Waiting for Guffman

We put Jacob's name in for lottery at two charter schools for next year.  He was wait-listed at both - 5th slot for Montessori and 2nd for the Environmental Academy.  I realize there is a decent chance that he'll be accepted at one - those aren't bad spots (I heard of one person who was 136th for the Classical school - yikes, but another who was 8th at Montessori and didn't get in last year).  But I don't like to wait and don't like the idea that we won't know until August even.

I know it's not the worst thing ever to stay at our home school, too.  For his part, we didn't even tell Jacob we applied for him to transfer schools.  I don't know if that's a good thing or not.  We weren't sure he would get in either school and therefore didn't want him bothering to think about it if it wasn't going to happen.  We can cross that bridge if we need to - and hopefully we need to.

When we spend one and a half hours on a hated, district-mandated writing assignment and aren't given the option to challenge him in the areas that he is interested in (math and science) - I'm a frustrated parent.  Add the perpetual annoyance of opening Allison's assignment notebook each day.... too bad Brian and I agree we wouldn't be good homeschoolers.

Indoor Soccer - YMCA Style

Jacob is currently playing in two indoor soccer leagues.  The first one is at an actual indoor soccer field with several teams of kids who play nothing but soccer all year long.  On the other hand, Jacob's team does nothing but show up on Monday nights, play the game, and go home.  All things considered, they aren't too bad - maybe 50/50. 

The second soccer league (pictured) is at the YMCA, where recreation is key.  The funny part about playing at the Y is that a giant curtain forms one "wall" and a row of parents in chairs form the other wall.  Balls hit both with a similar thud/drop/stop in place.  Also the goal is small and scoring is more a matter of luck than skill.  In this league, too, they are about 50/50.  BTW - you can always find Jacob on any soccer field because of his day-glo socks.

A few things I miss

There are a few things I miss about my pre-parenthood life.

1) going to the bathroom without being interrupted
2) taking a shower without being interrupted
3) eating food in a non-kitchen room
4) taking a guilt-free nap
5) taking a nap
6) watching non-kid TV shows before 9pm
7) so much less cleaning....

"C" is for "Clearly not C"

I worked the Book Fair at Allison and Jacob's school today.  I chose a time when the students would be in to fill out their wish lists - because usually I work when NO ONE comes in.  Two hours sitting in an elementary school library with nothing to do is two hours too many.

Anyway, not the point of my story.  I clearly just want some kudos for doing a little volunteer work.  :)

While I was in there, a group of fourth graders came in for small group math.  They were led by an LD aide (learning disabilities).  They are learning fractions in fourth grade now - something that Allison seems to have a strong grasp of.... it's weird what math she totally gets (fractions) and what goes right over her head (area/perimeter).  Anyway, the group did not include Allison.

They started discussing math, but not "math" like "how do I solve this math problem" but math, like, "well, we can clearly see the answer to this problem is not 'C' because there is a 10 in the problem and answer 'C' would only work if there were a 100 in the problem."  They were learning math test taking strategies.

So - tell me this - is the plan for students who qualify for additional "help" in math, getting only the tips and tricks to answering math multiple choice tests?  They aren't actually learning any more MATH?  Sure - it LOOKS like they've learned more math because they do better on tests and, one could argue that they are learning "logic" which is helpful for math.... but really?!

Here's a better idea - teach the MATH - and they will do well on the math tests.  If you know the MATH - you don't need to know how to eliminate multiple choice answers based on the parameters of the problem.  Know why? - because you would have the ANSWER.  Shocking!! 

Food!

Allison's eating again!!  Apparently, you need the right type of motivation.... girl scout cookies.

After downing nearly half a sleeve of thin mints, Allison moved on to two packages of EasyMac and crackers today.

Proof again that Mom's patience is not nearly enough, as I've been trying to push food on her for.... oh.... at least a week.  As if in 10 YEARS I have not yet learned that she does things when she wants to and not one moment sooner and only with the proper motivation. 

The Homosexuality Belt Loop

Ok - my third post on boy scouts!!  I had an interesting "word on the street is" conversation with the Pack Master for Jacob's cub scout troop.  You know how the BSA punted on the whole "gay issue" last month - well, they've promised a decision by May.  The most likely decision is that they will add "or sexual orientation" to the list of things that the scouts don't discriminate against.  Woo Hoo!  Three.Words.

But not so fast - Jacob's scout pack is chartered by a local Christian radio station which is planning to pull their sponsorship if/when the scouts change the mission statement.  No joke.  I guess they've really scaled back their support since women began taking leadership roles in the organization - because "women belong in the home, not out teaching boys how to be men."  And they don't support girl scouts because of their "feminist agenda."  OMG - the 1850's called, they want their guy back.

So (a) they may be able to take their pack elsewhere, (b) they may be able to create a new pack, (c) the BSA might not change the mission statement, or (d) the pack would dissolve.

