Family Day

Later this month we will celebrate Family Day, the day that the four of us became a family. Three years ago I traveled to Ethiopia to bring Elias and Hannah home. Since the actual day falls in the middle of the week and the kids all have sports events that day we will be celebrating the event this weekend. I have plans. My children do not know of the plans. This will be fun!

Changing Schools

I was so excited at the beginning of this school year. Maya was starting at a new school. It was to take her through 8th grade. It is an all-girl charter school with a focus on science and technology. How cool is that? I am sad to say that she will not be completing this year at the school, let alone 6-8th grades. Transportation was a challenge, one that I was willing to put up with. I did notify the school to let them know that I couldn't always get her there on time depending if I left work on time. I was spending an hour and a half in the car each morning between leaving work and finally getting home to wait for Elias' bus. I just accepted it. Then in the afternoon, Maya was able to ride the bus to the nearest stop, 3 miles from home. I had to get up, out of bed to go pick her up. I accepted that too, I had made the choice to send her to school there.

All would have been fine if the academics were as great as I thought they would be. However, my 5th grader was being given homework in her health and science classes expecting her to do math problems beyond her abilities. She seemed to be behind in math anyway, but instead of helping her during the day the school decided to have mandatory tutoring after school twice a week for all the students who were behind. (I was given one week notice that this was going to start). The tutoring ended up being about 3/4 of the school. Due to scheduling conflicts with swimming lessons and scouts Maya could not go to the tutoring. In addition I felt that 9 hourr of school was too much and that actual learning would not take place so late in the day.

In the tutoring the girls were being given new math concepts, concepts that they were then expected to use in math class. I was told that a math packet would be sent home with Maya. A packet filled with the work that was being done in the tutoring and I could help her at home. I was perfectly fine with that arrangement, but the packet never came. Maya asked the teacher for it and was told she would get it later in the week. It was never sent home. I e-mailed the teacher twice asking for it at 2 weeks and 3weeks after being told it would be sent home. I never received a response and still no packet. I e-mailed the math teachers after trying to help Maya with a dificult assignment and realizing she needed more help in her basic multiplication and division. I suggested that the school is not teaching in class to the greatest need based on the number of students in tutoring. The response I got was that the school was covering the subject matter in question in the tutoring and maybe Maya could come in early for help (obviously before school help doesn't work when I have difficulty getting her there on time some days). They also stated they would bring my concerns to the board when reviewing the curriculum.

I made a decision to pull her out of the school. I figure she can get more help in the public school, they will pull her out of class once or twice a week for extra support in math. I discussed it with Maya, she is sad to leave her music class but not so sad to leave her other classes. I decided to let her stay at the school through the end of the quarter, which is today. She told all of her teachers right away, 2 weeks ago. It wasn't until I called the school two days ago to let them know I had enrolled her in another school and why that the math teacher called to see if she could arrange something else to help Maya during the day. I struggled through the rest of the day thinking I made the wrong decision but decided that I had made numerous efforts to advocate for my daughter's education and got no response or a response that showed the school didn't really undersatnd my concern nor could it help her right now. I also thought of how, Maya going to this school was affecting my family. I am getting less sleep each day because I have to get up and pick up Maya. I am therefore tired all the time, it is negatively affecting my relationships with my children, affecting my productivity at work and greatly affecting my mood. The decision I made was for my family and me, not just for Maya.

Impromptu Learning

Maya has been sick all weekend; fever, cough, occasional nausea, fatigue etc. We are on day four now and she is still spiking fevers. Unfortunately she won't be able to enjoy going on a fieldtrip to a local college tomorrow with her class. I was supposed to work this weeknd but ended-up taking four nights of sick leave instead. I am so thankful that I work in a place that doesn't question when your children are sick and will let me take numerous nights off without penalty.

Elias did not have school on Friday so we were all home that day. Most of the day I let the kids watch movies and just play with their toys. Later on though I decided to have them work on a map of the USA. I found an outlice map of the US and printed it for each of them to look and and had them start naming states. I marked each states with its abbreviation as they named it off. The first dozen came pretty quickly, then Maya had to stop and think a little harder, Elias was pretty lost after the first 5. With some hints from me they finished the map in about 30 minutes. The last state was Oregon. I gave them the first 2 letters and the clue that my dad had been born there, Elias kept guessing Oreland regardless of how many times I told him that was not correct. Maya finally called my brother and got the correct answer. We then went off in our separate directions. ABout ten minutes later as I passed through the living room I noticed Elias painstakingly copying the state abbreviations on to his copy of the map. He even included my crude drawing of Alaska. I think he may have actually like the little lesson.

Hair doesn't do itself you know

Last weekend I did hair. I decided that Maya needed a hairdo other than the ponytail she usually sports. She washed and condtitioned her hair on Friday night, I then braided it in about 5 fat braids for her to sleep in. Saturday afternoon she watched a movie while I put her hair into multiple two-strand twists. She has really thick hair so it took the entire length of the movie to finish it (90 minutes). Next time I'll do it while it is still wet so I don't have to keep wetting it. She likes it because it is now "swingy". SHe had a number of compliments forom classmates, teachers, family and friends. We undid the twists this weekend and now she has a kink "dread" kind of look that is equally as cute on her.

Sunday afternoon it was Hannah's turn. She decided she wanted to be like her big sister so I did the same type of two-strand twists. It only took 40 minutes to do her hair and that included the detangling before hand. The difference was that I did her hair right after she got out of the bath and her hair is much thinner than Maya's. Monday night Hannah went to swimming lessons, since her hair is so fine most of the twists undid themselves. I re-did her hair in a new do, pigtails with a zig-zag part. Then I separated the pigtails into sections and coiled each section. Very cute hair-do for a little girl.

