Saturday, February 18, 2012
Yep..thinking about it...
Just have to pick which one I think will look the best in the right spot...
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
1+1=2
As your child approaches that "school age," it's hard not to think about where you'll want to send him/her. It's hard to choose which path will be the best one for him/her to follow...public or private? Will it be your neighborhood school or will you opt in and transfer to a district where you teach? It's difficult to judge whether starting young or waiting until age 6 is the right thing to do. But at the end of the day, Kindergarten sure does sneak up you even when you know it's coming and you know it's time and you know your child is more than ready. It still doesn't make it any easier to wrap your head around. Frankly, it makes me feel a bit sad and often wondering how my little girl is growing up so fast.
As a teacher, I often have found myself weighing the pros and cons of half day vs. full day, age 4 1/2 or age 6, public or private, go with friends or start somewhere fresh, curriculum, state test scores, demographics, philosophies, mission statements, parent involvement, and so much more. In a sense, we have been lucky that this has snuck up on us. Thankfully, we were able to choose the path we felt would be best for Brynn and our family fairly quickly. After an Open House visit, discussions with our daycare director and Vice Principal, and some e-mail exchanges, we decided that private school was the right choice. Teaching in a couple of different public schools and peer tutoring w/ my Leadership students at a local elementary school within my school district helped me reach that decision without feeling too guilty about it.
Yes, I am a public school teacher. Yes, I believe that public school education can be and is valuable. Yes, I believe that it's important to expose our children to a variety of experiences and a diverse student body. I believe that there are times when the Catholic Church's view is a bit skewed. I believe in my heart that in the end, no matter what school she attends, she will earn a good education...a big piece of a child's educational experience is directly connected to their home life and parent involvement (in my opinion). I know there are plenty of great public schools and public school teachers. In fact, I think many public school teachers are amazing and have the ability to adapt and teach in a variety of situations. They're tough and realistic. But at the same time, I am willing to give private education a shot. It's a small school, small class sizes, and the cost is significantly lower than daycare. They have before and after school care, so I don't have to figure out babysitters or a new kind of daycare arrangement. It feels like a little community, and in a sense, like a small town. Everyone is helpful, friendly, and genuinely nice. It didn't feel like it was all about the money or who had this or didn't have that. It just felt very friendly and welcoming. It felt right. I knew that they would take care of Brynn in a way that would make her feel special and loved. I felt connected before we even became a part of the school. And most importantly, we love the values that are instilled in the children early on. It just makes a lot of sense at this point early on in her education.
She is ready. This girl is reading. She exhibits and uses many different kinds of math skills...she can add, subtract, identify and create patterns. She socializes well with others and loves her teachers. She is studious and listens well. She remembers what she has learned and can apply it to other situations. This girl can write all of her letters upper and lower case. She can write her numbers 1-100. She can recognize numbers higher than 100 and can count for days. She is ready for full day Kindergarten. She says she is ready for "church school" as she refers to it.
What are we a little apprehensive about....um...
--Uniforms.
A. They're not too flattering.
B. They are not very fashion forward.
C. There aren't many options.
D. They're actually kinda pricey.
E. They don't allow boots. Seriously? Not even Uggs? :(
--Fund Raising and Parental Volunteer Expectations
A. I'm a teacher too.
B. Dj travels.
C. There never seems to be enough hours in the day.
D. I advise ASB. It takes a lot of my time.
E. No family close by and hoping I don't have to rely on sitters when there are parent meetings.
She'll attend testing next week, so it will be interesting to see how she does. I know she'll do great, but of course, it's hard to be a child when your mom is a teacher. I wonder how she'll compare to other students. I know she's MORE than ready, but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing/hearing the results.
I hear that once your child enters Kinder, that life just gets really REALLY busy. Is this true? I guess we shall see. Until then, here's to hoping that she'll love her new school and her brother will be able to function without her next year, as they will be separated for the first time in 4 1/2 years. That might be at the same caliber of heartache as walking her into her classroom for the first time.
