I just dropped my kiddo off for driver's ed.

Shy of 15 1/2 by a few days.  Temps coming up soon.  Just sayin'.

My child chose a project beyond her reach and we didn't stop her.

My 14 year old daughter had STEM this quarter.  STEM was a rough road last year, so I knew that it would wobble a bit this year, too.  At the beginning of the quarter, K told me that she chose to tackle the VR project.  It was a tough assignment, warned to be so and no one else chose it because of that.  Encouraged by the teacher that she would help her along, K went for the challenge.

I knew that it was beyond her reach, but I said nothing.

It turns out that the same encouraging teacher who stated that she would be there to help my child was always out.  Meetings, off for the day . . . The supplementary help K had bargained for didn't quite work out as she thought.

It is here that I pause and say that K is certainly not the teacher's only student and I didn't expect her to hold her hand.

Time went on, K worked and worked.  She did what she knew, checked in with the teacher as she could and the end of the quarter came.

She bombed the project.  It dropped her grade from a low B to a middle D.  K cried and cried.  "Mom, I really tried."  M and I didn't question that she did try.  She wasn't in trouble.

It was more important for us to have K challenge herself and falter than to choose an easy project and learn little to nothing.

K's previous advocating for herself had kicked in and at the last hour, a project that K wasn't terribly successful in, but had permission to do again gained enough points to tick her up to a C.  The teacher had the re-grade in her possession for over a month and I am thankful that she allowed a redo and that she remembered that grade before grades closed.  But . . . if K walked away with a D, the world wasn't going to give way.  She chose to challenge herself and while the end result on paper didn't look to be a success, it didn't kill her and she learned.  She did her best.  Her projects were turned in on time.  She learned.

Will she dodge a challenge for a safe grade next time?  Nope.  She'll make the same choice and we will encourage her.

Advocating for our kids: Let's allow them to use their own voice.

All too often, I've run into parents too concerned about speaking on behalf of their children.  Just today, we had a woman in with her daughter and she was speaking for her.

The daughter had the ability to speak.
The daughter used that ability to speak.
The mother continued to speak for her, but when the daughter was speaking she did pause her interruption.

I believe that the daughter was mildly learning disabled.  She spoke on her own behalf.  She made her needs known in appropriate ways.  She responded appropriately.

So why was mama speaking for her?  I believe that she has probably protected and advocated for her all of her life but since this young lady is probably ball parking 16, she is going to have to have mama loosen those communicative apron strings a bit.

As parents, letting those strings out can feel uncomfortable.  As parents, letting those strings out could also cause us more work.  As parents, we need our children to learn to live outside of our protective or hovering presence.

There was another young woman who came into work to inquire about a job.  As you can guess, mom was with her.  Mom ran her over, ran to the counter, interrupted her and was completely overbearing.  The child could not speak up for herself and she was 18 and going into college.

Parents, we can't do this to our kids.

We need to teach our children how to advocate for themselves.  We need them to learn to speak their needs, themselves, and to learn to be (as my kiddo would call) problem solvers.

I was just talking with M this evening and said that it was a blessing for K to move to a school system that I have not been all involved in.  At her elementary, every teacher knew me.  I was the PTA president, was there all of the time and wrote the monthly newsletter.  K was there with me all of the time schlepping tables for book fairs, decorating things, setting up different events and I think that in some small way, this earned her a bit of a communicative pass from some of her teachers.  Now this isn't to say that K didn't communicate at all, but she was far more shy about making her needs known.

Fast forward to 6th grade.

M and I dropped K off to a strange school with a building full of kids she did not know, no one knew her mama and she had to make it on her own.

Honestly, at the end of her 6th grade year, she fell flat on her face.  It was ugly.  We knew that it was happening because of a series of poor choices, but she needed to learn.  She was in big trouble.  (Lying and not turning work in.)  Her teacher allowed her to turn her work in late, but at a maximum of 50% score.  It sucked, but we had to let it happen.

She pulled through and in the end, open enrollment continued for her 7th grade year.  (We have to re-apply every year, making this mama quite nervous.)  K dusted herself off in middle school, found the book club, volunteered at the library, helped her Language Arts teacher during lunch (we didn't even know this until the end of the year) and was chosen to be Student of the Month for October.

She did this all on her own.

It's not to say that there weren't gaffs in 7th grade, but she really pulled herself up by her bootstraps and made her needs known.  She discussed some inappropriate speak that was going on with one of the young men, asked me my opinion and I gave her both sides.  The next morning she told me, "I've decided to go speak with Mr. L about it.  I know what can happen, but what is going on isn't right and I need someone to know."  Though retaliation was a definite possibility, she spoke with the Vice Principal about her concerns and throughout the remaining part of the year, he would check in on her and make sure that all was okay.

She did this all on her own.

Children's choices may not be our choices, but we need to allow them to make decisions.  We need to allow them to learn to effectively speak for themselves, make appropriate choices and speak out when wrongs need righted.  They need to know ramifications of poor decision making. (Clearly we need to make certain that they are safe and keeping others safe.)

We need to help them to model good behavior and good citizenship.

We need to be an example to them of:

  . . . love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control.  Galations 5:22-23

We need to allow them to use their voice.  We needn't speak for them.  We need to guide them.  We need to be there to listen.  We need to allow them to do it . . . on their own.

Goodbye, 7th grade.

K's last day of school was yesterday.  If you don't think that we're having what my friend refers to as a "Super Nothing Day," you have another thing coming.  M has been downstairs playing guitar.  K has been binging on TV.  I have watched TV, read more about our loss of Chris Cornell, sent a few e-mails and watched The Village.

We needed a SND.  7th grade took everything we had.

K had projects and papers, tests and exams.  This is all pretty typical.  This year was her first year for exams.  Prior to exams, she had two A's, three B's and one C.  After exams, she had two A's, one B and three C's.  You know what?  That is fabulous.  Exams for a kiddo who has severe test taking anxiety are pretty rough.  I will give credit to her social studies teacher though.  Not only did he tell the kids and parents from day one that there would be a final exam, but he had them save every paper from the entire year and helped to prepare them for their first exam.

I would love to say that the math teacher did the same, but not so much.

Mr. Math Teacher decided to tell them of the exam on 5/15.  He told them that this exam would cover the entire year and it would begin on 5/17.  It started on 5/16.  It was a group exam and despite her being grouped with some super smart kids, their grade was a 48%, which dropped her 85.5% down to a 71.4%.  Gee, Mr. Math Teacher, thanks for that kick in the gut.

