kandas-adventures

Career Conference for Girls

I spent the day on a college campus recently, attending lectures on preparing your daughter for college and encouraging an interest in the sciences.  Meanwhile my daughter and 400 other girls ages 11 - 14 were in a series of mini-workshops, introducing them to potential careers.  In one class A got to watch the dissection of a real sheep's heart.  In another she learned all about ultrasound and got to use the machine on different parts of her body to see inside.  A proclaimed it the "most fun day ever!"  We have one more day of this conference coming up, and A can't wait.

The girls were fed a pizza lunch during their program, but the parents were set free for 90 minutes to hit nearby restaurants.  I wandered over to the cafeteria, where I was surrounded by 18 - 22 year olds, nearly all plugged into some electronic device or another.  There were almost no conversations happening among the more than 100 students lounging in chairs, hunched over tables, and draped over couches -- at least no audible conversations.  There was probably a lot of IMing and Twittering going on.  

I'd packed my own lunch, but after awhile the aroma of bacon got me, and I went and bought a plate with one biscuit and 2 strips of bacon (for $3.00!) to accompany my packed lunch.  I settled in with the student newspaper and enjoyed lunch, marveling at how much college has changed since I attended 20 years ago.  From the posters hung throughout the building, there were apparently still social events and clubs and causes to rally for.  However, the kids around me seemed much more into their own worlds, and the silence was almost unnerving.  I'd expect it in the library, but the Student Center building?

The articles I was reading in the student newspaper were compelling.  I felt like I was reading the New York Times instead of a college rag.  I don't remember my student paper being so well-written, but then again I went to a community college, and this was a private university that admitted only the best of the best.  Maybe that's why they were all so quiet.  They were all studying to be scientists, engineers, or doctors, so they had a lot on their minds.

When I picked A up after the conference, she was bubbling with enthusiasm.  "When can I enroll?  I want to go here!"  Given that tuition alone was $34,000 a year, it wasn't going to be any time soon.  Six years from now she'll be heading to college, and yet the planning has to start years before that.  This conference is a good first step, I suppose, but the scariest part is how we'll pay for it.  

Will she get a full ride scholarship like her older sister?  Unlikely.  

Will we be able to afford to send her to a prestigious private university for 4 years like her dad went to?  Highly unlikely.  

Will she work summer jobs and save and start out at a more affordable community college?  That's probably more realistic.  

I was relieved to hear during one of the lectures that it is not the college your child starts at that matters, but where they graduate from.  It is perfectly acceptable to start at a community college and transfer to a university.  The speakers also stressed the importance of parents investing in their own retirement funds ahead of any college funds for children.  "You can take out a loan for school, but not for retirement," they cautioned.  

With the economy as it is, I've been shy about investing.  Stocks and mutual funds seem like high-stakes gambling to me.  Watching large, formerly profitable and stable companies, that have been around for generations, collapse into bankruptcy has been sobering.  There seem to be no safe investments anymore.  Even bonds and CD's are a joke now.

Thankfully we have 6 more years before this clown goes to college (do you like the green sticker she put on her nose?)  She has always wanted to be a doctor when she grows up.  Given her less than great grades, I felt a bit of a relief that it wasn't likely we'd be paying for med school for her, since she wouldn't get in.  However, since starting middle school she has become a lot more focused on her work, and has really strived to get high marks.  Maybe she will prove me wrong.

Her latest interest, spurred on by pimples that have appeared across her forehead, is dermatology.  She is absolutely fascinated!  Whenever there is a splinter to be pulled, a cut to bandage, or a rash on the cat's mouth, she comes running to observe.  She loves to look at moles, warts, and birthmarks.  

We'll see what the future holds...

FIRST Lego League Robotics

What do suburban kids with engineer dads do for fun?  They join a FIRST Lego League Robotics Team!  Little K doesn't have an engineer dad, but she likes to build things, so I encouraged her to check out the team.  There was a lot of interest, so names were drawn to determine who would make the team.  8 names were pulled from a bag and Little K was the last name drawn.  All the others on the team were boys.  And surprise, surprise, most of their dads were engineers!

