Brain Freeze?

We were practicing sight words this morning, and Dmitri was flying through them. We got about halfway through when he put both hands on top of his head.

"What are you doing?"

"When I read, my head gets buzzy."

"Buzzy?"

"I mean busy."

"Oh, busy!"

"I mean dizzy!"

*Snerk*

Time To Blog

I've been doing this whole Blog 365 insanity for two days and I'm already regretting it... And Michael wonders why I don't make New Year's resolutions?! Ha.

Every day for 365 days? What was I thinking?

I woke up this morning to the chaos of kids and husband getting ready to go back for the first day of school and work after the holiday with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I knew, of course, they were going back today. Their backpacks were ready, their snowsuits and boots by the door. But gloves, apparently, had been lost, unbeknownst to me, and Daddy was storming around grousing about the Bermuda Triangle that is our house. The kids were repeating over and over, "I don't know!" to Daddy's constant, "Where did you put them!?" question.

Our foot of snow is supposed to melt over the next few days. My guess is we will find them then, somewhere in the yard. For now, they wore mismatched gloves of the knit variety - the ones Michael hates and claims are useless. But at least they're better than nothing.

The house was quiet once the littles were gone and Michael had left for his second-to-last day of work before he starts the new job. The only company I have now during the day is Sophie the Cocker Spaniel since we found new forever-homes for the big dog and the two cats, because of my allergies (and I can already feel the difference.)

Michael has been talking more and more about moving up north, which would mean homeschooling again, most likely. I wouldn't mind. We spent all vacation working on our reading and our counting (backwards and by 2's and 5's especially, and adding things like peanut butter crackers and celery sticks) and they're moving forward by leaps and bounds.

I knew I was going to miss them when they went back to school, but the house seems eerily empty to me during the day today. Just me and Sophie, wandering around, looking for things to do. Somehow I just don't think families were ever meant to be split up like this. I'm feeling that particularly, today, looking out at the fat blanket of snow where my children should be playing.

Guess it means I'll have lots of time to blog.

School's Out

We had a snow day this week, and I forgot what it was like having the littles home full time. They had a half day today, and now they'll be home until after the New Year.

When I was going to Weight Watchers with a friend (a million years ago) there was a group of us who would go out to eat afterward. (Don't even start on the twisted logic there, alright?) One of the women said she couldn't wait until her son started first grade the following year, because he'd be in school all day, and what a relief that would be! Then she asked me when mine started preschool, and I replied, "Oh, we're homeschooling."

You would have thought I had five heads.

But now that they're in school, and we're getting used to that whole thing, I didn't realize how much I missed them until they were home again all day during a time they were usually in school. Granted, I get a lot more done with them gone. Dusting, laundry and dishes can be completed without interruption.

But still... I have to admit. I miss them.

Am I strange, that I miss the endless interruption, the "Mom, will you tie this cape around my neck? I'm Super Anteater man!" and the "Can you put this (impossibly small and made for dolls whose arms actually BEND) shirt on my Barbie?"

Do most Moms simply wait for the day that the state relieves them of their charges for half the day? Am I the only one who finds that rather strange? *sigh*

Anyway, I'm glad we've got the next week together. They're building a dragon fort right now and they have all of Dmitri's firetrucks lined up outside the fort to put out the dragon's fire. Barbie's manning the hose. Can't wait to see what they're going to do with all the new Santa toys. Should be an interesting week!

Columbo's Indian Parts

Sometimes we have to gently correct the misguided or overly P.C. myths that public education still insists on teaching... and of course, our children's interpretations of them.

Dmitri climbed into bed with me this morning, all excited about their school's Thanksgiving Feast today and said, "My teacher says Columbo took a boat here so we'd all know the world is round."

"Well, sort of. His name was Christopher Columbus. And in 1492, the year he sailed to America, was the year the globe was first invented. We pretty much already knew the world was round."

(The first globe actually noted in history was the 1492 world globe made by the German map-maker Martin Behaim.)

"He discovered pilgrims."

"No, the pilgrims came over a different ship."

"Well, he discovered Indians."

"Yes, that's true." Sort of. I decided that we'd discuss ethnocentricity and the rape of the Native American people due to the forward domination of the Europeans later.

"There's another word for Indians and that's Native Americans."

Ahhh the P.C.ness of public schools. "That's right."

"Grandma says I'm part Indian."

"Yes, that's true." On his father's side. One of Michael's ancestors was a Native American princess of sorts.

"Which part?" he asked solemnly. "I think my toes are Indian. And this leg. Doesn't this leg look Indian to you?"

Zero Tolerance

While I'm complaining about schools...

*ahem*

Back on my old MySpace Blog is the tale of my son, Blake's, felonious assault. Which actually ended up being reduced to something non-felonious. And considering what really happened, it should have just gone to mediation, and would have if my ex had been on the ball. Anyway, Blake's on probation, now, they imposed a curfew, and he has X hours of community service to do. He hasn't been in school since he was expelled, however. Apparently, my ex is having a heck of a time finding a school that will take him.

When I ask Blake what he does all day, he says, "I sleep and do chores." Do I believe him? Sure. And bigfoot is living in my backyard. With four game systems, a computer in the house and little to no adult supervision? I don't think so.

The ex hasn't called me once about anything. Including the original incident. Blake has basically kept me up to date about what's going on--which means I'm getting a filtered twelve-year-old's version of the truth. In fact, I just learned this weekend that Blake is finally back in school. The ex didn't bother to let me know that, either.

When Blake was here visiting last, he mentioned that he might have to be homeschooled because they couldn't find any schools in the area that would accept him. Public schools were out, of course. He was expelled from public school, and according to them, he had to be out of the district for 180 days before they would allow him back. So the ex and his new wife were on the phone looking for a school, and having so many problems finding one that they were even considering the last resort: homeschooling!