She had an A or a B in math all quarter long.  If she would have ended up with a D or an F for the final quarter, she wouldn't have been in trouble.  Why?  Because she tried her best and she could only study for what she could.  You can't cram studying over an entire year just overnight.

Her social studies grade was a B, dropped less than a percentage point, but that kicked her .22% into a C.  Some teachers have kicked the teetering grades up.  If he doesn't, I certainly won't ague.  The final report card isn't posted yet.  That will be this afternoon.  Still, she rocked it out.  The 7th grade social studies curriculum that they used he referred to as "the equivalent of the pass/fail course of Ancient Civilizations that all of you parents may have taken in college."  Sweet love, he didn't lie.  I never studied the Peloponnesian War, The Roman Crusades . . . in school or in college.  It was some rough stuff to wade through.  Yet, as the teacher guaranteed, they would make it through.

There were nights I was up studying for tests with K until 12:30 AM.  There were times I had her back up at 5:45 AM studying for the same test.  John Calvin, Sir Francis Drake and others, you arrived to me in my nightmares.

Flash cards.

Chapter reviews and the 30 question kid written quiz.

Last year was rough.  Super rough.  Transition to a different school where the kids didn't really accept her all that well didn't go over particularly well.  She found a place for herself this year.  Middle school rocked for her.  She participated in Solo & Ensemble, Music in the Parks and other orchestra performances this year.  She participated in book club, she was a library helper, a class lunch time assistant, and though orthodontia made perfect attendance impossible-- the child never missed one single day of school this year.  There were a handful of days where K was late because of bracket appointments . . . nothing we could do.  (The orthodontist isn't very accommodating in regard to certain appointments.  Otherwise, they are spectacular.)

K rocked it out.  The year wasn't without a catch or a hitch.  There were certainly times I would have loved to sling her over my shoulder and haul her to the car.  (She's over 5'8" and there will be none of me doing that.)  Some mornings, girlie fell a bit behind.  Last week, I asked her if she thought that my car had wings because it certainly does not.

But . . . summer.  :sigh:  We have arrived.  😀

One more quarter to go . . .

It's been a big last push to get K through the end of the 3rd quarter.  Sweet love, it was like studying for college finals.

Extra credit be thy savior.

This quarter, K's rotation class was STEM.  Sitting here now, I can tell you more about this class than I could on January 3.  The school system uses trials of particular STEM programs and since they are trials, access for grading such things aren't in a traditional manner.  Add to that my child is not the most technologically savvy.  She turned different projects in, or thought she turned them in, only to find that they popped up 5-6 weeks later as not turned in.

Yes, it took her teacher 5-6 weeks to get around to grading the projects.

The sticking point was that these fine trial programs had run through their trial period.  No more access to these programs by the time he decided to grade them.  WHA?  I set M to task.  She submitted the blank spot assignments four separate times.  I even had her print quizzes and whatnot and I sent her with a folder of 50 printed pages. (No exaggeration, y'all.  Amazon saveth my fanny with 2 day printer cartridge shipping.)  It wasn't right.  It had to be submitted again.

I may have uttered words that should not be included in this post.  In fact, I guarantee that M and I both did.  She worked for hours and yet, all for nothing.

The teacher had kindly responded to each of my e-mails.  Turns out that my kiddo failed to follow directions.  There were technical details she didn't understand, but she thought she did.  Alrighty then, let's get her back on track.

I'm thankful that though I cursed Mr. T (not to his face but out of frustration to M) that he did extend forgiveness and accepted late assignments for full credit.  "They are complete, I don't know what happened to the transmission of them to you."  Well, now I know.

Hello valley of frustration.  I know you so well.  STEM went from an F to an A all in one fell swoop. :wipes the forehead:  Sleepless nights on that one.

We knew that K was going to have a major test in Social Studies.  Add that to the wonderful opportunity that her generally not as grade generous teacher offered this past weekend only to be an "Opportunity Weekend."  Kids were able to turn corrected quizzes, tests and missed assignments in for half of the credit/additional credit that they would have earned.  Turns out that a shortened day of classes in order to make room for a pep rally ended up leaving K with an assignment in her locker and not with her since the classes were switched around (she knew that) and shortened (her first period teacher neglected to inform them) so she was not able to turn that assignment in.  Not with you?  No credit.  (We don't blame him.)  However!  She was saved by an opportunity.  This forgiveness opportunity allowed her to pull her grade up to the next grade level and padded a lil room in case she bombed the upcoming test on-- The Middle (snoozer) Ages.

As M helped her to get STEM straightened around Monday night, I set to the task of breaking down the chapter into a giant mom test.  I used to homeschool her through 3rd grade social studies (she was pulled out for math tutoring and the teacher didn't compensate for that) so I just went back to how we reviewed before.  Grueling, but if I could pull her up from a C to an A in 3rd grade SS, I figured I would roll back to that style again.

Y'all, it worked.  All of that writing and studying late at night (one night we retired at 11:45 PM only to return to studying again at 5:45 AM, next night until 10:30 PM when neither one of us could remain awake any longer and to return to review again at 6 AM) paid off.  

K had her test yesterday, was pleased that she knew all of the material and though it was a group test (group work never works to her advantage) she was able to carry the group through to a 90% A.  (Two girls hadn't studied and were unprepared, one was prepared with her quiz study guide like K, but was feeling fairly unwell.)  That was able to pull K's grade up to a firm/not teetering grade and lifted her spirits.

She can do it.

I'll tell you though, the Middle Ages kicked our butts.

We have discussed different study strategies.  What K has been trying has worked only marginally well.  She is an A, B, C student but sometimes that C was not quite a C.  A's B's and C's are fine.  As long as she is truly putting her best effort out there, any grade is acceptable.  We are going to turn to a quarter of note cards.  I am going to break the chapter of SS down like I did before.  I will do the same with Science.  The way I break them down will be a process done with her.  That way, she will get more of an idea of how to consume a study chapter part by part rather than swallowing it whole and not having the information catch.  She gets overwhelmed and we're going to make this process less overwhelming.  Get her to the point where she can self op like she's been trying but hasn't been doing as well as she would hope.

One more quarter then all three of us will have passed 7th grade.  :sigh:  I can't wait!

