"Children need love, especially when they do not deserve it." - Harold Hulbert
I found that quote on another blog today, and that person found it on a blog she had read, and so it goes on this wonderful engine of information. Maybe someone will read it here and post it again. I think it deserves to be shared around the world.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Anticipating Superman
David told me about this movie some months ago, and I've been eagerly waiting for "Waiting for Superman."You can see a trailer here: www.waitingforsuperman.com
It opened this week, and it will be playing in a city near me next weekend.
I think because I have lived through what I see as a messed up education system, I am passionate about this subject.
I attended public school. I know that each state, and each county, and even each school within each district, is different. I watched as my high school got all the cuts. No driver's education, no marching band, no, no, no was always the answer. While another high school in our same county and same district got all of those things. Why? Why did that high school get more money, everything shiny and new, and our school got nothing?
I can't wait to see this film. I've already been reading reviews and opinions on blogs and other Internet sites. I'm excited that we're at least talking about the problem with some intention. I'm also excited to see that some people are concerned enough to start doing something. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is putting a boat load of money into a study to find out what makes a teacher a good teacher.
I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say once I've seen the movie.
It opened this week, and it will be playing in a city near me next weekend.
I think because I have lived through what I see as a messed up education system, I am passionate about this subject.
I attended public school. I know that each state, and each county, and even each school within each district, is different. I watched as my high school got all the cuts. No driver's education, no marching band, no, no, no was always the answer. While another high school in our same county and same district got all of those things. Why? Why did that high school get more money, everything shiny and new, and our school got nothing?
I can't wait to see this film. I've already been reading reviews and opinions on blogs and other Internet sites. I'm excited that we're at least talking about the problem with some intention. I'm also excited to see that some people are concerned enough to start doing something. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is putting a boat load of money into a study to find out what makes a teacher a good teacher.
I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say once I've seen the movie.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Great times
This week was a busy one for us. I had some interviews, meetings and a meet and greet. Thursday we had Sean's Open House and Book Fair at his new school, and before we went to that we stopped in at a gallery for an art show. That was for work, but it was a nice show.
Sean's favorite part of the evening was the book fair. This kid LOVES books. He could stay all day in a library and he was excited to get three new books. We also bought two for his classroom from the wish list :-)
Last night I attended a house concert. I thought maybe I had seen David Wilcox before, because he lives in Asheville. I used to hear a lot of live music. I didn't recognize his songs, but I certainly enjoyed them. He's a real poet and storyteller. Lots of fun.
I bought his newest CD and I was happy to see that my favorite song he played last night is on it, "Beyond Belief." It definitely speaks to me.
You can listen to it, and his explanation of what moves him to write his songs here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTmGZDLXqes
Sean's favorite part of the evening was the book fair. This kid LOVES books. He could stay all day in a library and he was excited to get three new books. We also bought two for his classroom from the wish list :-)
Last night I attended a house concert. I thought maybe I had seen David Wilcox before, because he lives in Asheville. I used to hear a lot of live music. I didn't recognize his songs, but I certainly enjoyed them. He's a real poet and storyteller. Lots of fun.
I bought his newest CD and I was happy to see that my favorite song he played last night is on it, "Beyond Belief." It definitely speaks to me.
You can listen to it, and his explanation of what moves him to write his songs here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTmGZDLXqes
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Becoming learned
My days are getting pretty busy again, so I thought I'd blog while I have a moment.
I'm excited to begin teaching Godly Play. This Sunday will be my first Sunday to teach. I chose to teach the younger ones, but I'm not really sure what the game plan is for this week. Last week it was mixed ages and only a couple of the kids were under 6. It's supposed to be a 3-6 class, but I guess if we don't have enough we'll make it 3-?
I've been reading the manual and hope to ready to roll on Sunday.
Sean seems to be liking his new school. I think it's going well. I talked with another mom in the parking lot this morning and we both shared some things we believe could be improved upon, but overall we think it's going well.
The school is located in an area that is different from what we're used to. For instance, a Med Flight helicopter landed in the field above the school last week to pick up a shooting victim. The shooting victim was not shot on school grounds, but only a few blocks away or so. (I thought it was some gang thing, or some type of domestic incident, but it turns out he was shot by police.) The field at the school was the closest one for the helicopter to make a landing. I was standing outside waiting for the bell to ring when the principal came out to inform the parents who were waiting what was about to happen.
The Medic One, a fire truck or two and some police vehicles were on the other side of the school. We watched the helicopter land. It took off without the victim, so I knew it was probably bad news.
I'm not saying that something like that can't happen where we live, because it certainly can. But the street that occurred on is known for some questionable activity. It's a city. Things happen.
And in contrast, crickets are chirping as I sit here writing. I enjoy listening. I love living where there is plenty of grass, quiet nights, and where we can see a billion stars when the skies are clear. During the Perseid meteor shower I drove out in the darkest dark of our area to see if we could watch it. It's pretty dark here, but there is a small shopping center not far from our house. Where I drove there were no street lights, and it was late, so there was no traffic. That was a good thing, because I was sort of driving in circles trying to find a particular viewing spot that I knew would be great. I couldn't find it.