Some families will also drop out of scouts entirely if the BSA changes the mission statement and the pack finds a new sponsor.  Because - you know - the next thing will be introduction of the homosexuality belt loop where you have to experiment with all sexual orientations before getting your Arrow of Light.  You heard it here first.

Seriously, don't get hysterical people, accepting different sexual orientations does not suddenly make the boy scouts a gay recruiting organization.  (at least, any more than it was - LOL) 

But the crux of the problem is apparently the pressures on the BSA between two competing interests - corporations (which give the Boy Scouts lots of money and don't like the bad press on the LGBT issue) and The Church of the Latter Day Saints (which apparently makes up HALF of the membership of Boy Scouting in the US, and doesn't like LGBT people).  Yeah - HALF!!

So - I said I'd totally help them find a new sponsor for the pack if they needed to  - even though I'm not at all invested in this scouting business.  Because the current stance is just BS.  And I'm sure there are some religious (or not), tolerant organizations, who would like to be involved in a more inclusive BSA.

Asian Ben

Ha - I can't believe I'm going to post this.  So - you might have noticed that Jacob's boy scout ceremony lacked something.... let's call it Diversity.  A recent foray into disability literature has gotten me thinking more about something I used to dismiss.  Besides, social economists found that increasing diversity without discussion doesn't lead to more tolerance.... in fact without talking about the meaning of diversity, "diversity for diversity sake" tends to decrease tolerance - as kids tend to break things into neat categories - "like me/not like me." 

But let's set that all aside and say we can only teach by example, which is why I've got to quit saying "Asian Ben."  Granted, this is a Cub Scout den in Northeast Wisconsin - it doesn't scream Diverse to begin with.  Then Jacob had three Ben's in his den of 11-ish last year.... and you can see where this is going.  I needed a quick Ben reference and the Soccer Ben / Asian Ben system was born.  Though I must say, we never said it in front of the kids - I guess we knew it probably wasn't the best to begin with.

There is a movement within the disability community to use "people first" language.  You are a "person with autism" much like you'd be a "person with cancer."  You shouldn't say "she is autistic" anymore than you would say "he is cancerous."  I'm not fully bought into this system, but I see the logic. 

Now, does that logic apply to race and gender?  I don't know.  I could describe someone as "he's Hmong," or "she's black."  It seems that trying to work around it is way more awkward - like "she's got long black hair, lots of small braids, dark skin" which sounds worse than "Isabelle's black."  Besides, I'm white.  I could be described that way.

However, I'd probably bristle at being called "White Jamie."  Why does race info not quite fit in front of the name when it can pretty easily go after the name?  Maybe it's the same as people first language.  Jamie's white - defines me first as Jamie and then as white, just like girl with autism would describe someone first as a girl and then as something she couldn't really help.

So - I guess we'll need to give Ben a new nickname.  We could call him "Ben whose dad complains a lot."  Ha.

Blue and Gold

Today was the annual Get a New Neckerchief (uh, Blue and Gold) ceremony. Since his parent totally waited until the end of the year to turn in his achievements - Jacob got a ton of awards.  All part of the master plan to make us look like we're TOTALLY INTO scouts.  Ok, not really. 

 Jacob is there in the second row - the one with his head up looking at me.  So excited.  That's because they made them take a group photo before they were allowed to dig into the cake.  Happier Jacob:

Surgery Survival

Allison's dental surgery went well yesterday.  I do not have any pics of her in hospital garb because (a) I made Brian take her at 6am because I was afraid of passing out if I had to be in the room when they did an IV - so there were no 'before' pics.  By the time I'd gotten there after taking Jacob to school, Allison was already in the OR.  and (b) when she got DONE, she looked a bit like The Joker, with swelled red lips that curled up a little funny on the ends.  So - no hospital pics.

We were able to leave the hospital around 11:45am, with a still groggy girl who came home and slept/drooled on the couch for another 2 hours.  After that, she was pretty much up and going again - although the strict schedule of overlapping tylenol and motrin probably helped her feel better.  Also, they gave her some fentanyl before she left the hospital.  She ate a diet of (mostly) Ensure Banana Flavored shakes blended with ice cream (gag). 

All 5 pulled teeth came home with her (also - gag).  But fortunately the tooth fairy retrieved them last night.  :)  In addition to the loss of the baby teeth, the dentist removed some sort of tissue that was covering her 6-yr molars (which apparently had cavities on them) and put the orthodontic bands on the bottom molars so that they could begin to pull them forward.  This was "challenging," the dentist told us repeatedly, which I believe means "expect a higher bill for my services."  I guess the 12 year molars are angled sideways into the 6 year molars, thus preventing the placement of the bands.  This may resolve - but I don't think any of us believe it will.  I haven't the heart to tell Allison yet that this will not likely be her last dental surgery.  One thing at a time.

Piano Book Grad

Allison finished her sight reading book 1A and is on to her sight reading book 1B.  Congrats!