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.

This is a total lunar eclipse. I wish I

For all you who read my frustrated comment about school last week, know that aside from a hectic schedule, things are going really, really well now. Ethan and Mary started at a charter school, and while it’s an inconvenient distance from our house, it’s great to have the kids come home with their minds fully charged. They don’t stop talking about their funny Spanish teachers, or the crystals in science class, or the stories their teachers read.

Just before Ethan went to bed last night he told me he’s going to ask his teacher if she can make the math a little harder. I think she won’t mind him asking, and I think he knows it too. Just before he closed his eyes he said, “I love school.” What a difference!! And Mary loves it too. There’s nothing more exciting for me than seeing my kids so excited about learning. Except maybe a total Solar eclipse. Here’s hoping we’ll get to watch it together — maybe even with their own kids — in 2045

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.

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.

My kid’s teacher was taught, like most early childhood ed majors, to grossly underestimate smart kids. I left our first meeting being told that experts agree kids his age simply can’t read and quantify like an older child, even if he appeared to be doing so — he was simply adapting to a pushy parent. So started a bit of a bad year for my kid and me.

Once his teacher asked the class to draw pictures to represent 5, so they could begin to associate the number symbols with actual quantities. Ethan drew a big 5 and called it good. His teacher came by and said, “No, I don’t want you to just write a 5. I need you to make something that means 5.” Not a problem for my kid. Three strokes later and his picture did indeed mean five. It now said “10-5″ — so much for kids not quantifying!

On another occasion, I’d asked his teacher for a level up on the books he was bringing home. He was able to read somewhere on a 2nd grade level before he started school, so the beginning phonics books were a major turn off. His teacher, though, was certain that he wasn’t really ‘reading’ and comprehending, and that if he was bored with the books, he should be writing a sentence about every book rather than trying to move up a level — an assignment Ethan truly despised.

I was sorry to burst his bubble one afternoon as he came skipping out with a new book called “School” that didn’t have any words at all. “And with no words, I don’t need to write a sentence, right?” Wrong. He was not happy in the least. I told him to jut try to think of something to write so he could just get it over with as soon as we got home. He stared out the window as though he’d not heard me at all. And then, just as we were leaving the parking lot, I heard him mutter, “I hate school.” Now how is the mother of a kindergarten supposed to respond to such a statement? I asked a question. “Why do you say that?” Without breaking his stare out the window, he grumbled, “Because it’s a sentence.”

This child who’d previously been simply thrilled to start school, had done a 180. I talked to his teacher; she said she didn’t see anything wrong, and besides, she had enough work to do with the kids who were struggling. I talked to the principal – hoping maybe she’d offer to let him attend later-grade academics in the afternoon. She made some suggestions to the teacher, who enriched the lessons a bit and moved a bully off his table, and I backed off and started registering for charter schools. Ethan, meanwhile, became less and less enchanted with learning.

Until we got this laptop.

It’s small, it’s light. And its cheap. Ubuntu, if you haven’t heard, is a slick little version of Linux that installs fast, runs well, is easy to use, and doesn’t cost a dime. Plus you’ve got open source alternatives for most software you’d need on a windows or mac anyway. You can find out a bit more about ubuntu on Zareason’s video page. And you don’t even need a new computer. I plan on formatting my desktop for this. Let me know if you’d like the install CD and I’ll happily — and legally — make you a copy.

Beryl’s wiggly windows thrill their socks off. I’d originally bargained with Zareason for a desktop, and when they offered a laptop, I was going to use the smaller lighter one to make getting around town a bit easier while working. But the kids fell in love. It started with the open source version of Othello, and Ethan’s finding that it was actually pretty hard to beat. Then he found the other games. Then he found how to make new documents and started writing little documents, like, “Ethans Favorite Foods” and “The cost of a Wii” which he plans on turning into a webpage . He found the Ubuntu version of ‘calc’ to be terribly exciting — Friday he figured out that 11,111 multiplied by itself equals 123,454,321 — “It’s a Palindrome!” We found an online kids dictionary that will let you search phonetically, and an online typing tutor. When Ethan called me in last night to show how he’d “Kicked Can” on Othello, I knew I had my son back.

kicking can on lagno

And if Ethan’s not using the laptop, my sweet little Mary is. I couldn’t be more thrilled.

What a coincidence that I met first met Cathy, one of the founders of Zareason, when we were working together on a learning-portal project for the One Hundred Dollar Laptop Project “OLPC” (One Laptop per Child). At the time, I thought it was a great idea, but I can’t say I was truly converted to the idea till now. And while I’m not up anymore on how the OLPC project is going, I do know Asus will sell a sweet little system this fall that runs roughly $200 which I think Zareason will be distributing if all goes well. Cheaper than a gaming console — and oh what fun.

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.” Ethan’s other quip isn’t as cute, in fact it has me a little worried. Ill share it anyway hoping someone out there can identify. He just finished “Sideways Stories from Wayside School” from the public library, but he’s only allowed to choose books from the kindergarten shelf on libary day. Frankly, he gets a little frustrated with the arrangement. I talked to his teacher about this, and she said that she can’t allow him to choose more advanced books, and also that his writing isn’t nearly as advanced as his reading. She suggested we challenge him by having him write a sentence about each book he reads. He’s not so excited about that, either.

The other day he got out of school pleased as punch that he’d checked out a book called “School” that has no words at all. I said, “Well, you’re going to have to think of a sentence to write about it anyway… why don’t we try to think of one now so you can write it when you get home?” I quelled his protests with a short pep talk on how he’d like it once it was easy for him, and how it’d be really easy for him soon if he just practiced a little. He sat looking out the window, silently sulking for a moment or two as we pulled out of the parking lot, till I heard him mutter under his breath, “I hate school.”

I tried not to flinch. Not quite knowing how to respond or what to do, I asked, “Why did you say that?” Without breaking his stare out the window, he grumbled, “It’s a sentence!” We’re working on that. Some days go better than others.

Anyway, I’ve still got one kid excited about writing (at least till she reaches kindergarten, eh?). Here’s that promised picture of her curly handwriting.

Translation from this cutie

One more strange kid story added 2/5/7 :
Mary had something in her eye (carpet fuzz more likely than not) and was hysteric about it. After checking to see if I could get it out (I couldn’t even see it) I told her to blink alot. I even gave her an eye drop, and between that and the blinking she felt better in a minute.

Mary: Ah that feels better now.
Ethan: Why do we blink?
Me: Why do you think we blink? (my standard answer to almost any question is ‘what do you think?’)
Ethan: I dunno, you tell me.
Me: Well, it helps your eyes to stay clean and wet. (they stare in wonder) Yup, did you know our eyes have to stay a little bit wet?
Ethan: Noooo, I didn’t.

And now for the Mary-ism: I guess that means we can’t kiss with our eyes in igloos, either.

I’m always amazed how little minds can go a mile a minute in so many different directions :-p