Last weekend I cut Elias' hair and, at his request, shaved a big "E" into the back. It is starting to fade now as his hair grows quickly. He told me a lot of the kids in his class liked his hair. I'll try and think of something different to do for Thanksgiving.

$$$

Elias is a good runner. He hasn't been running consistently in the mornings for the last few weeks, we've either been out of time or it's been too wet out. I had heard about indoor track programs for youth so one day I did a google search for programs in my area. I found one that was starting up November 1st. I e-mailed the program director and he then invited us to check out the program. So last night we went to the first training night. I paid a $25 application fee, filled out a form and Elias was off with the 20 other kids, running around the indoor track, working on running form, doing sit-ups and push-ups. He learned a lot about form, got a lot of exercise and wore himself out. I learned a lot just watching them coach these kids. The group was made of about 8 elementary aged kids and the rest were jr. high or high school age.

I reviewed all the info I was given when we arrived and asked questions. This program is for 7-18 yr olds, they have been successfully running the program for 10 years, they have had numerous students go on to earn college scholarships in various sports because of the rigorous training they received. The program costs $170 for each 6 week session. If I keep him in the training I will have paid out over $1000 by the end of June. $1000! This seems ridiculously expensive to me. Elias is only 7 yrs. old. Right now I have 3 children in 7 week long swimming lessons, I pay less than $170 for all three. I can't justify that amount of money for one sport for one child. So for now I will let him keep running at home and work with him on his form myself.

This morning Elias ran about a half mile, already his form looks better.

Happy Halloween

My children finally decided earlier this week what they would be for Halloween. Hannah chose to be a cowgirl, Elias picked the Davy Crockett costume and Maya decided on being a witch. We borrowed Elias and Hannah's costumes from my parents. Both of those costumes were my mom's when she was young. Maya borrowed a witch hat from my parents and then we made a trip to Goodwill to find a dress.

While I was perusing the racks of dresses at Goodwill today I noticed a group of college age boys standing near one end of the rack. They were chuckling and pointing and looking around nervously. A couple of them looked my way to see if I was watching. They then quickly left the area. A few minutes later though as I was looking through shirts the boys were back by the dresses. One of them pulled a red flowery dress off the rack and sheepishly put it on over his clothes. The other boys busted out laughing though they too were soon picking dresses off the rack and trying them on over their clothes. I guess they were going to a costume party tonight and needed a last minute costume. Goodwill was a great idea by the way, the dresses were only about $7 each; way cheaper than anything you could buy in a costume shop, plus Maya will wear the dress again. I also bought her a very cute pair of barely-worn dress shoes.

Tis the Season

Apparently the respiratory/flu season is here, it is going to be a long 6 months. This week every single child I cared for, except one, was in the hospital for respiratory reasons. They were having difficulty breathing for one reason or another. Those children with asthma were having a particullary difficult time earlier in the week when it was dry and windy outside. We are already seeing a lot of pneumonia and of course H1N1. It's not that every child that is having respiratory symptoms actually has H1N1 but the doctors are testing for it anyway. The test takes several days to be confirmed. In the meantime every child tested for H1N1 is put under isolation precautions. This means that any time I want or need to enter their room I need to put on the following -
1. Isolation gown - it covers me from neck to calf.
2. Gloves - they need to overlap the cuffs on the gown.
3. Mask - covers the nose and mouth and makes everything I say sound quite muffled.
4. Eye protection - this year the hospital has sprung for reusable "glasses" we each have a pair to use until we loose them or they break. They fog up easily as your breath escapes out of the top of the mask making it that much more difficult to see things in the dark.
No more running into a room when an alarm is going off. In the least I need to throw on a pair of gloves and a mask. This is going to last until at least April. Yay me!

Instant Gratification

Hannah and Elias reminded me today that we live in a culture that is used to instant gratification. We went to an apple orchard to pick apples. The orchard itself was about 35 minutes away from home. Not terribly long but long enough for Elias to start complaining that it was taking too long when we were still 10 minutes from our destination. Later in the day after waiting in line for a few minutes to buy food Hannah started whining that we were waiting too long and that she didn't want to stand in line anymore. Shortly after getting the food Elias showed up in the building to complain that we were taking too long. (He had been left to guard the table and our apples).

In the afternoon as we got out of the car to go into Ikea Hannah began complaining that she was thirsty. I ignored the whining until she directed it at me, "Moooommm I said I am thirsty!" I reminded her that I am not a drinking fountain so she would have to wait until we git inside where they do have a drinking fountain.

These incidences didn't seem like much at the time that they were happening but then I began to think of how many of our wishes and expectations are met instantly on a daily basis. We can walk into a fast food restaurant and walk out with a hot meal in five minutes. If I want to know the weather forecast I don't need to wait for the news to come on at 10pm I can just log-on the Internet and find out. Most grocery stores and large stores like Target and Walmart have express lines for people with a small amount of purchases. I can pay my bills online, no waiting in line at the post office to buy stamp, no waiting for the check to get to the biller and clear with the bank. If I want to send a message to a family member I just need to access my e-mail and presto they get the message minutes later. My daughter needs to get home from school, I just jump in the car and drive there to pick her up. Sure she has to wait but not as long as she would if she had to walk or rely on public transportation.

How different would my world be if we had to grow all of our fruits and vegetables then can them so they would be available all year. What if we didn't have a car, or computer or TV. Would we be better people or bitter people? I'm not ready to make any of these changes but I think I would like to get back to a simpler and somewhat slower way of life. Elias and Hannah lived in a village in Ethiopia that didn't have running water, no electricity, no one had a car, they lived off the land. Their family worked hard to care for each other and their neighbors. Tow years later that village hasn't changed but my children have. I need for them to stop always thinking of themselves first. Maybe that will change their attitudes about what they are owed instantly.