7th Grade, Middle School and a new start.

My kiddo started middle school on August 18th.  She has tutoring first thing of the day.  She'll be toggling grading periods between math tutoring and reading tutoring.  Am I sad that she qualified for tutoring in both areas?  No.  I'll tell you why.  The math is a given.  Girlie has needed math help since they started math in 1st grade.  What about reading?  Well, she reads all the time.  The previous district had them read not for content but to read.  They read to memorize, but truly taking in stories in full wasn't something that they pressed.  Kids were given spelling lists to memorize but not given lessons to know that which they were spelling.

All that caught up to K last year.

Memorizing spelling is fantastic except when parts of speech, antonyms/synonyms, definitions and ability to effectively use the word came into play.  This bit her firmly in the behind.

So, she reads.  Kiddo probably reads more than most kids you know.  She needs help with upping her game with vocabulary.  I'm glad that they saw this need and that they are willing to attend to it with her.  Her previous school district did not do this.  Frankly, they didn't care.

We went to open house the other night.  The open house was very well attended.  So well attended was this open house that they have to split it into two nights.  7th one night and 8th the other.  Parents are supportive.  Teachers are HAPPY to be there.  Parents are kind.  They don't deny that their children may have a deficit.  "Let's work together to fix this."  It is amazing.  K's previous district had disrespectful parents running amok and blaming all of the teachers for their children's deficits.

Not everyone will have the valedictorian student in their home.  That's okay.  Not every student will make perfect grades, perfect strides or perfect choices.  That's okay.  The task at hand is to work together as a team to work through these things.  I'm thankful that we're afforded the opportunity to have K attend a district that is lightyears ahead of her home district and that they are willing to work with us to improve her schooling experiences.

The teaching team seem to be strict.  That's good.  They are loving, but they are trying to stand on these kiddos to get them prepared.  Expectations have been laid out and are CLEAR!  This is the first time she's ever received syllabus' (or syllabi?) explaining what should be expected from both sides.  GRAND!

There are lockers and locks, changing for gym and navigating school halls with the expectation to be on time to class.  There are notebooks and organizational quizzes, writing and parental editing every evening, accountability and expectations.

We're good with all of that.  We're good to have a staff expect great and wonderful things from our daughter.  A new school year is in session.  :smile:

First Quarter down: Of cinnamons and apple bits.

K made it through her first grading period.  She has always, always been on super honor roll, honor roll or merit roll.  Merit roll was just a 2 time thing.  This quarter, she earned none of that.  It kind of made her heart sink.  For the first time since they were available, she feels like she missed out.  I reminded her of these things:

1.  You moved from a failing school district to an excellent rated school district.
2.  She basically had absolutely NO 5th grade last year what with all of the standardized testing, two of the three 5th grade teachers retiring and, well, her teacher just not teaching or giving a hoot. Not at all consistent.  Not at all collecting papers when due, but then trying to collect them two - three weeks later.  Mis-grading, mis-logging of grades and generally being the class clown.  Oh, and not teaching. Let us not forget that part.
3.  The curriculum is so much harder.
4.  All of your grades (she has 2- A's, 2- B's and 2- C's and those are high C's) are GREAT grades!
5.  She had no late work.  Well, it wasn't late on her part.  She turned in the one "late" paper, her teacher had her write her answers in complete sentences, the bell rang, she turned it in right after the bell stopped and it was considered late.

Because of a time management issue for a series of mornings culminating into one big morning, she does have one unexcused tardy.  She was late by 2 minutes.  On a standard morning, we would have still been able to rock a 20 minute drive easily in the 30-35 minute time frame.  Unfortunately, she chipped away at part of our safety net, there was a big ole spot of traffic, a rear end collision and a flipped vehicle.  All the forces were working against us that day.  She learned and has been very good about getting out the door since then.

What are things that we have learned to improve upon for this next quarter?

1.  We still need to double check homework.  We always do, but can't do that if K doesn't pony up the work.  She knows late homework isn't okay.  She knows guessing isn't okay.  There are occasions that we find lil errors on papers that add up to big things.  We go over homework with her, help to reinforce the lesson and it is a good thing.
2.  Everything will be answered in complete sentences.
3.  We have experienced some of the return of test taking anxiety.  Her social studies started out with two very bad grades.  It was as if all wheels fell off her bus.  She was completely deflated.  She was able to pull her grade up substantially, but not without getting so stressed that she tossed grades out the door in EVERY subject that week.  We all learned that bad grades will happen and that this school is good about giving enough homework, projects . . . to help offset a bad day.  (Or eek!  A bad week!)
4.  Cinnamons and apple bits are also known as synonyms and antonyms.  Vocabulary at her previous school was just a spelling test.  They were fairly easy words and no definitions or any digging into the words themselves was done.  It is here.  Last night I decided to have K write all of her words, synonyms and antonyms on pieces of paper.  She was then set to task to match them all up.  We did it over and over and hopefully, that will help her to retain that information.  Spelling is copying words daily and spelling tests beginning Tuesday of test week.  We seem to have licked that one.  Definitions for other subjects are on index cards and quizzed.  We're working out the study pieces.  If we can keep the test anxiety down, her focus on her paper (hello ADD child of mine though not diagnosed) and encouraging her to continue to keep organized, those pieces will fall all into place and grades will continue to rise.

We are so very proud of K.  This was a HUGE jump, an ENORMOUS change and a difficult challenge for her.  We're still tweaking and figuring it out.  She's working on getting a grade certificate next time.  Until then, we work, we tweak and we study.

The open enrollment report

It may not be a good choice for all people, but it is working for K.  Considering that she essentially skipped 5th grade (except for maybe what would qualify as one grading period worth of some teaching) she is holding her own and doing well.  Her grades are what they usually are-- a combo of A's and B's and we are definitely not complaining.

The curriculum is more intuitive with math.  It is more difficult in other subjects.  She has gotten past that wonky period of "take a few tests to see how this study pattern goes . . . "  She has brought her vocabu-lit grade up from an initial 70% to a 100% this week.  My baby has got a groove with that.  The math went from a 70% to a 96%.

Can we sit for a moment and celebrate 70% as a first test score as a MONUMENTAL MOMENT?  Last year, her math scores began at 33%.

