Posts Tagged ‘school’

I heard on the news that I’d be able to see a total lunar eclipse at about 4am my time. Given that the sky was clear then, and every other time we’ve completely eclipsed the moon it’s been too cloudy to see anything, I had to watch it.

And then I had to decide whether I wanted to wake up the kids so THEY could see it too. Wouldn’t a good mother rather make sure they get a full night’s rest so they can concentrate in school? Well, I am not that kind of mom, so I had them awake for just about an hour between 3:30 and 4:30.

While we watched the eclipse we talked about eclipses, as well moon phases, and planets, the universe, the milky way, what makes the moon shine, what makes the sun work… and dozens of other topics there in the dark. Ethan saw a shooting star, and Mary, queen of out-of-the-box thinking, observed that the fully occluded moon looked just like the cookies daddy had burned that night. (more…)

Yes, it’s a stupid title, and at the moment I’m mad at myself for the stupid title AND for losing essay I’d typed to explain it. So I’ll leave it at this, and if you want an earful just ask me and I’ll rant away. Here’s the gist of the story, and you can quote me:

There are too many teachers who, when told by a parent that a child is bright, will make it their quest to prove that parent wrong.

-Edit

I got this resolved for the most part I hope. Met the kids new charter school teachers and they both seem nice (even one of the public school teachers seems nice enough) so .. here we are. We’ll see what happens.

This spring I did a little site and logo work for the owners of Zareason, a provider of some great open source / open hardware, primarily selling ubuntu desktops and laptops as well as linux servers. On our second project together, we decided to do a work trade — my work for a new Ubuntu laptop for my kids.

And oh, what a difference that system has made. My kids have always been smarties, but once Ethan started kindergarten he got a bit burned out on… well, everything. Whether its was boredom or the frustration of trying to fit the mold he’d been pushed into, he’d definitely lost his spark. Maybe a little background would help? Bear with my rant, or skip to the part on Ubuntu.
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Parents have a right to tell stories about their funny kids, so I have to do it every now and then. Bear with me.

Mary’s anxious to learn how to write, but more often than not, her only examples of manuscript are notes I’ve jotted in cursive. Even when I’m -trying- to print for my kids, I have a hard time keeping the letters in block. So she’s decided that pretty handwriting’s got to have curls. While the results would definitely not win points for readability, I do think I’ve got a future fontographer on my hands. (I’ll include a scan at the end of the article so you can see what I mean)

Ethan, tragically, seems to have lost his spark since starting school. He’s annoyed that his kindergarten teacher demands initial caps followed by lower-case on his name, as he’s been writing ETHAN forever. We were starting to fill out valentines for his class, when I asked, “Ethan, remember… Which letters in your name are supposed to be capitalized?”

He sighed: “There aren’t any I’s in ‘Ethan’, Mom.” (more…)