Using specialized kits designed by Lego specifically for competition, the kids built a robot with a programmable "brain" and various electric motors.  Programming language was learned on the computer, mathematical calculations were honed, and degrees of turns were determined.  There were over a dozen "Missions" to be completed on the mat: push that lever and retrieve those items; scoop those things and deposit them there; knock that and pick up this; hook this and flip that.  

What was the most efficient way to accomplish as many tasks as possible?  Design an arm for the robot, a scooper, and a rake.  Tweak the programming.  Try it again.  Try it for the 98th time.  Eventually, some small success... quick - save that program and don't let anyone adjust it further!

We met in someone's garage 2 nights a week for several months.  Closer to the competition we were meeting 3 to 4 nights a week.  It was INTENSE.  First of all, at times it felt like there were "too many cooks in the kitchen."  All these brilliant young minds, all eager to be THE ONE to perfect the programs before anyone else.  It was hard to keep them working as a team, and not in competition with each other.

And then there were the dads, of which I was one (honorarily -- my husband had NO interest in volunteering for this circus).  After 5 years with Girl Scouts, I thought boys must surely be less chatty and easier to lead that girls.  They all had an intense interest in the subject matter, so certainly they'd be attentive, right?  Oh my, was I wrong.  There were several boys on the team who were nonstop talkers and would not listen when the coach was giving instruction.  There was pushing and shoving.  There was yelling and throwing.  I spent most of the time biting my tongue, waiting for the dads to take command and bring the boys in line.  Finally, one night, when a group of boys was having a shouting match while the coach was giving important instructions about the upcoming competition, I lost it.  I rose from my chair and told those boys how disrespectful they were being.  One boy looked like he was going to cry.  There was complete silence after that, and I felt bad for dressing them down, but the coach resumed speaking and the rest of the meeting went smoothly.

Part of the competition is a research project, which unfortunately took a lot of time and wasn't all that relative.  The task was to identify a food safety issue and "invent" something to correct it.  The invention could be totally ridiculous, and for our team, it was.  After much argument, the team decided on raw sushi fish and how to keep it from colonizing with bacteria, especially at conveyor belt sushi bars.  We had to take a field trip to a restaurant for research.  I thought it was rather hilarious that we had a spanish-speaking sushi "chef" talking to the kids -- his command of English was quite poor, and he had no idea how to answer most of the questions the kids had prepared.  Anyhow, the "invention" the kids came up with was a laser "pen" that could be shined on the fish to show if bacteria was present.  They didn't have to actually make such a thing, just think it up, and of course explain it to the judges at the competition. 

So here are the kids during their presentation to the judges at the competition.  They had to present in a skit form, and they pretended to be in the "Cash Cab" TV game show answering food safety questions.  The judges were not impressed.  Oh well, neither was I, really.  What a waste of time and a motivational nightmare for the coaches.  The kids get enough scientific study in school -- 9 and 10 year olds sign up for robotics club to build and program robots, not to research bacteria and food contamination, and write and create a presentation about it.  Sorry, but that's my opinion. 

The morning of the competition each team met with judges for 3 different elements: teamwork exercise, scientific project presentation, and robot design and programming evaluation.  Above the kids are being drilled about their robot design and the programming.  The judges are trying to determine if the kids did ALL of the work, or had too much help from parents, and given how much the robot crashed and ran into the wall, I'd say there was no doubt there.

In the afternoon each team had 3 chances to complete as many "missions" as possible in a 2.5 minute time frame.

Surprisingly, our team scored right about in the middle among all the teams.

The event went from 8am until 5pm, and there was a lot of waiting around for our team's turn.  There was no shortage of electronic entertainment, though, as kids passed around iPads and iPhones and NintendoDS games.  This photo was taken late in the day, just before the awards ceremony.  The kids are huddled around one of the last devices to still have battery life after a long day.

Eventually it was over.  I can't tell you how relieved I was that the team did not advance to the regionals.  There was one "team" there of 2 boys, brothers I suspect, and of course they won awards and advanced.  I thought it must have been so much easier for them to get things done, and what a miracle it was that we accomplished as much having to mediate 10 busy minds to who all wanted to do things their own way.

Little K says she's done with robotics.  Never wants to do it again.  I think that's a shame.  She still loves building things.  Still enjoys robots.  Still is interested in programming.  She'd just rather work independently, or with her best friend (a boy from the team), without all the arguing and competition of a "team" setting.