She has started violin maybe 3 1/2 weeks ago.  At 2 weeks, she was busting out Ode to Joy in the living room because, well, "Mom, I learned it last year in recorder and just knew it."  So she learned something on a non-string instrument, but took a year of harp, and translated it to an instrument that she had been playing for only 2 weeks.  Someone got her musical skillz and she certainly didn't get them from me.

My good friend, Heather, is a professional musician.  She plays, you have it right, violin.  She knows that K is technically a year behind on orchestra violin at this school, so she insisted that I bring her for a bit of an encouragement round up to get her rolling in the right direction.  She told me yesterday, "The music that they gave her for the program is second year music.  She is doing great with it.  Most kids wouldn't.  Don't worry.  She's doing well!"  So, she has second year music at 3 1/2 weeks.  :thumbs up:  My kid is musical and is holding her own.  Orchestra is two times a week and she needs to be there between 7:15-7:25 AM, ready to begin at 7:30 AM.  That leaves us leaving before 7 AM.

The spelling words are difficult, but she is consistently studying them.  We found out this last week that she has 5 bonus words per test.  Bonus to us means EXTRA points.  No, no.  They are NOT extra points.  They are from previous spelling lists and are expected to be known.  That's a great thing, but I probably would have used a term other than "bonus."

The gym teacher is more like a drill sergeant.  My heavens.  That man means business.  It's not a bad thing.  K has gotten used to boot camp for gym and not play time.

She just did a class project with a boy she was assigned to work with.  It seemed to be a good match of energy and she really enjoyed working with him.  It's a good thing.

She's making friends.  They seem to have accepted her as one of their own.

It's not something that would always work for everyone, but we have a one.  Open enrollment is working for us.

So far, so good.

Our morning commute presently starts at 7:30 AM.  My dear, sweet cousin Janeen commutes further than I do and she is in the MIDDLE of the snow belt.  We'll be entering the secondary snow belt in the winter and with that and orchestra on Fridays, our leave time will be shifted.

Heavens!  There is a HUGE difference between a poorly performing district and one that is excellent rated.  Here are some surprises:

1.  They practice vocab-lit.  Their vocabulary, which is also their spelling words, comes from literature that they will be reading chunks of.

2.  The spelling list is from the vocal-lit.  This round includes prodigious, supercilious and chivalrous.

3.  To our absolute excitement, there is NO Envision Math!  That stuff is evil.  The math seems more commonsense (for now) and K and M seem pleased.

4.  Respect and rules are strongly enforced.  They are reasonable, but without flexibility on enforcement.  That is good.

5.  D.A.R.E. is a once a week program that is already built into the curriculum.

6.  They were asked to run for 12 minutes in gym class.  K didn't quite make it, but she's working on it.

7.  The 6th grade as a whole are learning to play guitar as a part of their curriculum.

8.  Dress code is pretty relaxed.  She finally started wearing shorts this week.  The building has no air conditioning and it is getting rather warm in there.

9.  Her art teacher is one of my good customers.   They did contour drawing on day one.

10.  K has her first e-mail address.  School issues an e-mail address to every student.  They use the computers in the library and media center.

11.  All of their forms and such for the entire district are online.  They don't even print report cards!

Thus far, we are pleased with moving K onward.  It might be a little bit of a drive, but we're hoping to give her the best that we can.

Enrolled.

I had my open enrollment appointment this morning before work.  I had to drop K off at my mom's house then haul on up to the school board building.

I left a half hour and got there in 15 minutes.  That's good to know travel-wise for school here in a few weeks.  It is a few exits ahead on the expressway.  15 minutes early is good.  It shows them that we take this seriously.

I get to the building, get buzzed in and see someone at the window.  I stand there for a few minutes and finally figure that perhaps I should take a seat.  I hear a lot of, "Well, did you do the online enrollment?"  "Well, I did it on my tablet."  "Do you have this, do you have that?"  It seemed as though this visitor was a bit unprepared.

She steps away and the woman next to me looked to see if they needed her next.  (She was there before me.)  "No, I need Amy now."  I'm up.  :deep breath:  We went over the paperwork.  All the online enrollment was successfully completed.  All of the paperwork they needed for enrollment was sent in back in February.  They just needed to verify all of it.

-- The official birth certificate that we purchased from the county for the bargain price of $22 and had the official embossment on it wasn't good enough.  They needed the original in order to verify it.  Since the original birth certificate took 11 1/2 months to arrive, it is dated almost 2 years after K's birth date.  I figured that they would question it.  I was armed with the actual adoption decree, but it turns out that they didn't need it.

-- Immunization records needed updated.  (There was one shot in April that wasn't on the copy they had.)

-- Residency needed verified.  I had a copy of the house deed, the city utility bill and the electric bill.  Since I sent the city utility bill in February, they just verified that.

Since I was responsible and followed all instructions, I was back out of there in probably a lil over 5 minutes.  The lady thanked me profusely for having my papers in order and having everything handled.  (Adopt a county kid and you become proficient at inches of paperwork very quickly.)

Then she said something that will stay with me forever.  With a smile on her face, "Welcome to S-."

:hand on my heart:

Hoping that this venture in schooling is a wondrously positive change for K.  I pray good things for her.  I pray that she gets past her nervousness about being the "new kid."  I pray that her teachers teach.  I pray that she learns.  I pray that it is a positive atmosphere, as last year definitely was not.

I just want good things for her.

Handing off those school uniforms.

I got a call on Monday that will most certainly change my child's life in some big capacity.  She was accepted for open enrollment to the school system in the city where my in-law's live.

This open enrollment opportunity dates back to the packets of information that I sent out on February 1.  I sent open enrollment packets out to three schools.  By the end of June, we received a denial from our first choice school.  They didn't have the room for K and I knew that.  It didn't hurt to try.  A few weeks ago, we got a denial from our 3rd choice school.  We weren't real jazzed about that school for a few different reasons.  They seemed a lil snarky about open enrollment and frankly, it is an area much, much further over our financial level and basically K would end up being the poor kid.  Since it was already August, I figured by this point that school #2 was toast because we hadn't heard anything and -- IT'S AUGUST!

So the call comes through.  I try to track K down.  Now, I can most normally catch that child at some point, but my MIL and K went swimming.  I tried K's cell.  No luck.  I tried MIL's cell.  No luck.  I tried my FIL's cell.  No luck.  I tried the house phone.  Finally, my FIL answered, but said that they were out swimming.

UGH!

