Well, this is something that you should enjoy. After much hoopla and ballyhoo B. started first grade today. I didn't know how that was going to work. After my melt down last year in the parking lot and being called an amateur by Ms. Coil, I was concerned that I would have another Hallmark movie moment this year. I will admit that tears kinda flowed today, but for totally different reasons. I should say that when tears come (and boy I can cry with the best of them...Tammy Faye ain't got nothin' on me) usually I cry at movies and the realization that time is so fleeting and I'm missing it. Anyway, on Sat. we went to B. school and discovered that he didn't have a desk or a paper apple with his name on it. We paid the tuition in April or May, and they had no problem cashing the check, but they couldn't add him to a roster? When it's first grade that kind of crap is important (to me). I ran into the teacher's aid (from last year and who is the aid for first grade this year) and asked her what was up.
She told us we weren't on the roster, but she'd take care of it. She did - desk and all were ready to go. I was still kinda fuming from Sat. this morning, and when I got there I watched my son walk around the room searching for a desk with his name on it...I about jumped up the teacher's a** and pulled a Shirley Maclaine and screamed, "Where's my baby's DESK...HE NEEDS IT NOW...NOT in 5 minutes...NOW" About the time I felt my temperature rise the teacher realized some other little punk kid had sat at B. seat. The kid wanted to sit there to be next to his friend that was the desk next to B's desk.
Anyway, the teacher realized the error and had the kid move so B. could set his stuff down. I thought, OMG I will tear the teacher's throat out if she dismisses my child in any way shape or form. I'm not a helicopter parent...I'm the Navy SEAL pulling a black ops mission in the helicopter. It wasn't a good realization, but it made me angry that I had to be concerned that my child wouldn't have a chair on the first day and feel left out.
Is it the look on my kid's face when he's searching for a desk with his paper apple on it that stresses me out... or is it the pit in my stomach when I realize that I can't make a paper apple appear and I will take someone out if they slight my kid? To that I say...Not on my watch!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Start of a new year
I've been trying to stay positive today. I was looking forward to this school year. I finally finished induction and have been in the district longer than 3 years. I felt like I had it made in the shade this year.
Today, I had a really bad moment and I told Sharie I was out of there. I went to my mom's house and laid down for about 2 hours. Tonight I asked God to take it out of my hands and tell me what I'm supposed to learn from today. I will say that I am blessed to work with the people at SC and to have the kind of boss that I can say hey, I'm not feeling well. I'm leaving. And for all of that- I'm thankful.
Tonight, I need to stop feeling so defeated, sad and scared...and really sorry for myself. I know it'll pass and I will keep praying that everything will work out the way it is supposed to work out.
Today, I had a really bad moment and I told Sharie I was out of there. I went to my mom's house and laid down for about 2 hours. Tonight I asked God to take it out of my hands and tell me what I'm supposed to learn from today. I will say that I am blessed to work with the people at SC and to have the kind of boss that I can say hey, I'm not feeling well. I'm leaving. And for all of that- I'm thankful.
Tonight, I need to stop feeling so defeated, sad and scared...and really sorry for myself. I know it'll pass and I will keep praying that everything will work out the way it is supposed to work out.
Monday, August 10, 2009
summer fun
Today went to see Julie and Julia. Enjoyable movie and for once I didn't blubber all over Jennifer. Meryl Streep rocks the crap out of this movie. She does in every movie. She's like this chameleon that you forget is not the real person but the actress, and you have to remind yourself that she really isn't Julia Childs. So, in the movie, the other story is about a woman who decides her life is in a rut -blah blah blah - she writes a blog about her experiences. I laughed because I remembered that I started a blog this summer. When the hubby says she's narcissistic because of the blog. I thought wow, I don't know if I'm that selfish, but it made me think. I really enjoyed the movie today w/Jenn.
Afterwards we went to La Baguette for a late afternoon lunch. EVEN THOUGH THE ENTIRE RESTAURANT WAS EMPTY...the only patron to come in after us chose to sit down in the chair DIRECTLY behind me and of course she had to push her chair right up against mine. I thought Wow, is it me or is the entire restaurant EMPTY? It was funny, but I think I spoke my mind too loudly because when the lady got up to leave she said you can have your space back. Wasn't that kind of her!
Afterwards we went to La Baguette for a late afternoon lunch. EVEN THOUGH THE ENTIRE RESTAURANT WAS EMPTY...the only patron to come in after us chose to sit down in the chair DIRECTLY behind me and of course she had to push her chair right up against mine. I thought Wow, is it me or is the entire restaurant EMPTY? It was funny, but I think I spoke my mind too loudly because when the lady got up to leave she said you can have your space back. Wasn't that kind of her!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
The You Tube Vid that brings a smile to your face
You gotta smile at that kind of joy at a wedding. Snicker if you want, but I think these are fun and happy people.
