Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Summer has Begun


School is finally out! I'm sure that my kids can hardly believe this day has come. It's a happy day for the kids, but a very sad day as well. As of today, ten teachers are leaving the school, many after years and years of dedicated service. I've never seen so many tears on the last day of school. There are two sides to every story, and I've only heard the side of the teachers. I can't imagine how the principal can spin these departures, but she is the queen of spin so I'm sure she's already thought of something. But many parents have thought of something, too. I never realized how much work it would be to send kids to school. Homework, PTA events and meetings, concerts, parties, classroom volunteering... I had no idea that one day I would have to take on a school principal.

Now onto entertaining two boys for the summer and one 5 lb puppy. Currently the puppy is trying to make mincemeat of my flipflop while my son chases him around the house. He has ripped a hole in the back of one of his little toys and put teeth marks on the legs of my buffet. The strength of this little guy is astounding. He just picked up my running shoe!
We have no solid plans for the summer aside from vacation bible school, one art class and lots of time at the pool. I guess we'll enjoy each other. This is my first summer home with my boys and I'm not really sure how it's going to work. Will I really get them to practice instruments and do math workbooks? Will they read? Will they write? Am I fantasizing? I guess we'll see.
The dog is pictured in this post. The flowers in my other posts are from my garden. I got a very nice camera for Mother's Day so I can finally take some decent pictures of my gardens. The gardens are not really that impressive but they sure do look good when you take a picture of a very small part of them.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Monica and Other Stuff


By now, you must have heard of Monica Emmerson. She's the woman who had a hissy fit at Reagan National airport because she felt the rules about liquids were "stupid." What makes this story a little more interesting is that Monica is a former Secret Service Agent. What makes it even more interesting is that Monica, who can be seen on a TSA video posted on the internet, vigorously walking around while pushing a stroller and pulling a suitcase, clearly angry, bending, stooping, lifting her child, left the Secret Service because of back problems. Note to Monica: you should be more careful about the location of your hissy fits. They may mess up your personal fleecing of America.


My oldest son is enjoying his first season on the neighborhood swim team. I know I'm his mom, but he is a very handsome boy. He's tall with big brown eyes, short curly hair, and a kind disposition. And he's currently a 4th grade babe magnet. Exhibit A: girl down the street who told him she gets a funny feeling when she's near him and her mother said it was love. (Her mother never said anything of the sort but Exhibit A felt it made her claims more valid.) Exhibit B: girl on the swim team who follows him around pinching his little tuschie. This is my tuschie for pinching and I'm not really willing to share it with little girls at this time. Exhibit C: classmate who followed him from one side of the lunch table to the other for two weeks straight. This is a lot of attention for my very subdued child. It's also a lot for me to deal with. I'm not ready for puppy love at the age of 10, unless it's an actual puppy.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Hot Day


Today is the 3rd to last day of school in Howard County, MD. I guess it's a good thing that there is only a half day of school today. It's going to be a scorcher. Yes, there are still two days left of school here. You are very astute to notice that. Most other school districts in the area are done, but not us. Our poor kids have to suffer through 3 half days of school with antsy classmates and teachers who cannot be blamed for being more than ready for school to be over.




I have to wonder the logic of finishing the year with 3 half days. They count as full days because lunch is served, but virtually nothing academic is done (my son's 4th grade teacher did assign homework.) These extra days were necessary because of snow days taken in February. If you live in Maryland or have ever been here in the winter you know we can get substantial amounts of snow, but it never lasts long. There are nights it can snow 6 inches and everything will be gone by 3:00 the following afternoon. Our schools tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to cancelling school. There have been days when school was cancelled yet all the snow had melted by 10:00 am.


Days could have been made up earlier in the school year by eliminating teacher work days and shortening Spring break from 6 school days to 5 or even 4. Kids in Howard County currently start school in the last week of August and finish in the middle of June. I recall being finished with school in the first week of June and starting again after Labor Day. And we had a two week Winter Break.


I know there are many objectives to be taught, but our children still need to be kids and have fun with their families. I'd be happy with a slightly longer school day if that would mean a slightly shorter school year.