It was so dark out there I couldn't tell where I was, so I found a familiar road and we stopped in a gravel area and got out. We missed most of it, but Sean saw a few of them streak across the sky.
As we drove home today a black lab was riding in the back seat of the car in front of us. I watched as he sat looking out the window. He wasn't hanging his head out, but sat there like a person just looking out to the left once in a while, then straight ahead. I wondered what he was thinking.
I'm excited to begin teaching Godly Play. This Sunday will be my first Sunday to teach. I chose to teach the younger ones, but I'm not really sure what the game plan is for this week. Last week it was mixed ages and only a couple of the kids were under 6. It's supposed to be a 3-6 class, but I guess if we don't have enough we'll make it 3-?
I've been reading the manual and hope to ready to roll on Sunday.
Sean seems to be liking his new school. I think it's going well. I talked with another mom in the parking lot this morning and we both shared some things we believe could be improved upon, but overall we think it's going well.
The school is located in an area that is different from what we're used to. For instance, a Med Flight helicopter landed in the field above the school last week to pick up a shooting victim. The shooting victim was not shot on school grounds, but only a few blocks away or so. (I thought it was some gang thing, or some type of domestic incident, but it turns out he was shot by police.) The field at the school was the closest one for the helicopter to make a landing. I was standing outside waiting for the bell to ring when the principal came out to inform the parents who were waiting what was about to happen.
The Medic One, a fire truck or two and some police vehicles were on the other side of the school. We watched the helicopter land. It took off without the victim, so I knew it was probably bad news.
I'm not saying that something like that can't happen where we live, because it certainly can. But the street that occurred on is known for some questionable activity. It's a city. Things happen.
And in contrast, crickets are chirping as I sit here writing. I enjoy listening. I love living where there is plenty of grass, quiet nights, and where we can see a billion stars when the skies are clear. During the Perseid meteor shower I drove out in the darkest dark of our area to see if we could watch it. It's pretty dark here, but there is a small shopping center not far from our house. Where I drove there were no street lights, and it was late, so there was no traffic. That was a good thing, because I was sort of driving in circles trying to find a particular viewing spot that I knew would be great. I couldn't find it.
It was so dark out there I couldn't tell where I was, so I found a familiar road and we stopped in a gravel area and got out. We missed most of it, but Sean saw a few of them streak across the sky.
As we drove home today a black lab was riding in the back seat of the car in front of us. I watched as he sat looking out the window. He wasn't hanging his head out, but sat there like a person just looking out to the left once in a while, then straight ahead. I wondered what he was thinking.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Back to it
A lot has happened in the past few weeks.
Sean went to some summer camps at his old school, and as I talked with some people there I heard about a public Montessori school opening this fall. The school has been in existence for a long time, probably at least 50 years, but just transitioned to Montessori this year.
I was already planning for homeschool this year, but decided to look into the public school as a possibility for us. We visited, talked to some staff, I looked online, did some more research, and went back a couple more times and decided to go for it. It is out of our district, so I had to get a release form signed and there was a bit of paperwork to fill out, but it was really painless to enroll there. I made this decision for a couple of reasons. 1) I think he needs the opportunity to collaborate with other Montessori students on works, and 2) this school is free!
This all happened in the first couple of weeks in August.
August was a busy month for my work as we adjusted to some transitions. This month is proving to be pretty busy already.
About mid-August our beautiful brown Newfoundland dog was not feeling well. She was old, and I think she must have been between 10 and 11 years old. She was an older dog when we got her at 5 years old. I think we got her in 2005, but it could have been 2004.
I was in the middle of deadlines the second and third week of August, and she was starting to have more troubles so I was up every couple of hours during the night with her.
She passed away Aug. 27.
Sadie Girl 2010
Sean turned 8 on Aug. 25th, and he started school Sept. 2, so he has had a busy few weeks. He's so funny. He doesn't really like a lot of fanfare for his birthday. (He HATES when people sing Happy Birthday.)
We have always had a party, usually at the park, with a few friends from his old school. This year he only wanted a party here at our house and only one guest, his friend who lives across the street.
I decorated with streamers the night before so he could wake up to a celebration day. I was hoping to have the day off, but I was working all day off and on and just tried to keep it low key. I would clean in the kitchen and answer a few emails, and was on the phone as little as possible.
It wasn't much of a party. It was impromptu, and I hadn't even baked the cake when his friend came over. He came back the next day and had cake.
He doesn't like having his picture taken, but I did get one of the table and decorations. I forgot to take a picture of the gifts before he opened them. He got art supplies (two packs of paint brushes and a small easel) a book, a Star Wars pack with an attachment for his Republic Gunship, and three locks. He had been wanting some combination locks for a long time and I kept saying no. He always found them at the most expensive places, like a convenience store or something. I stumbled on them as I was browsing at Big Lots and remembered. They were his favorite thing, I think. He slept with one of them that night.
He helped decorate the cake, so it's pretty creative.Those are peanut m&m's on top.
Here's the first picture of him as an 8 year old. We were at a festival in our community and I bought him an all-day pass for the inflatables. He loved it. You can tell from the socks that he had been playing for a while :-)
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