As a teacher, I often have found myself weighing the pros and cons of half day vs. full day, age 4 1/2 or age 6, public or private, go with friends or start somewhere fresh, curriculum, state test scores, demographics, philosophies, mission statements, parent involvement, and so much more. In a sense, we have been lucky that this has snuck up on us. Thankfully, we were able to choose the path we felt would be best for Brynn and our family fairly quickly. After an Open House visit, discussions with our daycare director and Vice Principal, and some e-mail exchanges, we decided that private school was the right choice. Teaching in a couple of different public schools and peer tutoring w/ my Leadership students at a local elementary school within my school district helped me reach that decision without feeling too guilty about it.
Yes, I am a public school teacher. Yes, I believe that public school education can be and is valuable. Yes, I believe that it's important to expose our children to a variety of experiences and a diverse student body. I believe that there are times when the Catholic Church's view is a bit skewed. I believe in my heart that in the end, no matter what school she attends, she will earn a good education...a big piece of a child's educational experience is directly connected to their home life and parent involvement (in my opinion). I know there are plenty of great public schools and public school teachers. In fact, I think many public school teachers are amazing and have the ability to adapt and teach in a variety of situations. They're tough and realistic. But at the same time, I am willing to give private education a shot. It's a small school, small class sizes, and the cost is significantly lower than daycare. They have before and after school care, so I don't have to figure out babysitters or a new kind of daycare arrangement. It feels like a little community, and in a sense, like a small town. Everyone is helpful, friendly, and genuinely nice. It didn't feel like it was all about the money or who had this or didn't have that. It just felt very friendly and welcoming. It felt right. I knew that they would take care of Brynn in a way that would make her feel special and loved. I felt connected before we even became a part of the school. And most importantly, we love the values that are instilled in the children early on. It just makes a lot of sense at this point early on in her education.
She is ready. This girl is reading. She exhibits and uses many different kinds of math skills...she can add, subtract, identify and create patterns. She socializes well with others and loves her teachers. She is studious and listens well. She remembers what she has learned and can apply it to other situations. This girl can write all of her letters upper and lower case. She can write her numbers 1-100. She can recognize numbers higher than 100 and can count for days. She is ready for full day Kindergarten. She says she is ready for "church school" as she refers to it.
What are we a little apprehensive about....um...
--Uniforms.
A. They're not too flattering.
B. They are not very fashion forward.
C. There aren't many options.
D. They're actually kinda pricey.
E. They don't allow boots. Seriously? Not even Uggs? :(
--Fund Raising and Parental Volunteer Expectations
A. I'm a teacher too.
B. Dj travels.
C. There never seems to be enough hours in the day.
D. I advise ASB. It takes a lot of my time.
E. No family close by and hoping I don't have to rely on sitters when there are parent meetings.
She'll attend testing next week, so it will be interesting to see how she does. I know she'll do great, but of course, it's hard to be a child when your mom is a teacher. I wonder how she'll compare to other students. I know she's MORE than ready, but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing/hearing the results.
I hear that once your child enters Kinder, that life just gets really REALLY busy. Is this true? I guess we shall see. Until then, here's to hoping that she'll love her new school and her brother will be able to function without her next year, as they will be separated for the first time in 4 1/2 years. That might be at the same caliber of heartache as walking her into her classroom for the first time.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Pinterest is addicting
We all love Pinterest, that's certain. I have found several "hits" on this lovely website, as well as a couple of disappointments. A recent hit includes this lovely dish below: Chicken Lo Mein. This recipe can be found on the Disney Family Fun Magazine/website. If you are a mom and love to do crafty things, this magazine is pretty awesome, and I highly recommend subscribing to it. I read it now on my iPad digitally--bonus! I have also pinned it on my recipe board if you're interested. The prep time takes quite awhile, but once it's all put together, it's a lovely dish, especially if you are a Chinese food fan, like me (and the rest of my family).
