Back to School

It's that time of year again - little children, dressed in freshly bought clothes, sporting new backpacks, some even wearing uniforms like good little soldiers trucking off to school buildings everywhere. Their generally underpaid teachers having reported back a week earlier are already burned out from sitting through droll meetings that readdress the same old issues, the enthusiasm already sapped out of their poor souls during yet another mandatory and utterly useless professional development seminar held in some auditorium. I feel for them. I really do.

And, I am so freaking happy that my kids aren't there! I didn't have to fight the "back-to-school" crowds. I don't have to drag the kids out to open house night. I don't have to waste our time in front of the school waiting to drop them off/pick them up. I don't have to check over homework. I don't have to fool with rip off fundraisers. I don't have to schmooze someone I really don't like so my kids will be treated well. We'll shop when we feel like it, thank you. We'll learn what we want to and not what some dingbat bunch of bureaucrats decide. My children will be treated well, loved by their teachers (E and I), and allowed to learn what truly interests them; and, I don't have to kiss anybody's butt to see that it happens! Yay for me. Yay for my kids. Life is good. (Sometimes I just need to remind myself.)

Longing for Cool Autumn Days

It's hot, very hot. We've been cooped up in the house staying out of the heat. It's so hot the kids don't want to play outside. I'm out of ideas to keep them occupied. I considered taking them swimming; but, what's the point of going swimming when the pool water feels like a hot bath? Instead, they've been hanging out in the AC & trashing my house. There's much needing done around here, especially in the yard & garden; but, absolutely nothing is being accomplished except the slow destruction of my home by three, very bored children.

Oh, I am so looking forward to those cool, Autumn days.

Read

Each and every time a new book in the Harry Potter series has come into my home I have had to fight my husband and sometimes the children to read it first. This time E won. I sat anxiously awaiting my turn as E took his sweet time reading it (3 long, agonizing days.) I hovered over him urging him to hurry up and finish the book while simultaneously grilling him on what was happening. It drove me nuts when he kept saying, "You need to read it." Yeah, I knew I needed to read it. He needed to hurry the heck up before I lost control and wrestled the book from his hands as I had done with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Based on E's reactions while he was reading, saying he didn't want to read anymore over and over, telling me what happened to Dobby but not explaining how it happened, exclamations over what he considered unnecessary deaths, I found my eagerness for the chance to read it morphing into reluctance to pick up the thing I had coveted for three long days. When he handed me the book I asked the burning question, "Did she kill Harry?" I didn't ask if Voldemort killed him I asked if J. K. Rowling had killed him, after all, it was her hands that Harry's life was in, not Voldemort's. Of course, E's reply consisted of "read it and find out" as he hung his head, perhaps to hide from me the truth I would be able to read in his eyes. With a great deal of dread that I would discover that she had murdered one of my favorite characters of all time I picked up the book and began reading. Many times I put it down, each time a beloved character died, each time Harry came ever closer to Voldemort's clutches, and swore I would not finish it. I did not want to know for certain that he was going to die.

I've always been able to predict the ending of most any book I've picked up. And, I was certain the book was going in the direction I did not want it to. The hero isn't supposed to die. It's just not o.k. for that to happen. Good must always win. I wondered if J. K. Rowling knew that.

E urged me to finish the book, even placing it in my hands at one point and simply stating, "Read." Well, I finally finished it this morning after another round of "I'm not going to read another page. Why did she have to kill them? She didn't have to do that!" I truly understood why E had said the same things himself a few days prior. But, it was too late for me to stop. I had already wandered too far in and could not quit, not in the middle of the climax. My eyes marched slowly across the words of those last pages as I learned for certain, as I had suspected all along, that Harry's death was inevitable.

Very few books have stirred me to such emotion as the Harry Potter books have. Very few books have had endings woven so intricately that they surprised me; and, those are all by a single author, J. K. Rowling. In a few days my son will finish Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. He's entrenched in the last chapters as I write this. In a few days I will place the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in his hands and utter a single word, "Read."

Happy Birthday Bug!

Today, my very sweet, little girl turned 10 years old. She's everything I ever wanted in a daughter. She's kindhearted, independent, beautiful, intelligent, outgoing, creative, a little stubborn, sassy, and tough as nails! She's an awesome kid.

I'll never forget the moment when I first held her in my arms & looked upon her angelic, little face. Words can't describe what I felt right then as I held her warm, little body close to me, her tiny fingers wrapped around mine. I knew I'd never want to let her go. Yet, from that moment forward, in small degrees, I have had to do just that. I think back over how quickly an entire decade has passed & find myself wishing that the coming 8 years will go slowly. One day, all too soon, she will be completely grown, and I will have to watch her walk out my front door for good.

I love you, Bug. I hope this birthday was the best ever & all those that follow are even better than the last. Happy birthday.

Love,
Mom

Get Your Own Blog!

"Honey, blog this...Put that in your blog...Here's one for your blog," said repeatedly by my husband ever since I started this thing. Sometimes I actually do blog what he tells me about (i.e. the previous post) but most of the time I don't. I think he needs to get his own blog.

Mastery? I Think Not!

Yet another reason I choose to homeschool...

My husband is a high school math teacher. Every year he administers the NC End of Course exams to his students. The state requires the teachers to remove or cover all information that may be hanging on the walls of the classroom. They also require test instructions be read verbatim from a script. The teachers must walk around the classroom during the tests (which no longer has a time limit) throughout the entire time students are testing. Basically, they require the teachers to jump through hoops to ensure the tests are an accurate measure of how much the students learned in a given subject as well as to ensure uniformity in the testing environment. Sounds good, doesn't it? One might even think the state sets high standards for the tests.

