ahead of them if they stay the course they're on.

Take care - Me.

Shit or get off the pot...

So, I'm one of those that believes one can only complain about something for so long before either doing something about it, or just shut up about it. I'm trying to decide what to do about our educational program here in La La. I intend to do some research about what my (read Speedy's) tax dollars are going for in the area of education. Because, honestly, I must say it's not for the betterment of the MS educational system.

So far, in Kindergarten, my children have witnessed choking, spitting, throwing objects at others, and my favorite - mooning. Did I mention Kindergarten is the grade? And did I mention that we are supposedly in a good school district? Somehow, my feeble mind thought it would be different. That learning would actually occur within the educational system. That is, learning reading, writing & arithmetic - not horrendous behavior. I really did think that we would have a few more years before having to deal with that kind of thing. Apparently, I was WRONG. And I hate saying I'm wrong.

So, my newest goal is to research my Reps & Senators here in the Bible Belt & continually ask them for change. Because you know what - that whole "No Child Left Behind?" - it can kiss my ass. The kids that are getting left behind are the ones we will want running our country one day & if we leave them behind now, they will leave us all in the shit hole then.

Thanks Marcus for getting me to think on this.