K asked for a family meeting.  We needed to hash out some details about the transfer that would make her feel good.  We assured her that the same drop off/pick up schedule would still apply as before.  I would be able to take part in SOME PTA activities at this school, so she'd still see me around.  We also said that if she/we chose to make this switch-- this is it.  This will be her forever school and we will not transfer her out to another one.  After all of these things, she decided that she did want to go there.

A perk but not a deciding factor?  No uniforms!

We released her to make the information public.  She told some friends from elementary school.  She would have been moving on to the big, scary middle school with them.  We did discuss that though she is moving and it is joyous and there were many, many concerns we had about the middle school, these friends are still attending there and we want to be a lil low level so not to dog on their school.  She handled it well.

We mamas were talking last night and it hit me that the one could probably use the pants I had purchased for K.  I bought them secondhand, so there was no way I could return them and K assured me that there would be no way she would wear them.  (Can't blame her.)  I was running through the house last night at 10 PM gathering uniform pieces to give off.  M asked, "What are you doing?"  "GIVING UNIFORMS AWAY!"  I warned her that almost all was hanging on the basement lines and have a basement smell, but all are clean.  She can use them this year or next, but we were able to pass polos, pants, sweaters and shorts on to someone who could use them.

I don't believe K will ever wear khaki pants or polo shirts again.  Well, not unless a job requires them.

So that leads me to today's adventures.  I will, for the first time, be able to take my daughter school clothes shopping.  We're kind of excited.  We have a few stores to hit to return new shirts we bought and while we're there, we can look at fun clothes!

Aside from the clothes thing and that not being a factor into changing schools, we're taking K from a school system that is suffering into an excellent rated school system.  There are so many opportunities that will be made available to her.  She's going to try to get involved with orchestra and she's looking forward to getting details about swim team.  Academically they are so much stronger and we had major safety concerns about K at the other school.

We prayed.  We prayed that God would do his will.  We told K that this is how God answered our prayer.  I told her that we still need to pray.  She's concerned about being the new kid.  I told her I get it, but we'll get through it.

Changes.  My baby is growing up.

I swear that we still exist!

It's been a few months.  I promise we're still upright and all that.

We were all busy at the end of school just wrapping things up.  K moved on up to :sigh: going to middle school soon.  She ended 5th grade with perfect attendance for the year, honor roll and a President's Education Award.  We're busy adjusting to what middle school is going to mean and the changes that come with that.

My girlie in middle school.  Let's just sit on that for a second.  Every parent sits and says, "Just yesterday . . . "

I had the church rummage sale that ate most of June.

K has been volunteering at the local library twice a week and she's gone a few weeks with M to work to help him as a program volunteer.

My sister got married.  Wishing the union goes better than the felony charges that the two decided to rack up given their penchant for pot.

M and I have gone to a few more concerts.  You see, people usually go out to eat.  Since M can't eat a lot of what is out and about, we have just gone back to going to some occasional concerts.  We went to J Roddy Walston and the Business at Musica.  Oh, it was so good!  M got me a spot in the center front of the stage.  (Short girls up front!)

We stood in this line at Mayhem Fest for M to meet . . . 

 . . . The band members of Hellyeah.  

He's always wanted to meet Vinnie Paul and this opportunity made his day.

We've been a little bit of everywhere, and everywhere has been busy.  We still have one more month to chip away before the rigors of school kick back in.  

No school uniforms. 

Flip-flops.

Lightning bug and butterfly catching.

Mosquito bite itching.

Candy tossers in a parade. 

Birthday parties.  

Family walks at night.

Talks by the campfire.

Cool nights.

Hot days.

Swimming.

Goodies from the garden.

Time together.

:sigh:  

Wrapping up the loose ends of being an elementary PTA board member mama.

I have been on the PTA board for 5 of 6 years of my child's elementary school years.  I have been:

Corresponding secretary my first year.
3rd Vice President (fundraising) my second year.
President my third and fourth years.
2nd Vice President (school newsletter) my third, fourth and fifth years.

I have handed over the following chair positions:

Book Fair
100 Book Challenge
Garden Fair
Birthday Book Club
Membership

I have trained.  I have written manuals.  I have sent documents via e-mail.

I have shared passwords to accounts.

The last two days were the final BOGO Scholastic Book Fair of K's elementary school career, with her being employed as the "babysitter" of the youngers coming up in her shadow.  She has been raised as a PTA kid.

She has seen me in the halls on a weekly basis.

She is not too shy or too embarrassed to stop and always give me a surprise hug from the back or a quick peck to the cheek.

I think she might actually look forward to my being there.

The staff all knows me.

I leave the school knowing that I've left the PTA in a better condition than it was when I received it.  We were a broken mess that was in the midst of trying to be fixed.

I got our new building to be built bigger than the school district was intending to build it.  They were going to built it for 60 less students than the enrollment at the time because of "2016 projections."  Well, 2016 projections were off because our enrollment remains the same as it has always been-- between 510 - 530 kids.

All those kids?  They basically know me, too.  I praise them over good work.  I tell them how cute their shoes are, how I like their hair doodles, how great they are working together, how nice their smile is and so forth.

I also peek around the corner and bust them for playing in the sinks.  I make them walk when they run down the hall.  I've escorted them back to class after the book fair if they are prone to "wandering."  If they have been unkind to me, I will tell them that they have been unkind.

I and my child have been blessed to have an experience that has been so largely positive in elementary school.  A few years were rough, but the other years were golden enough to knock down the rough spots of the few years of bad.

Soon it will be middle school.  Soon that will be 6th grade.  I'm sure we'll make it, but it makes me sad that this chapter closes.

Gotta let her grow up, though.  I can tell you one thing though, I will never be another PTA board mama.  Oh, I will help.  I have no problem with that.  I would just like to live an existence of being thankful for the wonderful things going on in the school and not have parents continually complain to me about things that they think that the kids should have or do, but about how no one actually wants to help execute their ideas.  This isn't fair or that isn't fair.  I leave a very active and very giving PTA. I'm curious to see how PTAs and parental involvement will continue as K grows older.

Until then, I still have Garden Fair Planting day, cotton candy, baseball game for 5th grade, end of the year picnic, movie day, dance (a very informal one during the school day), 5th Grade Recognition breakfast . . . My duties aren't done yet.