In middle school there is an after school robotics club.  You can choose to be on the competitive team, or just build and program on your own for fun.  Maybe she'll reconsider when she gets to middle school and spend time in robotics again.  She's good at it, so I hope she will.

Fourth Grade Market Day

Part of the new 4th grade curriculum provides greater focus on financial literacy.  The kids do "chores" in the classroom and receive fake money.  Several times a year they are able to spend their "money" on small toys parents donate to the cause, but the shopping event they look forward to the most is "Market Day."  All the fourth grade students make things at home, with help from their families, to sell on market day.  

Little K made crayons and clay "aliens" with glow-in-the-dark eyes.  She sold 104 crayons and 23 aliens during the one hour event.

I loved these yarn Tomtar ornaments this Swedish boy was selling.  So did everyone else... he sold out in about 10 minutes.

The kids were encouraged to set their own pricing, which would be analyzed after the sale to see if it affected how well things sold.  Some things sold well, others not so much.

The paper airplane vendor had brisk sales.

These popscicle stick boxes sold surprisingly well.

Clamshell candles were a good item for kids to buy to give as holiday gifts to mom or grandma, though most kids passed them by in favor of toys or food they could use immediately.  Little K bought a candle for herself and now she wants to make them.

This child had drawn pictures of famous places and had them laminated into placemats.

Parents and staff were given some fake money to spend and asked to visit the kids who weren't having brisk sales, and encourage them by buying something.  A couple classes of younger kids were able to come in for a few minutes and spend a few fake dollars as well.  It was a crazy hour.  At one point Little K burst into tears because she was so flustered with keeping track of her inventory (they had to mark down on a tally sheet each item sold), making change, and dealing with the throng of customers around her table.  Every time she wanted to put up her "Closed" sign so she could go shopping herself, another crowd of people arrived at her table.  She did get a brief time to shop, but her goal for next time (there's another market day in spring), is to make less items so she sells out fast, and has more time to shop.  Maybe not the wisest business decision, but she feels flush with cash from being so helpful to her teacher in the classroom, so she's not that concerned about earning money at market day.  

The lessons of business and life balance are being learned early here.

CERT firefighting

Take two dozen 11 - 14 year olds who want to be heroes.  Make them sit through hours and hours of lectures on Fire Science and safety.  Make them wait for weeks for this day to come.

 Suit them up in goggles, masks, helmets, and gloves.  Set out a dozen shiny fire extinguishers.

 Bring in the firefighters with their propane tanks and ignitors.  

Let there be flames...

And watch them fight.

A is so excited to be a part of the pilot program of Community Emergency Response Team for pre-teens.  The instructors are taking a gamble on these kids.  Challenging them to see if they can take this seriously.  Pushing them to study and practice.  Curious to see if they can handle the complexities, if they can remember the endless details, if they can perform under pressure, if they can make good decisions in the midst of chaos.

 A is a very eager student in CERT.  She's a little nervous, a little overwhelmed by all the studying, but she certainly takes it seriously and doesn't goof around like some of the kids.  With practice an persistence, I can see her going far with this volunteer organization.  If her fellow students perform well, the program will continue next year, and A will be able to assist the instructors in teaching the new kids.  When she is in high school she'll be able to mentor others even more.  Who knows where this will lead, if she keeps at it?  Maybe she'll continue where I left off...

That's me during Firefighting Academy when I was 21.  I graduated with excellent marks, but decided to continue on in college and get a degree in business instead.  The only fires I fought were controlled burns during training.  It was fun to see my daughter putting out fires today, discovering something I explored with my own sense of wonder, long ago.   

 

Herding Cats

This is kind of a freaky photo, since I had to blur faces, but it's October and I'm preparing you for the dearth of creepy Halloween masks you'll see this month.  No, really this post is about herding cats, or children.  I'm the "unofficial" volunteer school photographer, so whenever my caller ID shows a call from the school prinicipal's desk, I know what's coming.  

Sometimes I'm called in to document an assembly, photograph a field trip, or take photos that are needed for the yearbook.  I actually made the yearbook for 3 years, and took a majority of the photos for it, but I've passed that gargantuan undertaking on to someone else now.  I just don't have the 1,000 hours for that one anymore.

