I'll admit it, she made me laugh

As I've previously reported on here, I am very annoyed with Hannah's school lately for all the errors they send home. There was the technology newsletter with the seven typos and grammatical errors. There was the report card with the word "beginning" spelled wrong under the Writing category. There was the spelling test returned with a word spelled correctly but marked wrong and an incorrect spelling written in by the teacher. It's embarrassing. Additionally, I've also written about how unhappy I am with the new school principal this year.

Today Lincoln and I stopped by the school to view Hannah's Scrapbook Project. There is a presentation tomorrow but the kids and I will be on our way to Iowa so Link and I were able to go in a day early to look at Hannah's stuff. Today is also the day that the 2nd grade class does their Ellis Island Experience where they pretend like they're arriving at Ellis Island as an immigrant. It's actually a pretty neat thing that they do with the kids.

As Lincoln and I headed toward the main staircase at the school I noticed they had all the decorations up for the Ellis Island Experience. I also noticed that the sign above that same staircase (where they would be entering as immigrants) said "Stairsways to the Grand Hall". I turned to Hannah, who was walking in with us, and said "And they wonder why I don't think you're getting a quality education here."

When I got to work I emailed the principal the following message: Hey there. Just a heads up, for next year you might want to have the teachers print a sign that doesn't say "stairsways".

I will openly admit, her response made me laugh: Howdy,I don't suppose you'd buy into the idea that I put it there to see if you notice?! Kind of like a Where's Waldo....just a thought!

I mean seriously, this is getting ridiculous.

Consequences - or lack thereof

I have grave concerns about how the current generation of children are going to turn out once they reach adulthood. First there are the jumpless jump ropes so that uncoordinated kids don't get their feelings hurt. Then, of course, there are the trophies that every kid gets for participating in a sport. There is no such thing as MVP or Best Hitter or Highest Scorer anymore. They're all special. But this post isn't about coddling kids and being politically correct. This rant is about the lack of consequences.

Lincoln and I are fairly strict disciplinarians. If the kids do something wrong, they get in trouble. It's as simple as that. And if Hannah forgets her homework we tell her she has to live with the consequences.

And that's the problem.

There are no consequences.

Last Monday Hannah stayed home sick. Every Friday she has a spelling test. That gave her Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to study but she forgot to bring the list home every single day that week. Thursday night I asked her about it and she said she still hadn't brought home her list so I told her she'd have to take the test on Friday and deal with the consequences. She's pretty good at spelling so even having not studied she probably would have scored pretty high on the test but it was the principal of the matter and the idea that she'd have to take the test even if she wasn't ready.

Me: Hannah, how did your test go today?

Hannah: I didn't have to take it.

Me: What?

Hannah: The teacher said I didn't have to take it because I was out on Monday.

Me: Yeah, but you were there on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Hannah: I know. I told her I was ready to take it but she said I didn't have to and didn't give me the test paper.

What the hell?!?!

I happened to be chatting with a friend of mine right after Hannah and I had this discussion and I was telling her about it. She said that another friend of hers had a son who hadn't been turning in the weekly assignments all year. The teacher never called or emailed the mother about it until after the mother contacted the teacher after overhearing another student in the class talk about the assignment. The teacher just didn't make him turn them in but admitted to the mother when asked that it had been, in fact, a weekly assignment ever since the beginning of the year.

What are these kids going to grow up thinking? That life has no consequences? That everyone is special and will get awards just for breathing.

I'm sorry but that's bull shit. It's bad parenting. It's bad coaching. It's bad teaching. It's just overall bad news. We are going to be one seriously fucked up society when these kids are in charge.

I'm nothing if not honest

Yesterday morning I wrote a post about my meeting with the school principal. It was honest - brutally so - but nothing I wouldn't say directly to her face. When we met last month I told her that I thought she was doing a terrible job and that if it was up to me she wouldn't have a job next year. I also listed for her, by month, everything I thought she had done poorly since she started the job. I've never hidden my feelings from her.

But apparently some parent - who probably doesn't know me well and doesn't realize that I have said all this to her face - sent the principal a link to my blog. When I got up this morning there was an email from the principal that read: "Interesting blog....silly me.....I honestly believed you wanted to work together. I apologize for wasting your time."