Western Reserve District 5 District Science Day at the University of Akron

Last Saturday, K participated the next round of the Science Fair AKA Western Reserve District 5 District Science Day.  Of course, this was the ONLY weekend that I'm out of town as a buyer for work.  Hubs handled this one.  He was able to take off work.  I felt guilty.  K told me not to.  After the day was over, M said that he was glad that I didn't do the haul back and forth from Columbus like I had originally considered.  

K had to be at the university at 7:45 AM with her project set up and ready.  She was to stand with her project until the judges released her.  

The child was with her project until 12:30 PM.  

M wasn't allowed to leave the two floors of the student union, and we were quite fine with that.  

K said that if she needed a drink or to use the loo, one of the kids beside her had to cover her.  If they walked away and the judges appeared and they weren't there, they were disqualified.  

K said that the judges came and asked her a lot of questions.  She talked with them for about 10 minutes.  I'm sure that after standing there for over 4 hours, she was nervous and there were some questions she said that she didn't understand.  She called me in tears.  She felt defeated.  

They went to the awards ceremony which M billed as "extremely tangential and long winded."  She found out that she hadn't moved on and while that was fine with all of us, by the time she hit 5 PM of the same ole thing, girlfriend had hit a wall.  That was when the tear filled call came.  It had been a LONG day and I wasn't there.  She missed me and that didn't help.

We also found out that she was the ONLY 5th grader there.  The next oldest kid was in 8th grade. 

A few days later at school, her certificate and score sheet showed up.  I thought that it was wonderful that they sent a personalized certificate and that the score sheet came along.  To have K score an Excellent made her very happy.  She didn't know what she scored on Saturday and she felt like she did a horrible job.  Turns out, baby girl did a great job and earned the equivalent of probably a B+.  Her teacher made a big deal out of it and frankly, that was kind of nice.  

She learned a lot with this experience.  It was a nice boost for her to have done well and though the journey with the green beans has ended here, there are many more scientific journeys to come.  

She opted to change the ribbon of her medal out to a U of A lanyard.  It's a nice touch.  :)

Who knew that she needed to do measurements in metric?  I laugh because it took me 2 days to figure out that the measurement that they were talking about was temperature and that she didn't list it as Celsius.  

I thought it was a nice touch that they had the back engraved with the occasion and date. 

An experience for all.  Hopefully, an experience to have again.  

A lazy teacher and an overachieving child.

"Mom, can we go to the LRC?"

I got this text from my child yesterday.

"We can't go.  They close early tonight.  We can go tomorrow after school."

"I can't," she's texting on my MILs phone, "I have a rough draft due tomorrow."

"When was this assigned?"

"Right before the bell rang."

So I gave up and called her.  Seems as though they were discussing projects.  My heavens, I'm stunned since they've done NONE all year.  They chose people to research and then right as they were getting ready to walk out, her teacher announces that a rough draft is due the very next day.  Now, my child is a preparer.  She likes to READ the book.  Over the years, we've taught her to take her time, go back through, make notes and such things.  We've encouraged her to pick "chewy" subjects-- something that she'll learn from.  Don't take the easy way out.  This is an opportunity.

My child could choose herself, her parents or someone famous.  She chose Nikola Tesla, because doesn't every girl choose Nikola Tesla?  I mean, she could choose members of bands or singers, artists, parents, herself-- anyone.  Tesla it is.

In all honesty, I'm not surprised in the slightest.  K has had a bit of a fascination with him this year and I even purchased her a Nikola Tesla book for her for her birthday.  (It's a comic book, but nonetheless . . . )

We made a plan.  I had her put me on speaker and I asked my MIL to take her to the library.  They were driving past, so she did.  They found a few books.  My MIL also looked some things up on the computer and had K watch something and printed something things out for her.

K had health homework and math homework.  M helped with math and we hit the ground running on the Tesla report.  She was juggling 3 books and telling me what she wanted to say.  We handled as we did the science fair project-- she talked and I typed it out for her.

"It has to be handwritten, Mom."  Of course it does!  :S

Finally at 9:30 PM, I gave up.  I told her that she had what she had.  We were able to take him to the beginnings of the Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing Company.  I told her that as a rough draft, he couldn't expect more.  I mean, the kid got home after 6 from my in-laws and we just can't work incredible miracles.

She started handwriting it.  She wrote until 10:15 (past her bedtime) and I finally told her that we'd get her up early to handle the rest of it.  The kid set her alarm for 5 AM.  I told her that was too early and told her to sleep until 6 AM, though I was awake at that point.  She wrote from 6 - 7:30 AM.  She took her time and wrote neatly.  I felt bad for her.  But, she did what was asked of her.  She complained thought.  "Mom, last year Mrs. S gave us time."  I know.  Believe me, I know.  So, what did she write?

When Nikola Tesla was born, it was a stormy night.  He was born at midnight on July 10, 1856 in Smiljan, a small town in Croatia.  As soon as he was born, his mother said to him, "Welcome home, my Nikola."   He was the fourth child in his family.  His mom's name was Djourka Tesla and his father was Milutin Tesla.  Nikola's father was a minister and his mother supervised servants, ran the farm, sewed the family's clothes, raised her children and she was a famous needlepoint designer in the region.  She also loved inventing things!  She made looms, butter churns and kitchen tools, including the mechanical eggbeater!  

When Nikola's brother, Dane, was 12, he was thrown off of the family's horse and he died a few days later from all of his injuries.  Then, when Nikola starting accomplishing stuff, it caused his family to grieve because they remembered his brother's talents and Dane's great things that he might have been able to do.  Nikola started to feel like his parents were rejecting him, especially his mother.  He grew up with very little self-confidence.  I understand how he felt.  

Nikola started doing experiments when he was little.  They didn't always go so well.  Once, he jumped off the roof of the barn.  He thought he would glide, but it failed and he had to stay in bed for 6 weeks.  When he was 5, he made a wooden wheel that spun because the water was moving the wheel.  He noticed invisible energy!  When he was 9, he built a propeller spun by flying June bugs.  The propeller whirled for hours!   

Nikola went to the village school.  He loved reading so much.  His father wouldn't let him read the books in their house.  His parents wouldn't let him read after dark because they thought it would ruin his eyesight.  Nikola stole candles, his father found out and hid the candles.  He made his own candles instead.  He would then read until the crack of dawn.   Nikola was interested in electricity from the beginning of his education.  He went to a pretty new junior high school that had a really great physics department.  The water wheel he made when he was little made him think of using Niagara Falls for power with a waterwheel underneath the falls.   