I love that I can save cool ideas all in one spot vs. bookmarking a shitload of them on Safari in my folders. Sometimes it takes me forever to look through the bookmarks to find what I am looking for and it's super irritating. One miss so far was a baked potato recipe that we tried....took all day to cook in the crock pot and it ended up being a flop. I deleted that one off of my pinboard to say the least.
I love that I can save cool ideas all in one spot vs. bookmarking a shitload of them on Safari in my folders. Sometimes it takes me forever to look through the bookmarks to find what I am looking for and it's super irritating. One miss so far was a baked potato recipe that we tried....took all day to cook in the crock pot and it ended up being a flop. I deleted that one off of my pinboard to say the least.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Baylenisms #650, 651
I lost track of what number we are on. This his is seriously the funniest kid EVER. Love his sense of humor!
Mister Mister loves to wear sweat pants. In fact, if it were up to him, he'd wear them every singe day. all day. 24 hours a day. He loves him some "comfy pants."
When we get home from school/work, he immediately asks if he can change into comfy pants. This day was no different.
B: "Mom, can I go change into some comfy pants?"
M: "Sure, just put your jeans in the dirty clothes."
He comes downstairs in sweats.
M: "hahaha You're such an OLD man!" (me teasing him)
B: "No, I'm a GOOD man!"
LOL
The next one happened quite some time ago when we were traveling back to Iowa for the holidays. We had just pulled up to the airport in the shuttle and were piling out, gathering all of our suitcases, etc. B2 carry little suitcases w/ wheels and attached to each one is a neck pillow. Baylen's frog pill kept falling out/off of his suitcase and I picked it up before we left outside of our house and told Baylen that this thing was going to fall off everywhere we went and it would be a problem for him. I smiled about it and he just grinned.
Anyway, we're outside of the airport ticketing area when Baylen grabs his little suitcase and starts pulling it toward the airport. All of a sudden, the froggy neck pillow falls off.
M: "Baylen! Grab your frog pillow, he fell off again."
B: Smiles Big, picks it up "Ugh! I'll just carry this DAMN THING!"
LOL I know I shouldn't laugh or even be proud of the fact that my Mister said "damn," but it was too funny. And I know he heard it from me. I am not always good about using clean language around my kids and I tend to use damn now and again. Yep...that kid hears everything.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Snow and Cabin Fever all in a matter of 48 hours
Snow is a rare occurrence in our neck of the woods, but when it comes, the city usually shuts down and we have all-day news coverage. People freak out and we just sit back and smile...although, I must admit that all-day TV coverage is definitely annoying and over-the-top.
Two days of snow=two snow days in a row. I'm not necessarily complaining about them, except for the fact that I have a plethora of projects to grade before the end of the semester, which was supposed to be today. Oops. Oh well...all other high school teachers in my district are probably feeling the same pain.
We took the kids out yesterday to take advantage of all of the fluffy white goodness. They were thrilled and had the best time running, jumping, sledding, throwing snowballs, and building a snowman. Today, however, is a different story. Freezing rain split a tree in half outside in our backyard. Ice means no going outside b/c it's just too dangerous. :( When kids are prevented from going outside, cabin fever ensues. Thus, new kinds of pretending take place in the form of a police officer arresting a wiener dog accompanied by a Disney Princess. Cabin fever also takes shape in the form of Dj walking in on the kids playing yesterday witnessing Baylen literally licking the fur of his stuff cat. Um yeah...haha we need to break out of here fast, but at this point, it doesn't look promising. It's snowing buckets again on top of the ice and people are losing power all over the place. S-N-O-M-G.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Christmas at our house
I never had a chance to post about Christmas at our house. The kids had a blast opening gifts and finding out what Santa brought them. This year, Santa tried really hard to avoid going overboard (did pretty well with that compared to last year or two years ago) and tried and save a few more dollars on certain items...he did REALLY well with this.
The favorite items?
-Pet Shop Rescue Center
-Batcave
Of course.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
