Why Walmart is Evil...

I try not to shop at Walmart. I try to get what I need from our smaller businesses in town. But I was at Walmart picking up items difficult to find anywhere else, and I thought I would grab some Valentines for the kids to take to their classes. (No, I didn't have the kids carefully craft Valentines from paper doilies and construction paper. The past two weeks we're lucky if we get to eat together.)

So I got cat and dog themed Valentines. Safe enough. Today we opened them. And on the Valentines are messages like, "God is love" and "God made us friends." I quickly scoured the box they came in for any indication that these Valentines were trying to make us their mission project. None. Zero. Nice move, Walmart. They were returned.

Pumpkins!

No October would be complete without a visit to our local pumpkin farm. We go despite my irritation that the owner is a right-wing politician who has used questionable campaign tactics in the past. Not to mention the brochure mentions that all they do is for the glory of God. Really? Charging families $7 a head? And extra for the corn cannon?? (I'm having deja vu...did I complain about this last year??!) That's getting steep for a family of four for about an hour's worth of fun.

Well, the kids don't care about that stuff, y'know. And I try to behave in a bi-partisan fashion. I'll keep my mouth shut about the complicating factors until they're older. Especially because there is this really cool gigantic jumpy pillow thingy this year!! And the pumpkin catapult is still cool. I mean, pumpkin trebuchet (thanks for enlightening me, P and P!).


Children of the corn. (I had to make that joke.)
The cool jumpy thing.

Public school quality food for thought...

Thanks to Erik for pointing me toward the Stop Homework website, a site devoted to the argument that there is "very little correlation between the amount of homework and achievement in elementary school and only a moderate correlation in middle school." There's a lot of good food for thought at the site, all of it deliciously debatable of course!! Now I know M & M need to learn to manage homework. We choose to send them to school (not that I haven't contemplated home schooling...sorry, kids, Mom would probably lose it). I do think socialization and learning to work with "the system" are both essential.

At any rate, the following was posted on the Stop Homework website, and it distilled my feelings about the d#*! reading log:

I Hate Reading Logs
by FedUp Mom

Every time I think we’ve solved the school problem something comes along to bite me in the rear. This week it’s the dreaded reading log. We found out about it from a letter the teachers sent home:

“Your child will be expected to read every night. We ask that you sign the log each night … We will also check the log regularly, in order to ensure follow through on your child’s part… Please sign the form below and return it to school tomorrow with your child.”

And now, the fun part:

“Thank you for your partnership in your child’s education.” (!)

And how does following the teacher’s directions make me a partner exactly? I feel more like an unpaid employee. Wait a minute — we’re paying them!

There was a little form at the bottom of the letter that said:

“I have read the above letter and agree to help my child by signing his/her log each night.”

I crossed this out and wrote in:

“We trust our daughter to do her reading.”

Then we signed it.

Then we sent the following e-mail to the teacher:

Teacher X: we have chosen not to participate in the reading log. We’ve experienced reading logs before and have these objections:

1.) They turn reading into a chore.

2.) They send a message that we don’t trust (daughter) to do the reading without meddling and micromanaging.

(Daughter) will do the reading she needs to do, but she won’t be logging the pages. Thank you.

I’m hoping that will be the end of it. I’m really tired of conferences and I’m sure we all have better things to do with our time.

Rocky Mountain National Park

M3 wrote this poem today. It seemed appropriate, considering I am so excited about PBS' doc on the National Parks which starts Sunday!

In these impressive slopes
There's many kinds of species
The soil's rich in nutrients
And though you may see feces

The Rockies are the greatest place
Intirely to be
A little sun and so much fun
To him and you and me!

P.S. Thanks to everyone for the supportive words re: M3's homework situation. We met with her teacher, and she was very receptive to our concerns. She said she'd "been paying more attention to M3" since I had stormed in on my rant morning. Maybe the attention is helping M3 stay on task at school or alleviating some of her frustration, because the homework situation has improved. Or maybe it made the teacher realize she was giving too much. I don't know...but it's working for right now!

Doesn't she get to be a kid, too?

RANT ALERT!!

Apparently I, too, had a blissful summer vacation forgetting all about the things that piss me off about school (oh yeah, M3 came home with a FULL-SIZE Snickers bar the other day).