Best Wedding Dance Ever - Forever - Chris Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0
Best Wedding Dance Ever - Forever - Chris Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0
Monday, August 3, 2009
Birthdays
Today, I had a V-8 slap my head moment. Why did I sign my son up for group lessons? This kid isn't learning anything...in fact...I would argue that he's moving backwards. We went swimming with Kyle - B's best friend - and he had a good time. He wouldn't go under the water but he got more into it as time went on and that's when it hit me. He won't do things in a group, but I think he'd try if it was a one on one situation. All I know is I need to remind myself when summer rolls around next year and look for individual lessons. The group thing is for the birds. What else. I'm not ready for summer to end. I could use another week. I have a lot of stuff I want to do with B. and there's just never enough time..ah well.
So yesterday was my 40th birthday. It was quiet and we did nothing and that's what I wanted.
Oh, and it was also my 12th wedding anniversary. After 12 years together, my husband finally gets it. I don't want to do anything, go anywhere, or be responsible in any way.
I really need to get crackin' on next year's plans. It's going to be a whole new schedule for me next year. I don't have journalism and I think I have all different groups of kids. For all I know the schedule could change again by the time school starts.
So yesterday was my 40th birthday. It was quiet and we did nothing and that's what I wanted.
Oh, and it was also my 12th wedding anniversary. After 12 years together, my husband finally gets it. I don't want to do anything, go anywhere, or be responsible in any way.
I really need to get crackin' on next year's plans. It's going to be a whole new schedule for me next year. I don't have journalism and I think I have all different groups of kids. For all I know the schedule could change again by the time school starts.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Summer Reading and Fine Young Americans
I just read a blog from my friend Coil, and it reminded me of an article I read this morning. First about her blog. She talked about books that we've read after doing a library search. go to her blog to read more: jennysfreckles.blogspot.com (I hope she doesn't mind - I'm sure she'll give me scornful looks if it does).
Anyway, she lamented that we should create a staff library filled with books for us because our fine young Americans don't appreciate all of the great books in the school library. It really is pretty good. We receive books from the state librarian and our Principal-Mr. Dan let's us buy books when he has extra funds (tell me what schools have that kind of monetary discretion - suck it public school monkeys). So, she mentioned that a lot of the books she's read come from the school library. I should tell her that we have a request list that we give to the state librarian twice a year and we should go through Borders Books sometime and put them on the request list. Do you think the state librarian would get suspicious if we requested stuff like Picasso at the Lapin Agile?
So, on to the article...I was reading the Gazette this morning and on the front page was this story about this English teacher (Air Academy or one of the schools on the north side of town) that keeps in touch with her students over the summer via the Internet. She had a few kids that weren't logging in for the summer reading and discussions and she contacted the parents etc. etc. The article says one was in Hawaii blah blah blah. She said it's given her kids a head start. Some do the summer reading right away in June and some wait until like now to get their summer reading accomplished. The article talked about advanced placement kids in art had better be sketching all summer long and the AP history kids have a 40+ page paper due on the first day of school. Again more blah blah blah, but it got me thinking. I don't know if that was the best thing for these kids. Some of the summer reading listed were things like the Bible and the Quaran. I wondered was it the whole Bible or was it just excerpts. Plus, did they have to buy a prayer rug or rosary beads...just curious. Anyway, I don't know these schools and I only have my FY Americans as a reference, but I'm kinda glad I don't deal with those kids.
Critics say that teachers have summers off and they don't work hence the low wages, but after reading this article, it sounded like these teachers do a lot of work on their time in the summer. I could be wrong, but contacting kids and parents during the summer when you know they'd rather be doing anything other than summer reading lists. My kids spend the summer trying to avoid the cops but end up coming back in the fall when they don't go to school. It's a wicked cycle. I can't imagine the kids where I work worrying about completing a summer reading list.
On a side note, I read an article about how the new Sec'y of Education's new platform is moving to a performance pay scale and promoting charter schools. Where I work that would be kind of a Catch-22 suck for me. Half of our students are only with us a short while 2 days or 2 weeks or sometimes 2 months. The other half of our students are with us apprx. 9mos to 1 year. About half of one percent of our students are of age and eligible to complete their GED - next to none are eligible to graduate with a high school diploma. One problem with this scenario is that they stopped going to school when they were freshmen or sophomores in HS (some stop going in 7th / 8th grade). If we are paid for performance what would be our criteria? Residents improve their ability to hot wire a car in under 1 minute or would we be judged on the number of residents who graduate to adult incarcerations? Too much sarcasm there, but it really is unfortunate if our district moves to that type of pay scale.
Anyway, she lamented that we should create a staff library filled with books for us because our fine young Americans don't appreciate all of the great books in the school library. It really is pretty good. We receive books from the state librarian and our Principal-Mr. Dan let's us buy books when he has extra funds (tell me what schools have that kind of monetary discretion - suck it public school monkeys). So, she mentioned that a lot of the books she's read come from the school library. I should tell her that we have a request list that we give to the state librarian twice a year and we should go through Borders Books sometime and put them on the request list. Do you think the state librarian would get suspicious if we requested stuff like Picasso at the Lapin Agile?