In 1882, Nikola Tesla discovered rotating magnetic field.

In 1884, he moved to America to meet Thomas Edison.  He worked for Thomas Edison.  Nikola fixed the dynamos on the ship, which weren’t working that well.  Nikola said I’ll redo your shop.  Thomas Edison said that if he redid the shop, he would pay him $50,000.  It took Nikola a year to finish it and then he went to Thomas Edison.  He asked Thomas Edison for the $50,000 and Thomas Edison said that he was sorry that it was just sarcasm.  He told Nikola that he didn’t understand American humor, but offered to pay Nikola an extra $10 per week raise.  Nikola refused it and QUIT!  He went on to his own company, The Tesla Electric Light and Manufacturing Company where they would use alternating current electricity. 

At least she chose a very interesting man.  I'm kind of excited to learn more about him.  I just wished that she had more time than, "It'll be due sometime next week."  Really?

ETA:  He didn't even bother to look at them today.  Almost all of the kids had what he asked for and he said that he didn't want to look at them because he wanted to be able to read them.  Um, really?  Throw them a bone and look at them, please!

Little bits of 5th grade.

This past Thursday was the school wide Literature and Arts Festival.  They have improved it quite a bit from when they first started it.  I believe that K was in the third grade and frankly, it was a bit of a snoozer.

This year it was Dr. Seuss themed.  It made for a bit of a tight night.  K had the Literature and Arts Festival where she was playing in a harp recital and in a shoe fashion show (more on that in a minute) then moving on to swimming lessons at the local university.

Harp recital:  6:45 PM
Shoe Fashion Show:  7:00 PM
Swimming Lessons:  7:45 AM (about a 10 minute drive, park and walk.  About a 20 minute total time investment.)

I painted K's face with a Lorax mustache with pink swirl cheeks and pink eyebrows.  I gave her three unevenly placed hair knobbins with bright pipe cleaners swirling around them.  Her principal was laughing and calling her Cindy Lou Who.  :)  You see, I talked with her art teacher and asked if there was any way we could bump K close to the front of the shoe show so that we could scoop and run if it ran too long.  Sure!

She put her up front.

My baby up front with her Lorax boots.  Those would be her boots on the screen.  I loved that her art teacher took photos of them and put them on the screen so that everyone could see.  

Blurry, but you could get a little idea of those knobbins that I'm talking about.  

You can also see the face paint.  

The kids are on two-handed play with the harp now.  What a wonderful opportunity for her to be able to learn harp this year.  

What was funny is that we raced to swimming with her still in costume.  The students at the university kind of dug it.  She wore her bathing suit underneath all of it, so we could have her ready with clothes, but that left me to pull pipe cleaners out and the more difficult task of removing the paint.  I had baby wipes and had to kind of scrub at the paint.  We got her all ready with 5 minutes to spare!  :)

It's been a rough year.  I credit harp for pulling K through.  What a wonderful blessing in the storm of 5th grade we've had this year.

To all of the college students complaining that they have class during the cold spell.

From the local university where K takes swim lessons:

Closing the University because of low temperatures 

Rarely does the University close because of low temperatures alone.  

The safety of all students, faculty and staff is our primary consideration in determining if the campus should remain open. No other factors supersede that one. If we receive information that weather conditions, or any other risks, pose a significant threat to the safety of our campus community, we will act appropriately and immediately. 

We serve a different clientele than our colleagues in elementary and secondary education. Our students and employees are adults. They are capable of preparing themselves for inclement weather and for deciding if weather conditions and their own personal circumstances warrant altering their schedules because of the weather. 

Second, we offer a service for which its students pay directly. If we close, we temporarily deny that service to students – including the many who live on or near campus. So, if our observations and consultations indicate that conditions do not present an undue threat to the campus community, we are obliged to provide the service that we have promised to our students. In other words, our job is to keep the University open.

 I get it.  It's cold.

This is the e-mail we got yesterday afternoon from the Director of the Aquatics Program:

Bundle up, bring your hair dryer!  We will still have our Thursday night swim lessons as scheduled.  Stay warm, Diane

When I was in college, it was -25 F.  (That was PRIOR to the windchill being factored in.)  Kent was the ONLY school in the area NOT to close.  Did I complain?  No.  I suited up and went to class.

Did it kill me?  No.

Here's the thing, you ARE in college.  That means that you are an adult now.

You ARE in college.  Do you know how many people would love to BE in college, but can't afford it?

I was reading through the Twitter feed while I was watching my dear child swim back and forth.  College kids were complaining.

It's ridiculous.  The university isn't watching out for our safety.   

If I wasn't graduating this spring, I would go to a different college that cares about their students. 

We need to text and e-mail the professors to tell them that it is too cold for class.  If we all do it, then maybe they'll cancel on their own.

Really?  You are going to flood the e-mail and text of your professor to get them to cancel class?  :tip of the head in confusion:  Um, aren't you a big girl and big boy right now?

Suck it up.  Go to class.  Wear some more layers.  Leave more time.  Skip through from building to building like I did.  You'll survive.  Look at it as the Amazing Race, only with this one, you get a degree at the end.

Feeding the birds, travels through blizzard conditions, a trip to the pharmacy, being ID'd for shoe glue and other happenings.

The soundtrack you should be playing for this particular post would be Joseph Arthur.  :)  Just kidding.  It's just what I'm listening to while I write it.  I do highly recommend it if you haven't listened to it!  

Onward.

There have been busy weeks and days off for cold and all that.  

Last weekend, we traveled out to Alliance to hand feed chickadees at a park there.  We won't be giving free press to that particular park because the people working there had the personality of wallpaper paste.  It was much like the woman we encountered when we visited the NPS Johnstown Flood Memorial.  There are few parks we will NOT visit.  The few we have marked off the list are those with people who just don't care about the people visiting and helping them TO KEEP THEIR JOB.   My husband is a public servant and just doesn't understand why people can be so very crappy in that job.  He is thankful every single day that he has the job he has.  He knows that in this day and age of technology, he's a bit of a dinosaur that can easily be replaced by an app.  (Not in our eyes because he is truly VERY good at his job.  Still . . . ) 

At any rate, we tempted the thick layers of ice, hiked about 3/4 mile into the woods and found the site.  We didn't find the human handing out seed.  There were no signs.  It wasn't obvious to figure out what was going on.  We went into a little shack that they had and we may or may not have helped ourselves to the trash can of sunflower seeds.  We went out to start with the feeding and a somewhat disheveled woman, looking much like the bird lady from Mary Poppins, came up with a reused peanut butter jar of diced peanuts.  (I really though she'd say, "Tuppence a bag!")  Instead she said, "Oh, I see you brought your own seed!"  "Kind of."  