Once a month I'm called in to photograph the winners of that months' good character attribute.  In the above photo are all the kids who got an award during the month of September for being "Compassionate."  Other tenets to live by: Responsibility, Respect, etc.  Each teacher picks 2 to 3 kids per month, gives them a little certificate on which they've written examples of the child demonstrating the featured behavior, and supposedly by the end of the year each child has been recognized for something good.  Even the class bully, and with some kids I imagine it can be harder than others for the teacher to find instances of good behavior.

For a group photo like this I usually have 3 to 5 minutes from the time the first child wanders in, until the kids have to be back in their classrooms.  This time I was lucky and had a helper to herd the kids, so we were pretty quick.  

I enjoy volunteering at the school, and watching through my lens as children go from clinging-to-mom's-leg kindergartners to "I'm-too-cool-to-run-around-at-recess" 11 year olds.  The transformation for some of these kids is amazing.  The shy little girl who sucked her thumb all through kindergarten?  Now a 5th grader who loves to speak at student council meetings.  You just never know how much a child can grow.

One thing all these kids have in common is how wiggly they are!  They aren't half-asleep teens yet, so taking these photos and getting everyone in focus and looking at the camera can be a challenge.  I take about 5 shots and try to pick the best one, but of course there is always one kid bouncing, and thus a blur since I took the photo using only natural light, and at least 2 who are looking down, behind, or off to the side.  And then there are those who make inappropriate faces or gestures.  For the gestures, I often have to photoshop out the "bunny ears" or other hand signals, because invariably those were flashed by some kid in the one photo that was the best of everyone else, so that's the photo I want to use.  For the funny faces, well, they get no relief from that one.

I blow the photo up to 8 x 12 and it gets posted in the main hallway for the remainder of the year.  I do my best, but in the end any kid who wasn't looking at me when I held up my hand and yelled, "Eyes here, 1..2..3!" will have to live with the image of themselves in that photo in the hallway for all to see.

So, can you find Little K in the above photo?  She's only child whose face I didn't blur, though she's obscuring it herself with her own hand.  Hint #2, she's wearing a light blue dress.

School Lunch Savings = $5,850.00

I grew up on school lunch because we had little money and I qualified for free lunch assistance through the public school district.  When I was in elementary school the lunch period was an hour long, and some children still walked home to have lunch with mom or grandma.  About a quarter of the kids brought a lunch from home to eat in the cafeteria, and their lunch was typically American 70's fare: wonder bread with bologna or PBJ, an apple, and a Hostess snack cake, the ultimate being the foil-wrapped "Ding-Dong."  I begged my mom to pack me that kind of lunch one day, but she always refused.  Why should she spend money on those things when I could eat for free?

My daughters have had a vastly different experience with lunch at school.  They get 20 minutes to eat before being sent out to the playground for 20 minutes of recess, while the next group comes into the lunch room.   There are 3 lunch periods.  For a kid who has to stand in line to buy lunch, by the time they actually get to a table they might have only 5 minutes to eat before being told to get up and clean their table.

School lunch is expensive.  $3.25 !!!  In elementary there are minimum 3 options: 1. The daily hot entree, which is usually pizza, tacos, nuggets, or burgers.  2. Baked Potato with cheese and sour cream topping.  3.  "Yogurt lunch" which consists of a pot of fruit flavored yogurt.  All three options come with access to a "salad bar" which meets the vegetable and fruit requirement, but offers only chopped iceberg lettuce, hard unripe tomatoes, chopped raw onions, crunchy slices of unripe melon, and a few other unpalatable options that most of the kids pass right by.

Given the price and the offerings, there is no way I'm spending $6.50 a day for my daughters to not eat half of what is served.  That would be $1,170.00 annually.  In the 6 years my daughter A has been in school, and the 4 years Little K has been in school, I've saved $5850.00 by not buying them school lunches every day. 

The options at Middle and High School are worse.  There is just one $3.50 entree a day, and everything else is a al carte.  What kid is going to buy an undersized apple when all his friends are getting nachos and cheese fries?

I'm against school lunch for other reasons.  In our schools, each day hundreds of styrofoam trays and plastic utensils get tossed in the trash.  At least when I was a kid we had plastic trays and metal utensils that went through a dishwasher and got reused.  