So, on to the article...I was reading the Gazette this morning and on the front page was this story about this English teacher (Air Academy or one of the schools on the north side of town) that keeps in touch with her students over the summer via the Internet. She had a few kids that weren't logging in for the summer reading and discussions and she contacted the parents etc. etc. The article says one was in Hawaii blah blah blah. She said it's given her kids a head start. Some do the summer reading right away in June and some wait until like now to get their summer reading accomplished. The article talked about advanced placement kids in art had better be sketching all summer long and the AP history kids have a 40+ page paper due on the first day of school. Again more blah blah blah, but it got me thinking. I don't know if that was the best thing for these kids. Some of the summer reading listed were things like the Bible and the Quaran. I wondered was it the whole Bible or was it just excerpts. Plus, did they have to buy a prayer rug or rosary beads...just curious. Anyway, I don't know these schools and I only have my FY Americans as a reference, but I'm kinda glad I don't deal with those kids.
Critics say that teachers have summers off and they don't work hence the low wages, but after reading this article, it sounded like these teachers do a lot of work on their time in the summer. I could be wrong, but contacting kids and parents during the summer when you know they'd rather be doing anything other than summer reading lists. My kids spend the summer trying to avoid the cops but end up coming back in the fall when they don't go to school. It's a wicked cycle. I can't imagine the kids where I work worrying about completing a summer reading list.
On a side note, I read an article about how the new Sec'y of Education's new platform is moving to a performance pay scale and promoting charter schools. Where I work that would be kind of a Catch-22 suck for me. Half of our students are only with us a short while 2 days or 2 weeks or sometimes 2 months. The other half of our students are with us apprx. 9mos to 1 year. About half of one percent of our students are of age and eligible to complete their GED - next to none are eligible to graduate with a high school diploma. One problem with this scenario is that they stopped going to school when they were freshmen or sophomores in HS (some stop going in 7th / 8th grade). If we are paid for performance what would be our criteria? Residents improve their ability to hot wire a car in under 1 minute or would we be judged on the number of residents who graduate to adult incarcerations? Too much sarcasm there, but it really is unfortunate if our district moves to that type of pay scale.
Worrying for nothing
Sometimes we project our fears onto our child and sometimes I think we try not to so much that are surprised when they freak out. Yesterday was a bad day for B and me. B. went to swimming lessons in the morning, and I thought since we finally have a nice day why don't we go to the pool after lunch to have fun and practice some of the stuff he's learning.
Let's just say, I had parents and the lifeguard thinking I was an abusive mother and no, I didn't lay a hand on my child. I wanted to throttle him like Homer Simpson would Bart, but no, I was dying a thousand embarrassing deaths while my son screamed that he was going to drown a thousand times. I was mean and told him that I never wanted to go swimming with him again and from now on that I would drop him off at nana/papa's while I went to have fun and then he drove the dagger in my heart when he said ok, I'm a bad boy. It is amazing how easily he won the emotional battles with me, and in the end I felt really horrible for trying to do something that was a lost cause, and I could have avoided it.
After that incident, I tried to repair the situation and just have fun. He wouldn't let me touch him, but we did play shark (someone is it), and we also played Sponge Bob- he does a great Squidword (I think that's the character's name)...anyway, it ended up better than it started but I would still re-do that first half-hour if I could. So, then last night, I started worrying about something else...
David took B. to the dentist this morning to get his tooth pulled. I expected/worried that I would get the Oliver Twist pitiful and abused orphan coming home. Instead I got a happy pain-free child (thanks tylenol) who informed me that the tooth fairy had to give him lots of money for a PULLED tooth. I asked if there were deductions for the cavity...
Let's just say, I had parents and the lifeguard thinking I was an abusive mother and no, I didn't lay a hand on my child. I wanted to throttle him like Homer Simpson would Bart, but no, I was dying a thousand embarrassing deaths while my son screamed that he was going to drown a thousand times. I was mean and told him that I never wanted to go swimming with him again and from now on that I would drop him off at nana/papa's while I went to have fun and then he drove the dagger in my heart when he said ok, I'm a bad boy. It is amazing how easily he won the emotional battles with me, and in the end I felt really horrible for trying to do something that was a lost cause, and I could have avoided it.
After that incident, I tried to repair the situation and just have fun. He wouldn't let me touch him, but we did play shark (someone is it), and we also played Sponge Bob- he does a great Squidword (I think that's the character's name)...anyway, it ended up better than it started but I would still re-do that first half-hour if I could. So, then last night, I started worrying about something else...
David took B. to the dentist this morning to get his tooth pulled. I expected/worried that I would get the Oliver Twist pitiful and abused orphan coming home. Instead I got a happy pain-free child (thanks tylenol) who informed me that the tooth fairy had to give him lots of money for a PULLED tooth. I asked if there were deductions for the cavity...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)