Silly lady.

I won't cut and paste the entire email exchange that followed but here are the high points of what I told her:

• I never say anything here on the blog that I wouldn't say directly to the person I'm writing about.
• I've already told her that I think she has done a terrible job.
• I also said that I thought the meeting did go well until the end.
• I told her that I never said I didn't want to work with her, only that I wasn't going to let her steam roll over me like she did in October when she wanted stuff from the PTO.
• Finally, I told her that she can either continue to follow me on my blog or wait for whichever parent sent her the link to keep her updated. Or she could call me.

She wrote me back saying that she hadn't done it deliberately and it was an honest question as a result of me telling her Hannah was reading at a 3rd grade level in kindergarten.

It may have been. Who knows?

So I wrote back and told her that if that was the case I apologize but given her history over the past school year, she could probably see why I would be suspicious of her actions. I also told her that I can still work with someone I don't like and that I will probably continue not to trust her until she has earned that trust. I told her that I had given her the benefit of the doubt in the fact that I assumed some parent emailed her the link and not that she was Googling me. Then I asked when she wanted to get together for the meeting to show she was serious about working on a differentiated/gifted program for the school.

To which she sent - in my opinion, and only my opinion - a somewhat snotty (but obviously frustrated) response and ignored the request for a serious meeting about the topic.

So, to the parent that obviously reads this blog and sent her the link, feel free to let her know that I still don't like her, I still think she has done a bad job to date, and that I will still work with her on both improving school/parent communication and a differentiated/gifted program if she's serious about working on them as well.

Oh wait, I already told her all that myself.

If she only knew what she unleashed.....

Yesterday morning I met with the school principal. I have not made it a secret - most of all from her - that I think she has done a terrible job this year. This is only her first year at our school but man, this lady stinks as a principal. Last month the two of us got into it because she thought I didn't have enough respect for her and her position and I thought she was a sucky principal who works for the taxpayers and therefore should answer to the taxpayers.

It was a delightful conversation.

Anyhoo, since that "pull no punches" meeting she has actually been bending over backwards to get on my good side. One of the things I think she has failed miserably at this year is communication with the parents. She had the school go cold turkey switching over to paperless communication with the parents without having a good, effective paperless system in place and she wasn't willing to explore any other options or compromises. It was a nightmare. She knew that was a subject that I felt strongly about so she's been soliciting my opinions on how to make it better.

Yesterday was the meeting about communication and it was a very good meeting. We talked about different ideas of how we could improve the communication between the parents and the school while still staying with a paperless system. For the first time I thought I was going to walk out of a meeting with her without wanting to find the nearest bucket of tar and pail of feathers. (Yes, that's how much I dislike this woman.)

But then, five minutes before the end of that meeting, she hit me with a whammy.

My weak spot.

Hannah's intelligence.

She's a sneaky one. At the very last minute, knowing I had to leave at exactly 8:30 a.m. to make it to a doctor's appointment in Franklin, she threw out this little tidbit.

Mrs. S: "So, this is off topic but I wanted to get your thoughts on how the school is doing providing for kids who may be more advanced or need to be challenged more."

WTF?

That has been an issue of mine since Hannah was in kindergarten! The school spends millions of dollars each year - by state mandate - on the Special Education program but doesn't spend a single dime on a talented and gifted program. The previous principal would barely even let teachers break the kids into reading groups for those that are more advanced then others because it wasn't politically correct anymore to label kids as "average, advanced, or needs extra assistance".

So basically this principal was dangling my greatest dream for school change right in front of me. I think she had done a little extra research on me - not to mention I told her in our last contentious meeting how I felt about the SpEd funding - and decided to throw out that little tidbit to appease me. To make me think she's "on my side". But what she doesn't know about me is that once you give me an inch, I'll take a mile and a half!

She threw out that little nugget at the last minute so my response was:

Me: "We definitely don't have time for this now but I'd love to get together for another discussion soon. The short answer is: horrible. The school does a horrible job for those students. And here are a list of other parents that feel the same way. We'll be in touch for a meeting."

I think that surprised her so she started back-pedaling a little and said that it would be a great goal for us to work through next year in order to get something implemented the following year.