Packed lunches are not always better in terms of environmental impact.  One thing I've refused to ever buy are those "Lunchables," which are basically a cardboard and plastic wrapped plastic tray with individually plastic wrapped cheese, meat, crackers, candy, and a juice bag within.  It's 80% packaging and 20% food!  I'm amazed at the number of kids whose parents send them to school with a "Lunchables" and consider that a complete lunch.

My daughters get a home-packed lunch.  I try to make it as environmentally friendly as possible.  Reusable containers.  Vegetarian most of the time.  Fun things in small portions to nibble on.  Above is a typical fall lunch:  Fresh blueberries and tomatoes, sliced fresh veggies with Hummus dip, Pita bread, sliced or cubed cheese, and zucchini-carrot mini-muffins.  Oh, and reusable bottle filled with ice water.

Other days they may get a sandwich with one of the following combinations: cream cheese and salmon, meat and mayo, hummus and cucumber, nut butter and banana, or pesto and cheese.  They also like smoked salmon nuggets, home-made potato salad, hard boiled eggs, frozen berries, popcorn, dried cereals, olives, leftover pizza, cold teriyaki noodles, or hot pasta or soup in a thermos.  

I buy yogurt, but instead of putting the container it comes in directly into their lunch box, to be tossed in the school trash when they're done, I transfer the yogurt to a reusable container that comes home.  The original container gets washed and put in our recycling.

A few years ago I was running out of plastic spoons and was ready to buy another 1,000 pack at the warehouse.  Then it dawned on me... send a metal spoon, or some other "special" spoon, and they'll bring it home for washing instead of tossing it in the trash!

When the girls were young I wasn't thinking and I bought juice boxes, snack-size packages of crackers, and other overpackaged foods.  It was convenient, and in bulk at the warehouse with a coupon, it was cheap.  Just recently I fell of the wagon and bought individually wrapped tubes of yogurt, because it was on sale with a coupon and the kids wanted to try it frozen.  I also buy granola bars, when I should be making my own from scratch.   But overall I try to be more mindful.  Yes, I still don't buy enough from the bulk bins whilst using my own containers, and I still rely on plastic baggies for some messier lunch items.  But I'm trying, I really am. 

Flashback Friday -- starting 4th grade

As I sent my youngest off to the first day of 4th grade, I remembered my first day of fourth grade, which was the worst year of my life.  FIrst of all, look at those pants I had to wear.  We had little money and I had to wear whatever came in the hand-me-down box, whether it fit or not.  It wasn't until I was old enough to earn money myself by babysitting that I got to experience shopping for clothes, and actually CHOOSING what I wore.  Looking at those shoes now, they look kind of cute to my eye, but I remember how much they hurt my feet, and how the other kids called me "clod-hopper" for wearing them.  In those days all the girls wore cute little canvas Keds, but I couldn't afford them so never had any.

The smile on my face was probably the last time I smiled in a year, or at least until school let out the following June.  Here I'm standing at the corner with my mom, waiting for a school bus that would take me to an inner-city school that was plagued with violence and disorder.  It was all in the name of desegregation, and like my wardrobe, there was no choice in the matter.  The elementary school a few blocks from my home was no longer a K through 6th, but a K through 3rd.  Many of our neighbors pulled their kids out of public school and went to private schools, or moved to the suburbs in response, but I wasn't going anywhere except onto that bus.

Arriving at my new school, a crowd of protesters awaited.  It was the parents of the K through 3rd graders who'd had to put their babies on the bus to my old school, and they were not happy.  In fact, they didn't want us to get off the bus, and perhaps they thought if they kept us from entering "their" school, they might get the school district to change its mind about this whole desegregation business.  Teachers had to come out of the school to escort us into the building and hold the protesters back.  It was scary.

The school itself was in disrepair.  My teacher seemed tired and unhappy.  Many of the kids were loud and unruly, and the teacher didn't seem to care how they behaved.  I was teased incessantly -- for being too tall, for the clothes and shoes I wore, for being white in a nearly all-black school.  Throughout that year I was beaten, shunned, tripped, attacked, hit, teased, and terrorized.  The teachers did nothing to help me.  I hated school.  I hated myself.  