In previous years the EOC exam simply counted for 25% of a student's final grade. This year, it still counts as 25% of the final grade with the added requirement that 9th graders attain level 3, equivalent to a score of 80% on a 100 point scale (according to the state of NC) on the test to receive credit for the class. A student who has passing grades in class but fails to achieve level 3 on the EOC is retested. If he fails the second test he attends two weeks of remediation and tests a third time. If the student fails the third test the teacher has the option of presenting a portfolio of the students work to a school committee which then determines whether or not to recommend the student receive credit for the class. Therefore, the kid who spent the whole semester not getting caught while cheating off his buddy gets 3 tries at the test and likely ends up getting credit for the course. One must wonder, "What did he learn?"

The scale runs from 118 to 181. A score of 118 would indicate the student got 1 question correct. A score of 181 means the student got all 64 questions correct. According to the test reports a scale score of 148 is equivalent to a score of 80% on a 100 pt. scale. That translates to the student having gotten 31 out of 64 questions correct. For a student to be considered on grade level (level 3 or higher) he must get less than half of the questions correct! The funny thing is if the scale was converted to a 100 pt. score one would expect the student who got 31 questions correct to receive a 48%. Of course, one could argue that the questions are weighted. But, that isn't the case. Here's the proof...if the questions were weighted the scale would indicate it. Look at the numbers and do the math. The questions aren't weighted. Furthermore, the state describes level 3 as follows: "Students performing at this level consistently demonstrate mastery of this subject matter and skills and are well prepared for the next grade level (EOG) or for a more advanced level in this subject area (EOC)."

Think about that for a moment. NC considers a student who gets less than half the questions correct on the Algebra I EOC test as demonstrating mastery. WTF? That's just plain unacceptable.

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How long will it take us, if we continue diluting the quality of education in this country, before we truly become a nation of idiots?

Do You Remember?

The jar of M&M's that sat on my kitchen table & how you ate them all every time you came over. The trips to TCBY to get ice cream (the closest we ever came to having a date.) The long conversations at your kitchen table & the pots of coffee that we drank together. The argument over whether or not to take the man off the island. January 15, 1992 (need I say more.) The only time you ever admitted, after checking to make sure no one was listening, that you kissed me first. The time all those wolf spiders invaded your apartment & how you valiantly slew each one. The telephone conversations that lasted way into the morning. How we never tired of talking to each other. The day I got on the airplane for South Korea. The months spent apart with nothing but a phone line between us. The call you made to the other side of the world - the one when you asked me to marry you. The moment our eyes met when I got off the plane home. Do you remember standing in the rain with me, not because we had to, but just because it was raining? The day I woke up in the hospital with a fat, little bear staring back at me & the grin on your face. Do you remember all the secrets he told you? The time we packed up and moved to Montana & what we learned about ourselves. The day I told you I was pregnant. How you went to every single appointment with me. The morning K was born. How you threw your body across mine to keep me from punching that doctor, then you made her apologize. Do you remember laying our daughter in my arms? All the nights you got up with her and let me sleep. All the nights you got up with all of them just to let me sleep. It was you who laid each of our children in my arms. Do you remember cooking squash for me, even though the smell of them sickened you, because I was craving them & couldn't get out of the bed to fix them for myself? And, swearing that since I got fixed you would never do that again. Do you remember taking me to the beach, six months pregnant with R, even though the doctor didn't like the idea, just because we all needed the break. Do you remember sitting on the balcony of the hotel at Disneyworld talking while the kids slept. Do you remember laughing when I said I could stay there forever? Do you remember all the little things, the moments that have defined our lives? Do you remember the hard parts, the ones I haven't mentioned, the ones that still hurt? Do you remember how we pulled through each time? We never doubted we'd make it. But, this time is different. There is doubt. Yet, somehow, some part of me believes we will get through this. Because, that's what we do. I forgive you.

Grandpa and the Rocket Boys

We're in the midst of formulating a plan. It all started when the World's Greatest Grandpa suggested a trip to West Virginia, to his hometown, with E and T. He got the idea from a conversation with E about the movie, October Skies. It turns out that the guys the movie is about grew up in the same area as WGGP. Since E is into model rocketry & currently fascinated with the history of it WGGP suggested they go and visit the sites where the story is set, as well as his old stomping grounds. They were leaning towards making the trip a sort of "guy thing."

Originally they planned to go this summer; but, E learned about some commemorative festival, or something, that's held there in October. So, they started talking about waiting until then so they could attend the festival. Then, I got wind of their plans & started thinking that K would like to go, because she is way more interested in rockets than T. Then I thought I would like to see where WGGP grew up 'cause I love him, too; and, I'd like to know more about my children's ancestors & stuff like that. But of course, if K and I were going R would have to come along. So, I sort of told WGGP that we were all coming with them. So much for "just us men."

E thinks it's a great idea. This weekend we picked up a copy of Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickman, Jr., the book that the movie was based on. On the drive home we started discussing how the trip to WV could be turned into a field trip for the kids. We got to talking and figured out how we could incorporate all their subjects into the theme of the trip. We both started getting really excited thinking about all the learning opportunities. However, the most important part is the special memories we all will have of going on a field trip with Grandpa.