No, I didn't call the ex to remind him that, at one time, I begged him to let me homeschool the oldest two. I didn't ask him, "How many hours is your new wife going to spend homeschooling our son? Because when you told me you wouldn't allow your children to be homeschooled, you said it would require at least 6-8 hours a day per child." (That estimate was so far off base he wasn't even in the park anymore...) No, I didn't ask him if he was worried that our son would turn into some uneducated freak (which is what the ex claimed all the homeschooled kids he ever knew turned into.)

I just laughed at the irony... Blake was going to be homeschooled, and I was putting the little ones in public school.

Turns out, though, they did finally find a school. The ex was getting so frustrated, Blake said his dad finally threw up his hands and claimed, "I'm going to go down to that school board and tell them they can find a school for him! I pay taxes. They're the ones responsible for making sure my child gets an education. They're the ones who kicked him out, so they can find a suitable replacement!"

But I guess he didn't have to. Blake says he really likes his new school. There are only fifteen kids in his class (which is a better ratio than the little ones have in kindergarten! Theirs are 23:1 and 24:1!) It's an adjunct program in another school district (forty minutes or so away from their house, I guess) that was developed specifically because of these types of situations. These are all kids that have been kicked out of other schools because of their "zero tolerance" policies.

Meaning, for the most part, these aren't really bad kids. The stories I'm hearing about who is getting kicked out of school and why is beyond me. In Blake's case, just how can a government instituted "zero tolerance" policy extend beyond the bounds of the government institution in the first place?

It's rather strange and twisted when you think about it. When I was in school, you had to do something really bad to get suspended. Now they're suspending kindergarteners. No joke! When I was in school, to get expelled... you practically had to kill someone. Now, because of "zero tolerance," you can accidentally take a pocket knife to school, pull it out and show your friends off school property, and still get expelled.

Huh??

And it's only getting worse, not better. Since the "Bong Hits For Jesus" ruling by SCOTUS, schools seem to have gotten the nudge they wanted toward enforcing their in loco parentis rules, even when the "offending" student isn't technically within their authority. So because Blake was still walking home from school and hadn't quite reached his doorstep, the school had the right to expel him for an event that didn't occur during school hours or on school property? If Blake had stepped inside his door, come right back out, and then discovered the knife, would they have been able to expel him then?

When you look at the suspension rates going up in schools, when there are charter schools developing specifically to deal with the problem of educating the amount of children getting expelled due to zero tolerance policies, the question you have to ask is... are kids really getting so much worse, or is something else going on?

What came first, the chicken or the egg? It seems to me that the paranoia that has taken hold in schools is incredibly toxic and damaging. Fear has taken over rationality and schools are applying some twisted King Solomon judgment to every case, without any regard to individual circumstances. In other words, they're cutting babies in half, again and again and again, without even questioning anyone involved.

And my baby just happened to be one of the victims vivisected by public schools.

I was reading a discussion about the Bong Hits for Jesus case and came across this frightening argument:

The principal is charged with enforcing school rules. That's her job. Who else has an opinion that matters? Students? Should the inmates get to vote on the policies set forth by the warden? American schools exist to educate students about democracy, not to practice
it.

Wow. Indeed.

Students are inmates, principals are wardens. It's rather an apt metaphor.

And that last... Schools exist to educate about democracy, not to practice it.

What student, not given normal human consideration, not allowed their basic human rights, is going to later give that consideration to someone else? What, then, are we really teaching kids?

If we're instructing them in the basics of democracy, but instead of practicing those tenets in their environment, we implement an authoritarian dictatorship, we are going to create an entire generation who can't think for themselves and, while they may give lip service to freedom and liberty and democracy, will constantly be looking for some parental figure to tell them what to do...

Because everyone knows...

Children don't do as you say...

They do as you do.

School Daze

Well, there they go...

*sniff*

Never say never... isn't that what they say? Today is Zoe and Dmitri's first day of school--ever. Both of them are entering kindergarten, even though Zoe is six and Dmitri is five. We've been homeschooling up until now, but I've taken a very laid-back, unpressured and child-led approach, so when the principal said first-graders should know 10 sight words and be able to count to 100, I knew ours were both definitely kindergarten-bound.

Why did we decide on school? Well, for a few reasons. First, they keep asking to go. All the other kids go to school. Even Caillou goes to school, that little bald-headed weirdo. (I'm still surprised he's not wearing a hockey helmet...) Everywhere we go, kids are defined by their grade. At church, they want to classify the kids by grade. In stores, doctor's offices, outtings, people always ask them, "What grade are you in, honey?" The kids just give them blank stares. It kind of got to the point where I wondered if I was doing more damage to them by making them "weird" or "different" from other kids than school would do... I figure they'll be better able to decide later if school is something they really want to do, and if they decide it isn't, at least they'll have had the opportunity to know what they're missing.

Also, this is the last year I could sit on the fence, and I knew it. One grade behind isn't so bad (for Zoe) but two? Eek! So if we were going to do it, now would be the time. Also, considering we've been living on one salary since Zoe was born, two kids in school all day would free me up to find something to supplement our income, at least part time, if not full. So that was a consideration.

Of course, this isn't a final decision. We could decide it isn't working and pull them out mid-year. Ultimately, I'd like to start re-homeschooling them come 3rd grade or so. Kindergarten through second really isn't so hard on kids... it's more fun than work. Third grade is when I remember the change happening in my older ones, Autumn and Blake... the light went out of their eyes when it came to school and learning. Up until then, they were still pretty curious and interested in the world around them. That's the part I don't want Zoe and Dmitri to lose...

But for now... there they go.

*sigh*