Me: "That's great but it won't help Hannah any. Now that you're open to this idea let's get a committee together this spring and summer to have something in place by the fall."

The look of fear in her eyes was priceless.

She obviously still doesn't know me very well.

Maybe we're worrying about the wrong things

Right now our school is in the middle of a big budget crisis. Maybe, instead of worrying about the budget, we should be worrying about the quality of the what we're currently paying for instead. Last December I was disturbed by the fact that the new Technology teacher sent home a newsletter with seven typos in the first article. Yesterday Hannah brought home her report card and under the "Writing" portion of the report card the school misspelled the word beginning. As in, "The student writes with a clear beginnig, middle and end."

Now I'm sure some would argue that if we had more money for the schools and the teachers weren't so overworked and underpaid then we'd have fewer mistakes like this in the school. I would argue that you can't ask for more money when you're currently giving us poor quality service. That's like the person at work who comes in late, leaves early, and takes a 3 hour lunch asking for a raise. Show us you deserve the money.

On the plus side, Hannah had another great report card. My favorite comment this term was "Hannah's comprehension skills are naturally strong due to her love for literature and varied taste in genres."

I have to admit though that Hannah getting high marks from a school that can't even spell the word beginning right is sort of like winning an "I Spy" game against a blind person.

The book that changed the course of my life

In June 1988 we moved from Decorah, Iowa to Lynnwood, Washington (a suburb of Seattle). I would be starting the 6th grade that September and my teacher was a woman by the name of Mrs. Whitlow. I was a little nervous since the neighborhood kids called her "Mrs. Witchlow" but being in that class changed my life and started the entire domino effect that got me out to Boston where I met Lincoln and had my wonderful family.

Every Friday afternoon Mrs. Whitlow would read us a chapter or two from a book. I only remember two of them - Carry On, Mr. Bowditch and Johnny Tremain - but those two would go on to be two of my favorite books of all time. Especially Johnny Tremain. I must have read that book at least 30 times in the past 22 years.

You're probably wondering how that book got me to Boston. If you've ever read the book you'll know that it's about a boy living in Boston in the time period leading up to the beginning of the American Revolution. Johnny becomes involved with the Sons of Liberty and participates in the Boston Tea Party among other pre-war activities. The book is beautifully written and ends with a personal reason for joining the war effort. The social and personalized aspect of the story is what intrigued me.

Two years later I had a great U.S. History teacher by the name of Mr. Kipping. He did a fantastic unit on the Battle of Lexington and Concord that made me fall in love with studying history. In 1995 I graduated high school and went to college where I majored in History. I've never been about the dates and hard facts regarding history. To me, the social impact of history is much more fascinating and I truly believe that stems from Johnny Tremain and my introduction to that book in the sixth grade.

After graduating from college I still had a fascination with the city of Boston and all the history here so I decided I would give living out here a try. I told myself I'd stay here for two years and if I didn't like it I could move somewhere else when those two years were up. Well, before those two years were up I was married and seven months pregnant with Hannah so I guess I made the right choice. As of this coming June I will have lived here for 11 years making Massachusetts my home state longer than any other state that I've ever lived in.

The reason all of this is going through my head today is that Hannah and I are about to start reading Johnny Tremain together for the first time. Her final photo essay isn't due until May but we're going to the reenactment of the Battle of Lexington this April to take her final photo for the project. Before we go I want to read Johnny Tremain to her.

I'll be honest, I'm a little worried. She's years younger than I was when I first read the book so maybe it will be a little over her head. What if she doesn't like it? What if she finds it boring? I don't need Hannah to like everything that I like but that book means the absolute world to me and I'll be devastated if she doesn't enjoy it. Maybe I'm just trying to relive what, to me, would have been the coolest thing in the world at her age. The idea that we can actually see history being reenacted in front of our very eyes.

I know that she is her own person and will have her own interests in life but I really, really, really hope she enjoys this experience. After that I'll let her get a tattoo, dye her hair pink, and date a boy named Rat. She just needs to enjoy this with her Mommy first. Deal?

Politically incorrect but at least I can jump rope

Jump ropes.