So here's the thing...M3 has too much homework. It's just too much for a 4th grader. To illustrate: she comes home from school, sits right down at the kitchen table (where did she get that sort of self-discipline?? Not from me!!), and proceeds to do homework FOR THE REST OF THE DAY!! UNTIL BED-TIME!! PAST BED-TIME!!! (I told you it was a rant.) She has been reduced to sobbing on more than one occasion. She doesn't get to play; she doesn't get to draw; she doesn't get to play with her brother or go outside and run around. On top of the fascinating worksheets she has to complete, she also has to read 18 pages of a book every night. And guess what? If she doesn't do that reading (perhaps because her parents insist that she needs to get some sleep, and her mother is suuuure it's OK that she catch up tomorrow night BECAUSE IT SAYS SO ON THE NOTE FROM HER TEACHER), then she gets kept in at recess the next day to do the reading. Kept in at recess.

In what way does this instill a LOVE OF LEARNING in her??! Can someone please tell me?

Now, I know she is slow at math. She can do it; she's just slow at it. But when her confidence is shot, she can't do it all and says things like "I don't like math" and "I'm bad at math" and "I want to be an artist so I don't have to do math" or she just sobs. We just recovered her confidence last year with the help of her 3rd grade teacher. It is quickly slipping away again. To me, this time is critical...she needs to establish her math confidence now before she hits the horror-show that is middle school.

I know she can be fidgety. Is she more fidgety than any other 9 or 10 year old? I am willing to entertain the possibility, but I doubt it.

I don't presume to tell her teacher how to do her job (or maybe I do a little bit, which is not very nice). I really don't want to be one of "those college parents." I give props to any person who attempts to teach anything to a roomful of 25 children of varying circumstances and abilities. But to me, there is something wrong when a 9-year-old is not free to have some time to run around and play, to spend time in her own creative pursuits, to play a sport, or even to just lay around and do nothing for a little bit!!

So I did go see her teacher this morning to ask why M3 was kept in at recess for not completing her reading when it clearly states on her paper that she can double up the next night. Apparently, M3 has an older copy of the paper. So it's possible...just maybe...that I let some hints of my displeasure seep into our conversation. It's possible I wasn't as smiley and nicey nicey as most people from Iowa are. Just maybe.

We will meet again next Wednesday.

School "nutrition"

Just in case you were wondering, the kids' hot lunch at school on Monday was:

• Popcorn chicken (AKA chicken nuggets with less chicken)
• Mashed potatoes (do you think they're real?)
• Bread and butter (do we see a pattern here?)
• Fruit salad (phew...wouldn't have wanted a nutritionally unbalanced lunch)

What's even more frightening is that they are adhering to some strict state guidelines about nutrition for kids. Shouldn't there be pork every day?

On an unrelated note, M3 came home with a note yesterday that head lice had been found on a student in her class. She thinks it was the kid who sits next to her. AAAUUUGGGHHHHHH!

Candy Rant

Not to be confused with Candy Gram. But anyhoo, what is up with candy at school? I'm not talking candy once in a while for a school party or something. I'm talking candy. every. single. day. Hello childhood obesity! How about diabetes? (And that is on top of the lunch menu, which includes about as many different versions of FRIED as you can imagine.)

In our K-2 school, this doesn't seem to happen. But M3 has hit third grade and moved to a new school, where it seems candy is constantly used as a reward. She came home upset one day, because the student who finishes his/her work first every day gets a piece of candy (and that is usually not M3). She was sad, because more often she gets candy only when the whole class gets candy. In fact, her teacher has a popular reputation because he gives candy. When M3 was chosen to help clean the tables after lunch, she got candy as a reward. So excuse my language, but WTF?

It's not like I deny my kids candy! They get plenty! Y'know why? Because they are given candy when we got to the post office, the grocery store, the bank, not to mention the 4th of July parade and the Homecoming parade! In fact, those last two events provide them with enough candy to make it through the low-candy season (high-candy season runs from Halloween to Easter).

So I am proud to say, I prepared for the conference. I actually planned how I would register my complaint in a non-confrontational way. I didn't want to put M3's teacher on the defensive, because I know he's not the only one. And I did it!! (He only got slightly defensive.) But aside from mentioning obesity and diabetes, I wanted him to get that the kids need to be rewarded by accomplishing the WORK ITSELF. You worked hard and finished your math...yay for you!! You should be proud! Cuz when you get bigger, ain't no one goin' to be handing you candy...or bonuses...or compliments...or appreciation. (Well, maybe once in a while but c'mon people, let's be honest...not much!!) You have to feel good about a JOB WELL DONE!

Honestly, I could go on and on but long blog posts are boring, and this one is long enough!! More on the parts of the conferences where I actually discussed my children later. (Could I be going overboard with the italics?)