I'm so grateful that my daughters haven't had even a taste of that.  Fourth grade was one of the best years for my older daughter A, and I can tell from the teacher Little K has this year, that 4th grade will be wonderful for Little K also.  I wish I could do 4th grade all over again, with a teacher that cares.  How different would the rest of my school years have been if I hadn't been so beaten down that year, and lost faith in my worth and abilities?   I hope my daughters never lose their love of learning, never have it taken from them as it was taken from me, back in 4th grade.  

 

Homeschool Pass

Today I turn my children back over to school.  They'll join their friends, file into the building, and six hours later they'll come shuffling out with new bits of knowledge in their brains.

Before the girls started school I seriously considered homeschooling.  I attended a homeschool support group, followed the homeschool list-servs, and read homeschool magazines.  There was even a blog or two about homeschooling back in 2003 that I kept up with.

When the girls were young I loved our unstructured days.  Sure, there were three meals and two snacks a day, nap time, reading time, a daily walk, and bedtime that was our framework, but there was also flexibility.  I could pack a lunch if we wanted to take a field trip.  The girls could nap in the car, on a blanket under a tree, in my arms, or in the stroller.  We could go to museums and events when they first opened in the morning, before the crowds came.  We could spend all day that the aquarium if we wanted to, reading all the little signs, touching everything in the touch tank, and watching our favorite animals without being hurried along to keep up with a group of other kids.

 
I admit to also liking the control I had over my daughter's experiences.  They didn't know about Barbies, they hadn't heard from peers that vegetables were "yucky," and they didn't clamor to have "the latest" in toys and fashions.  I chose their toys with care, fed them nutritious meals, and let them linger over creative projects without rushing them on to the next activity.  

As preschoolers, the girls attended a classical Montessori program a few hours a week.  Like our home life, there was some structure, but also a lot of opportunity for self direction and exploration.  If Little K wanted to sort beads for an hour she could.  If she wanted to complete a variety of tasks in quick succession, she could do that instead.  The choice was hers.

 
Once we got into the rhythm of Montessori, I considered continuing past preschool, into Montessori elementary.  Unfortunately it would have cost $10,000 a year per child, which was just too expensive for us.

When it came time for A to enter kindergarten, I was reintroduced to the elementary school my stepdaughter had attended.  It was a few blocks from our house, and just happened to be one of the best schools in the ENTIRE state.  It was worth investigating, for sure.

The school itself is a traditional public school.  There is standardized testing, a lot of time is spent transitioning them from one actitity to another, there is "busywork" that isn't necessarily educational or creative, and there is a strict schedule.  After the freedom of Montessori, it was a bit of challenge for my girls to adjust to being told what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and when to stop doing it because the clock said it was time to do something else.  But they adjusted.

As time went by I learned that the school was more than just curriculum, teachers, and national rankings.  What made the school exceptional was the same thing that made our neighborhood so wonderful: diversity.  The school was filled with children from other countries, and their parents who came into the classroom to volunteer.  There were families from India, Japan, Mexico, Germany, Korea, Russia, Cameroon, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Italy, China, Iran, Norway, Kenya, England, the Netherlands, Israel, and more.  There were dozens of languages spoken, dozens of religions practiced, and a wide range of family structures and values in the homes of students.  The school also houses a special needs program, so there are students with various challenges, both physical and mental, sitting side by side with all the other students.  My daughter Little K has developed an affinity for those in need, kids who are struggling, lonely, or have mannerisms that send the other kids running in the opposite direction.  She volunteers to sit next to and calm the child who is crying, she demands that the girl with Down Syndrome be included in the game at recess.  Would she have the opportunity to practice compassion like this, on a daily basis, if she were at home with me?  I doubt it. 

 
My daughters learned as much from their peers as they did from their teachers, and it wasn't all bad.  Yes, they learned about Barbies.  And video games, and Spongebob, and McDonalds.   But they also learned that seaweed or curry was a perfectly acceptable brown bag lunch, that respecting the teacher the way their Korean classmates did was totally cool, and that the boy who doesn't speak English but draws great illustrations can be a good friend and fun to hang out with.  

My daughters befriended children they might not have met if they were in a $10,000 a year Montessori school, or a small homeschool group.  And they've learned more than I could ever teach them.