You would think that jump ropes would be a fairly innocuous subject but strangely enough it is quite the hot button topic around the local moms group lately. Apparently our school was mentioned on a local radio program in regards to the fact that our gym teacher, who is fantastic, occasionally uses ropeless jump ropes to teach the kids.

Yes, ropeless ropes. Before I dive into my feelings on the subject I'll share with you my conversation with Hannah.

Me: Hannah, what do you know about these ropeless jump ropes in gym class? Do you ever use them?

Hannah: You mean Jump Snaps?

Me: Uh, sure. Are those the jump ropes with no ropes?

Hannah: Yes.

Me: So, what are they used for?

Hannah: To practice jumping rope.

Me: But you're not really practicing jumping rope if there is no rope, right?

Hannah: I guess.

Me: So you're basically practicing jumping?

Hannah: Yeah, I guess.

Sooooo, yes, apparently our children are learning to jump rope without ropes. And this isn't because we don't have jump ropes. Or even that we can't afford jump ropes since apparently we can afford ropeless jump ropes which have handles with counters but no rope.

This is where I get a little politically incorrect.

WHAT THE HELL?

It's not jumping rope if there is no rope. The very definition of jumping ROPE is that you have to jump over a rope. But apparently some kids have their feelings hurt if they don't have the coordination to jump rope. And apparently it's better cardio for them if they don't get tripped up by the rope and have to keep stopping. I'll grant you that one but then just have them jump in place. Don't have them pretend to have a rope that they're jumping over.

And people wonder why the younger generation is so delusional.

Automatic response

Every day we ask Hannah how school was and she says "GREAT!" but never really gives us much detail. Today she didn't have school - I'm not sure why - but Jake did. Jake and I were in the kitchen and Hannah was in the next room playing on her computer.

Me (to Jake): How was school today?

Hannah (from the other room): GREAT!

Me: You didn't even go to school today. I wasn't talking to you.

Hannah: Oh, yeah....right.

Hannah's 2nd photo essay

Today we went into Boston for Hannah to complete her 2nd photo essay for the 3rd grade Massachusetts unit. Three times a year she has to take a picture of herself with a cultural or historical Massachusetts landmark. Last November we did the House of Seven Gables in Salem, MA and this time we did the Irish Famine Memorial in Boston. Hannah and I are reading a book about the Potato Famine right now so we figured that would be a good fit.

And then we took a cute picture of the two of us together....

Just what a daughter should be....a better me

When I was in elementary school at St. Ben's they had a Handwriting Hall of Fame. I wanted to be on that damn wall so bad but I could never master my lowercase cursive "r" to the teacher's satisfaction. Well guess who came home with a prize for great handwriting last week? Yep. Hannah.

I'll admit it, I was a little jealous.

Spelling tests

Every week Hannah has a spelling test at school. On Monday she comes home with two lists. The first list is comprised of that week's spelling words for everyone. They take a practice test for those words on Monday and if you pass that you get to do the second "advanced" list for the test on Friday. This is great in the fact that Hannah obviously has to know all the words in the first list AND the second list thereby expanding her vocabulary and spelling abilities. But you have to wonder about the poor kids who don't test out of the first list thereby not having to learn the second list of words. Do they never learn those words then? Aren't they being shortchanged a bit?

For example, the main list for this week includes the words germ, stage, cage, huge, large, and age. The second list includes the words pigeon, pageant, refrigerator, scavenger, and sausage. There is a huge difference as you can see.

What a smart kid

Last week Hannah had one of her hardest spelling lists so far this year and I'll be honest, I didn't help her with it once. Lincoln may or may not have gone over it with her earlier in the week but with all that was going on Wednesday with Nate, and then of course his death on Thursday, no one helped Hannah with her homework last week. She brought home her spelling test early this week and she had received a perfect score plus the three bonus words that they don't get to know in advance.

These were her words:

rubble
fennel
appendix
parallel
approximate
scatter
copper
dollar
brother
cellar
zipper
commercial
happening
better
tunnel

Bonus words:

effort
effective
pepperoni

Something fishy

I am not a fan of our new school principal. To those of you that know me I have not made it a secret that I think she is doing a poor job and should be run out of town on a rail. Preferably covered in tar and feathers. Someday I'll get into the details of my issues with her but right now it's not worth the carpal tunnel that would be incurred by typing that much information. Let's just say that in my opinion she is evil and leave it at that.

