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.

Sigh...

Today for the third year in a row, M3 tried out for the Missoula Childrens' Theater's traveling production. For the third year in a row, she was not chosen. I am proud because she handled it very well. She said she had fun during the audition. She seemed a bit quiet on the way home, but I was attributing that to low blood sugar (uh huh). The director told a story of a girl who had auditioned for 10 years in a row without every being chosen. Then in the tenth year of trying, she got the lead. So I hope M3 took that to heart (whether or not it was true...oh, I'm so cynical!).

By the way, M4 had NO interest in auditioning.

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!

Old soul...

Some of M4's comments:

"Let's just enjoy this lovely, lovely sun."

"I am attracted to that." (Referring to a moon-walk jumpy bouncy thing.)

"It's just so nice to get away from the hustle bustle."

This was just in the span of a couple hours!! Good grief, I can't write down his hilarious words fast enough. I know there were more, but I can't remember! Ugh...I need to carry a wee notebook with me just for that purpose. My little old man...

Shipwrecks!! Real live shipwrecks!

Another highlight of our trip was taking a Lake Superior shipwreck tour. I was afraid it was going to be a rip-off tourist kind of thing (the words "glass-bottomed boat" just scream tourist!! to me). It turned out to be SUPER COOL! Even though things-underwater-that-aren't-supposed-to-be-there creep me out.

M4 checking out the Bermuda, the first wreck we saw:

People scuba dive these wrecks, too. That wouldn't really be my thing, but you go, divers!!

I don't remember which wreck this anchor belonged to, but isn't it cool anyway? The captain took us to see the rock reef that sank a lot of these boats. It's pretty spooky to look down and see the bottom of the lake under you, then just watch it drop away to the depths. Gulp.

Nice hair in the wind shot:

The tour was close to Grand Island, the whole of which is a national recreation area. We saw this fella hanging in his aerie:

I'll even put in a plug for the shipwreck tour company, if you ever happen to find yourself in Munising, MI.

Beach tour

Did I mention that the beaches on our vacation were amazing? In order of our visits to them:

Petoskey State Park on Lake Michigan:
Still Petoskey...I love this pic of the water splashing up around M4:
An extra scenic view of the shore of Mackinac Island on Lake Huron. If you go, definitely rent bikes to get out of town...a trip around the island follows 8 miles of shoreline:
This beach was a 1.5 mile hike from our campground at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Lake Superior. It was called Twelve Mile Beach. Twelve miles and NO people!!
And finally, Chapel Beach (still Lake Superior) was the last beach we hiked to. This was three miles from the trail head. That meant three miles back, but it was worth it! The kids did great! A waterfall from Chapel Lake falls right onto the beach, making a little river that heads out to the big water:So maybe the Michigan Board of Tourism should hire me; clearly I was impressed!

First day of school

How could I be such a terrible parent?? I didn't even take any first-day-of-school pictures!! Geez, I'm really falling down on the job. School started yesterday and both kids are very excited about the new school year.

I think they both have good teachers, although I hope M3 is challenged enough. I don't want her to slack because some things (reading and "language arts") come easily to her. We'll see how math is for her this year. Fortunately, her teacher last year helped her recover her enjoyment of math. (Thinking about her 1st grade teacher still makes me mad!!)

We took our new international student, who is from China, with us to M3's open house at school. M3 has about 21 students in her classroom. Our student said there would be at least 50 and up to 70 students in a room the same size at her school in China!! It's kinda hard to wrap my head around that.