You have to stand still with your arm out.  It seems silly, but your arm starts to hurt rather quickly.

My girl had her handful.

M was the first with a visitor.  It turns out that he would be the only one of us.  Those chickadees are quick.  Not the greatest photo, but it's all I could do!

You see, there was a boy scout troop that came in ahead of us.  Now, this isn't to say anything against boy scout troops.  The boys do great things and can truly be wonderfully behaved.  These children were not those children.  They were loud.  They were running around.  They were throwing snowballs.  They scared all of the birds away.  In fact, we moved to the bridge to try to get away from them. 

My beautiful girl here trying to be patient.  Neither she or I corner the market on patience.  

In other news, these were hand-me-downs from my girl.  They are just slightly big on me.  I just figured this might the place I state that we can no longer share shoes.  Girlie wears an 8 1/2 and I wear a 6 1/2.  These happen to be Keens that run a half size small.  With thick socks, the 7 1/2's fit my feet just fine.  Still, girlie has such big feet!

I admit that we gave up.  K and I couldn't take the snowball fighting and screaming any longer.  I looked over at her and said, "If that were me, my mom would have beat my butt."  She smirked.  The ladies standing somewhat within earshot laughed and agreed.  

Yesterday was our 18th anniversary.  We had plans to go snowshoeing at The Wilderness Center.  We packed up the snowshoes.  We headed out.  People kept talking about how cold it was supposed to be.  We had planned for that.  What we hadn't planned for was this.  

The true white out photo is on my phone.  I had to stop a few times, put my hazards on and hope that no one hit us.  This photo is the same one as below.  They would come and in a minute or so, the white out would be gone.  Still, the driving was nasty.  

Add to that that we were in -- Amish County-- home to the unmarked 90 degree turns.

Oh, yes.  The 90 degree surprise turns about wiped us out.  The road suddenly disappeared.  "Where'd the road go?"  I asked M, then suddenly I found it.  "It's a curve!"  The traction alarm was going off.  We were sliding.  I was hanging onto the steering wheel with one hand, tempted to shift into neutral with my right.  My foot was on the break, but I didn't want to slam on it and cause it to be any worse. There was one very small, low arrow on a sign in the middle of the 90 degree turn.  Um, thanks for that.  I didn't want to shift into neutral because I thought the traction control wouldn't work.  It seemed like we were sliding for minutes, but truly, it was only seconds.  The traction control kicked in and stopped our sideways slide.  We weren't head first sliding.  Oh, that would be too easy.  we were sliding sideways across the turn with my drivers door clearly where the front end of my RAV should be.  She corrected it.  She pulled us all around.  She saved us from biting the ditch.  :shakes of the head:  Wow!  We did have a nice day and I was able to buy all of my spices in bulk.  I found that my spices were old and frankly, some were dead.  

Sunday brought us negative temperature weather.  I guess it got to -12 F last night.  What are my people doing today?  Oh, they are headed to the Columbus Zoo because it is free admission day.  :shakes of the head:  They wore so many clothes that K looked like Randy from A Christmas Story.  They promised to be down there for a few hours and to head back up before the storm hits.

I have a cold.  It isn't severe, but it's enough to make me feel a little funky.  Yesterday, we were stuck going to the Big Box of Blue.  M needed his cold drug of choice-- Advil Cold & Sinus.  I pop up and asked the pharmacy tech, "Can we get some Mucinex with that?"  "You have to purchase it separately with a different ID."  I told her that I understood.  She laughed and said, "Not that you guys look like you are a problem."  "We aren't.  I promise, I really do have a cold!  Besides, my teeth aren't rotting out of my face and my skin is surprisingly clear."  "Honey, you would be buying generic in the biggest box you could and would be faking a cough."  (To note, I bought the smallest box of Mucinex that they had.)  So we suited up with our cold remedies, K and I perused the leftover Valentine's items for Easter egg stuffings.  (I watch what I buy, but the kids don't care.)

M threw some shoe glue into the basket.  We were going as a line of ducklings towards the Kleenex.  M disappeared.  It's okay, because I had to stand and patiently wait for the tissue display.

There was a woman and her 9 year old daughter.  They had the entire display either blocked with the cart or the woman body blocking the rest of it as she dug through all of the boxes.  She looked up and saw me standing there.  I admit that a cold in combination with a delightful case of PMS may not have caused me to give her the loving look that our Lord would have preferred.  I think she was struck with a sick look combined with bewilderment.  "Oh, I just don't know why but I just had to dig through all of the designs!"  I reached over, grabbed the massive 4 pack and said, "Ma'am, I just need to wipe my nose."  Grant you, they are the marbly ugly Kleenex boxes, but I'm going through them so fast that it doesn't matter as long as the box doesn't empty out at the wrong time.

We went to the cash lane.  We obeyed the sign that talked about 20 items or less.  The girl flagged us and our basket over.  I was ID'd for the shoe glue.  "Are you 18?"  I laughed.  The gray streaks on the top of my head might suggest, but I told her, "I promise, we have shoes to repair.  No huffing at my house!"  She did laugh.  Just doing her job.  I get it.  She managed to somehow overcharge us for Airborne.  She caught it and charged us again.  She overcharged us by over $9.50.  She charged for 3 packages when we got 1.  Of course, I didn't find that out until we got to the car.  We schlepped everything back in.  They cheerfully refunded the money, but still . . . Rrrr.  I know, I know.  It's another reason of why I don't shop there.

K had a "snow" day on Friday for cold.  I think that they called that one too soon.  I envision another "snow" day for cold this week.  Never mind that they have today and Friday off anyhow.  I see Thursday being possible.  Who knows?

Finally, my husband handed me a bag of chocolate yesterday.  "No, really.  I bought this for you.  Please eat it.  If it runs out, I promise that I can buy you more.  Please.  Have chocolate."  Bless his heart.

Be warm!