My issue tonight is actually with the new Technology teacher. Here's the thing. She wasn't the new technology teacher until about 2 weeks ago. Before that she was the new part-time Dean of Students. She replaced the previous Dean of Students who was absolutely wonderful and should have been the new principal. No one told the parents that there was a new Dean of Students. It was never announced like the hiring of the new principal. I thought it was strange that she didn't show up to the first PTO meeting of the year which would have been a great time to introduce herself. It was like she was the Dean of Students that wasn't, if you know what I mean.

About two weeks ago the school district had to make some serious budget cuts. Apparently our part-time Dean of Students was also the part-time Technology teacher at the other elementary school. All of a sudden our current Tech teacher was out and the mysterious Dean of Students was in as a part-time Tech teacher at both schools and now there is no Dean of Students. I honestly don't care that she's no longer the Dean of Students because it wasn't like she was doing anything anyway as far as I can tell. The old Dean of Students used to be in charge of Character Education but that was gotten rid of this year in favor of expanding Tech to all grade levels so, really, what the hell was she doing?

But I digress....

This woman is supposed to be teaching our children and when she sent home her first communication to the parents this evening, in the form of a Technology Newsletter, there were seven typos in the first article alone. Three of them were in the first paragraph. Seriously??? This woman is in charge of teaching our children? I sent her a very snotty email questioning why we should entrust our children to her when I can't even figure out how she got her degree in the first place. I probably shouldn't have sent it - and even Lincoln was surprised I sent such a snotty email - but there is seriously something fishy going on over at the school lately. Why would you hire a Dean of Students that didn't do squat only to move her into a teaching position - thereby replacing a very qualified teacher - when she can barely write her own name? I'm surprised she didn't misspell that.

What the heck is going on over at that school and how do we fix it?

Hannah's Report Card

Hannah received her first report card of the third grade yesterday. As usual she did very well and received very high marks in almost all areas. The only thing she got marked down on were the incredibly hard scholastic areas of organization, following directions, and paying attention. I guess she can't have it all, right?

She received exceptionally high marks in science which really impressed me since I'm not a science person myself.

House of Seven Gables

In 3rd grade this year Hannah has to do three photo essay assignments on the state of Massachusetts. At three different intervals throughout the year she has to go to a place of historical significance in Massachusetts, take a picture of herself, and write a short paper on why it is significant, what activities you can do there, and what she learned. Her first one is due next week so we headed up to Salem today and visited the House of Seven Gables.

I know Salem is best known for the Salem Witch Trials but that seemed a little morbid for the kids so instead we visited the House of Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne's house, and some additional sites significant to the history of Nathaniel Bowditch. Hannah and I are reading the book Carry On, Mr. Bowditch together so that was really our reason for picking a visit to the House of Seven Gables (he has a loose tie to the house).

We all had a fantastic time. The weather was a bit chilly and incredibly windy but it was very sunny. We did a lot of walking and the kids enjoyed touring the House and going up the secret staircase behind the fireplace. The House of Seven Gables is definitely something I would recommend if you ever come to visit Massachusetts.

Our smart little cookie

Thursday night we had Hannah's parent/teacher conference at school. I never know what to expect with these things because you go in thinking you'll hear one thing and you hear the complete opposite. It's not that Hannah has ever had a bad parent/teacher conference, just that Lincoln and I walk out of there sometimes asking ourselves "Was she talking about our kid?"

This year we got a lot of great feedback from the teacher. I was really glad when Hannah was assigned her teacher for this year because Mrs. W is the teacher that helped us out when Hannah was in kindergarten and her actual teacher did absolutely nothing for her. Kindergarten was a bad year in the fact that Hannah had a horrible teacher. She did nothing to challenge Hannah or keep her interested in school when the rest of the class was doing stuff Hannah could have done in her sleep. After months and months of trying we finally managed to get Hannah tested to prove to the teacher that Hannah needed more challenging work. At the kindergarten parent/teacher conference the teacher told us Hannah was "average" but when we finally managed to get her tested months later she was reading at a high 2nd grade / early 3rd grade level. Considering some of the kids could barely spell their names in kindergarten she was decidedly NOT average. Mrs. W was the teacher that administered the reading test to Hannah and when we met with the principal, the school psychologist, and Hannah's kindergarten teacher Mrs. W was the only person in the room - other than us - that was fighting for Hannah and pointing out how smart she is and how much potential she has. I have tremendous respect for Mrs. W and am so glad that Hannah is in her class this year.