One of the most important reasons that I don't homeschool is that I could never provide them with the wealth of experiences that they get at school.  Perhaps our school is unique, but I love that specialty educators are brought into the school to teach some subjects in depth, and very hands-on.  Above, a visiting scientist dissects a salmon, and passes the organs around on paper plates for the kids to examine and sketch.  This is something I would NOT be doing at home!

Reflecting back on A's 6 years at this elementary school I'm in awe of all the experiences she's had.  Incredible science labs, business and math made relevant, field trips with "aha!" moments, programs that built over weeks of practice into events that inspire careers. Many of them I have volunteered to be a part of, so I've seen how well they've been run.  

I have nothing against homeschooling, if it's done responsibly (as in not letting the kid just stay home and watch TV all day, and never learn to read).  If I lived in an isolated area, or where the schools were dangerous, I'm sure I could rise to the occasion and teach my daughters important and necessary life skills. And who knows, maybe in a few years online high school will be an attractive option for our family -- I know there are some amazing new programs out there for homeschoolers.

For now, I'm happy to send my children off to school.   I'm a little nervous about A heading to middle school today, but hey, by some miracle I survived a decaying, overcrowded, violence-plagued urban middle school.  She'll survive, too.  And if not, there's always homeschooling, I suppose...

 

Flashback Friday -- Back to School

2007.  This seems like just yesterday.  My littlest one was joining her sister on the walk to school for her first day of kindergarten.  She'd been making the walk for two years already, but here she was going inside to a classroom, instead of returning home with Mommy.  Now, that little one is heading off to 4th grade, and her sister A is going to be getting on the bus for the first time to go to Middle School.  After 6 years, how strange it will be to not have both of my daughters on the walk to school.  Instead I'll walk one to the bus stop at o'dark-thirty, and an hour and 15 minutes later, I'll walk the younger one to school.

Some days feel so long (especially when there is a lot of homework, activities to get to, dinners to squeeze in, bedtime to enforce), and yet it goes so quickly.  For A, the elementary chapter is over.  Just like that.  In back to school shopping this year there were no crayons on the supply list, and we had to get college ruled paper and notebooks, instead of wide ruled.   Little K is no longer the baby-faced tot you see in these photos, who looks forward to circle time and finger painting.  In what seems like weeks, but is really years, she has become a serious student, writing volumes and taking detailed notes, and approaching each school project with the weight of a college application essay.

This weekend is filled with anticipation for the girls as they get ready for a new school year.  Throughout the neighborhood all the kids are a-chatter about who is which class, who got which teacher, who got a new lunchbox, etc.  There's a whole new crop of kindergartners who will join us on the walk to school next week, and the older kids are filling their ears and minds with stories and advice.  In the photos in this post my girls were the ones taking in all the gossip about mean teachers and awesome field trips, and now they're the experts, telling the little kids to "watch out" for this, and "don't forget your permission slip" for that.  How quickly they grow.

New High School

A few weeks ago we went to the open house for our new high school.  It's not totally complete, as you can see in the photo above, but classes have begun after several years of construction during which 9th graders were at a separate campus, and 10th - 12th graders were in lots of portables.  You MUST SEE this video of the farewell to the old campus!

The school is "built green" and thus has lots of fantastic design features not often found in schools, such as operable window to let in breezes, rainwater gardens and my favorite, the living "succulent roof" shown above.

The football team was just coming in from practice as we were going out these doors, so the girls held the doors and looked up admiringly at the guys passing through.  I'm disappointed to say that only about 2 of them bothered to acknowledge the girls by saying "thanks" for holding the door open for them.  Teenage boys!  There's a reason why I only had one date with a teenage boy when I was younger, and then swiftly turned my attention to older men.

It was one of those gorgeous September days, when you'd think it was still summer, until the sun set way too soon.  The girls had fun running the springy track after I'd dragged them through the entire school on a tour.  A's favorite room was the "Sports Medicine" room adjacent the gym, where one section had desks and posters of ligaments and a hanging skeleton, and the other section had a dozen exam tables and shelves full of elastic bandages.  There was even a big ice machine and baggies for making ice packs.  A can't wait to get to high school so she can take that class.

We found some of the PC signage comical, such as this able wheelchair sign at the top of three flights of stairs, apparently instructing the wheelchair bound to just hang out here and wait to be rescued if the school goes up in flames.

Less than 4 years, and A will be going to this school.  It's hard to imagine, but it will be here before I know it.