Snowy Thanksgiving

We are supposed to have a cold, snowy, icy winter. So far we've already endured two windstorms and a snowstorm.

This was our neighborhood a couple days before Thanksgiving. Sean didn't go to school all week. Though school was on regular schedule Monday, I called in to say we wouldn't be coming. We already had about an inch of snow on our road and it was getting colder and snowing hard.
So we had a week off from school because Tuesday and Wednesday the roads were icy and school was cancelled, then Thursday and today were holiday break.

We had a nice Thanksgiving. The snow was starting to melt, but the roads were still icy. We drove grandma to Aunt Bennie's and had a good dinner and watched a couple of movies.
One of them was "Toy Story 3." We were laughing through the whole movie. Then we watched "The Last Airbender," and I wasn't so thrilled with it. Sean loves that show, so he thought it would be great. Even he wasn't as impressed as he thought he would be.

Today we went out to search for red wigs. A local theatre is putting on a play based on the book, "Red Ranger Came Calling," by Berkeley Breathed. It is one of my favorite books, and Sean loves it too. We have been reading it during the Christmas season for the past couple of years. So those who have red hair get in to the play for $10. Of course, I don't have to buy a wig :-) Knew someday it would pay to have red hair!
Sean wants to do a temporary dye job on his, and I was looking for wigs for Bennie and Rhian.
There could be more of us going, just have to confirm.

Anyway, we came up empty on the wigs. I started to buy yarn to make a Raggedy Ann type wig, but that shop had a line around the store because of Black Friday deals.
I can get yarn tomorrow, or next week. No big deal.
I love this time of year, so much going on!

So this month is almost over, and this Sunday we will make Advent Wreaths in my Godly Play class. I LOVE Advent Season. Love everything Christmas and everything about it. I don't really enjoy shopping so much anymore, but maybe it's because I don't have a partner in crime here. Before I moved from home Karen and I shopped together a lot.

I turned my radio station to the Christmas music station today. I listen to it in the car throughout the season. I love the decorations in the stores, love the Christmas commercials on TV and the television specials like Charlie Brown and all the shows for kids. We'll be pulling out "It's a Wonderful Life," and "Home Alone," and all the old Christmas movies on our shelves.

In December we have quite a few events. There's the Red Ranger show. I want to go to the Journey to Bethlehem again if possible, and we are also going to see the Puget Sound Revels again this year. Then we'll be on our way to Tennessee and I'll meet my first granddaughter, Parsla. Can't WAIT! Her ETA is Dec. 5.

It's a little strange to think of myself as a grandmother when I have a child who is 8, but I love the way my family has grown. I'd love for it to get even bigger. (Not that I want a baby, but I like adding new people to our tree.)

December will be a whirlwind for work. I'll probably start on the January edition Monday, and that's the day our December edition is delivered. Work is crazy. I need to try to hire some new people, work on some contracts, finalize a budget, and somehow do a little bit of shopping.

I also agreed to help out with a local non-profit. I was asked by the director of Interfaith Youth Camp to help write a grant. I'm getting a crash course in grant writing next week, then we'll see what happens. I'm supposed to try to write it and get it finished before the end of the year. Whoohooo. Lot on my plate. I like being busy, then when I'm finished I like to just crash and do something mindless, like watch "The Housewives of Atlanta."

Waiting for Superman

"Waiting for Superman" was playing at a local theater a few weeks ago, so I made a date with myself and went for a matinee. I learned a lot from it, and overall I loved the movie. I think we need to start the conversation of public school reform, and we need to be truly working toward a solution. This movie has started the conversation, now it's up to parents and educators to work together to come up with the solution.

In this country we seem to believe that people need to just take control of their own destiny, to choose another way if the way presented isn't good enough.

So the question for me is this: As a people, living in this country, are we entitled to an education? Is education a right for all people, or is it really just for some. Is it for those who live in a "good" neighborhood and make a lot of money, or are all children entitled to a good education no matter how much money their parents have?

Should education be a socialist idea? Shouldn't every child, in every neighborhood be getting the same education as the next if we want to have an educated society?
No matter what color we are, where we're from, or what economic class we fit into, parents want the same thing for their children: The best education possible.

Sitting there alone in the theater, I caught myself reacting with mouth agape, shaking my head in frustration, and sometimes fighting back tears.
The families in the film were living in areas where their schools are failing, and failing miserably. One mother had tried numerous times to have a conversation or conference with her child's teacher. The child was in first grade, and the teacher would not respond to her requests. Unbelievable.

When the mother who sent her daughter to a private school across the street from their apartment was crying because she was behind on payments and the school wouldn't let her daughter walk across the stage for her Kindergarten graduation, I was frustrated.
The little girl watched out her window as her classmates filed through the door of the school on graduation day.

I thought the movie left some questions unanswered.

For instance, I didn't realize that teachers get tenure after only two years, and they don't have to do much to get it. Why? I also didn't realize that bad teachers don't get fired, they get moved around to other schools. A travesty.

It definitely pointed out the flaws in the teachers union and why we need to reform the system, but it didn't present a solution.

I don't think getting rid of the teachers union is the answer. There are probably very good reasons why there is a teachers union. At some point in history teachers must have been treated unfairly. (And if I weren't lazy right now I'd start to research that and reveal it here, but I have dinner on the stove, a boy who needs a bath tonight, couple of freelance stories waiting to be written, some emails waiting to be answered, and some site council information to review tonight.) To do away with the union entirely would be a knee-jerk reaction and in my opinion not a good solution.

The movie showed that there are some amazing things happening in the charter system, though not all states have charter schools.

I'm in the midst of a similar movement where I live. Sean is attending a public Montessori school, but it isn't a charter school. I'm not sure what the buzz word is in our system, but the name I would give it is alternative education.

I encourage everyone to see "Waiting for Superman," and whether you love it or hate it, start talking about it.