Back to this year's parent/teacher conference.

Thursday night we met with Mrs. W and she said that she was surprised at how hard it was to pull work out of Hannah at the beginning of the year. She knew what Hannah was capable of but wasn't seeing it during the first few weeks but that between the beginning of the year and now Hannah has really matured with her level of writing and is banging out work that is very impressive. This is also the first year the kids have to take the MCAS which are the standardized tests that every kid has to take. I had the Iowa Basic Skills test as a kid, Hannah has the MCAS. Anyway, the big test is in May but the teachers are already prepping the students for what to expect. Mrs. W proudly showed us one of Hannah's practice tests where Hannah was the only student in the class to get the right answer now and not months from now. In other words, she could probably take the MCAS now and do just fine.

We also talked with Mrs. W about Hannah's tendency to be fairly scatterbrained and to make silly mistakes in her work because she doesn't go back and check things. School comes so easily to Hannah and 9 times out of 10 her work is probably right the first time so she just assumes it's right and doesn't double check herself. It's stupid mistakes like that that drive me crazy. The other thing we discussed with the teacher is the fact that we think there should be consequences if students don't do their homework. The other day I discovered that Hannah hadn't finished some of her homework and since she was running out the door to catch the bus it was too late to do anything about it and she'd have to live with the consequences of her actions. Of course after thinking about it I realized that these days there really are no consequences for things like that at school. Some parents get so up in arms about you disciplining their child - even something as basic as keeping them in at recess - that they threaten to call the school board and have the teacher fired. It's ridiculous. Those are the kids whose parents will be following them to college and demanding the professor give their little pumpkin a good grade. It makes me sick.

But I digress....

We told the teacher that Hannah absolutely should have consequences to deal with if she forgets her homework and the teacher did say that it has become a huge problem because more and more students are not doing their homework so now the kids will actually have to stay in from recess. I was happy to hear that but doubtful it will last long. Like I said, parents are a bunch of whack jobs these days and one idiot parent ruining their child through lack of discipline will try to ruin all of our children so their child looks less stupid.

Anyway, overall it was a great parent/teacher conference and I'm glad that Hannah has Mrs. W although I would like to see her doing a little more to challenge Hannah. She has assigned Hannah and another student a 5th/6th grade level book to read but other than that Hannah has no special homework or anything more challenging then what the other kids are doing. That is something that makes me a little nervous but we just try to keep a close eye on Hannah and make sure she's happy and working to the best of her ability. We don't want to push Hannah too hard but we also don't want to let her slack off just because things come easily to her. It's a delicate balance and definitely one we struggle with as parents.

Ahhh....parenting. Never a dull moment.

Descendants of a Mayflower passenger

As I've stated on this blog before, I find it incredibly cool that Lincoln and the kids can trace their lineage back to the Mayflower. Next week Hannah and her classmates will be taking a field trip to Plymouth Plantation and the Mayflower. A few years ago Lincoln's Aunt Elaine and Uncle Russell gave us the documentation showing the family lineage back to Peter Brown, one of the 41 signers of the Mayflower Compact in 1620, so I put together a little sheet for Hannah to show exactly how she is connected to someone who actually came over on the Mayflower. A picture of the document is below but this is what it says. As she read it I think she was a little bored at first until she hit the part about Robert Snow and then she got really excited. She's excited to take this to school with her tomorrow and show her teacher. And yes, it's written as one long run-on sentence but I did that on purpose.

Hannah Snow and the Mayflower

Peter Brown and his wife Mary had a daughter named Rebeckah Brown who married William Snow II and had a son named Joseph Snow who married Hopestill Alden and had a son named Jonathan Snow who married Sarah Soule and had a son named Samuel Snow I who married Deborah Tinkham and had a son named Samuel Snow II who married Elizabeth "Betty" Perkins and had a son named Martin Snow who married Lydia Hayes and had a son named Alden Snow who married Pamilia Rolph and had a son named John Snow who married Ella Pease and had a son named Frank Snow who married Evie Fuller and had a son named Phillip Snow who married Emily HANNAH Johnson and had a son named Robert Snow who is otherwise known as Grandpa. He married Gail Wright (otherwise known as Grandma) and they had a son named Lincoln Snow who Hannah calls Daddy. He married Diane Lentz (commonly referred to as Mommy and they had a daughter named....

Hannah Grace Snow

Peter Brown, one of the 41 signers of the Mayflower Compact in 1620 and a passenger on the Mayflower, is Hannah's Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Grandpa.

Update: email conversation between myself and the principal

HER RESPONSE:

Hi Diane,

Thank you for your email. At the elementary level, we will implementing the regular curriculum on September 8th. My understanding is that courses that address current events, at the secondary level, will be more apt to show the president's speech on Tuesday. I intend to view the speech and incorporate the message of setting goals and hard work in my "assemblies" with the students on Thursday.

Mrs. S.

MY RESPONSE:

Thank you for your response. I'm disappointed that you're not showing it to at least the older grades because last year the kids were actively engaged in the presidential election - including a mock election and writing essays on what they would do as President - and I think this would be a good opportunity for them to see more about the presidency and its impact on America at a level that they could understand. I fully intend to watch this with Hannah at home on YouTube but unfortunately the content of this message won't be reaching the students at Memorial who might need this most. If parents fail their students the school should be there to fill in the gap. I fear that in this incidence both the parents and school may be failing our children.

I realize that this issue is a landmine of political sensitivity since so many parents are objecting to its content based merely on the messenger and not the message itself, and that there really hasn't been time to get the approval of the parents, but I think that the video should be given, at bare minimum, review and consideration to be aired for the children at a later date with the grade appropriate discussion.

diane

Her air guitar needs a LOT of work

When we went school shopping last weekend Hannah purchased two very similar shirts. One she wore yesterday for the 1st day of school and the other one she wore today. She obviously enjoyed her "rock star" self yesterday so she decided she wanted to do it again today - including the photo op by the apple tree. The two of us trekked down to the apple tree this morning and then started walking back up the driveway.

As we were walking up the driveway Hannah started doing this goofy little jog and then would randomly stop and say "Pose!". It was absolutely hilarious. Here are a few pictures that I took when I was walking up the driveway behind her. Then I decided to run ahead of her and take a video. It is absolutely priceless.



She is such a ham in front of the camera which is why Lincoln and I were both so surprised that she didn't want to be in the HBO special.

Not a good start to the year (subtitled: THIS is why we call her scatterbrained)

This morning was the first day of school and Hannah had a lot of stuff to take with her in her backpack. On top of her usual school supplies she also needed to take a check for lunch tokens and a note for her teacher regarding her bus schedule.

Me: Okay, here is a check for lunch tokens. When you get to school you go directly to the cafeteria and then take them directly back to your backpack. You don't play with them. You don't show them to anyone. Got it?

[Side note: Hannah has lost her lunch tokens in the past because she gets distracted walking back to her classroom from the cafeteria.]

Hannah: Okay.

Me: And here is a note for your teacher. When you put the tokens in your backpack take the note out and give it to her. The check and the note are in the same pocket. The same pocket where you'll put your tokens.

Hannah: Okay.

Me: Here is your lunch box with your snacks in it. Because your bag is full of school supplies it won't fit in the backpack. Make sure when you get off the bus you have your lunch box AND your backpack. Don't forget!

Hannah: Okay.

Me: Because I know how you are. You're going to get excited when the other kids get on the bus and you'll be talking and gabbing and get all excited and you're going to walk off without it.

Hannah: I won't.

Me: Okay.

(We go over all of this about 2 or 3 more times in different versions of the same conversation before heading over to catch the bus at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Before we drive over we have a discussion whether or not she needs a sweater and SHE decides she doesn't want to wear one.)

Me: Okay, the bus will be here in a minute. What's the first thing you're going to do when you get off the bus?

Hannah: Make sure I have my sweater!

Me (exasperated): That would be great except you didn't take a sweater today.

This is not getting 3rd grade off to a good start.....