12/09/06 Cruise Continued ~ Pirating Bananas DIS Geekorama Part 2 Part 15

[dh chrisva]

At least your TA seems to be legit with DCL.

She's been good to us our last 2 cruise's and they deal specifically in DCL cruise's...

 

[goofyforlife]

All,

Since we have been talking about the 2008 possible Panama Repo cruise I emailed my TA and asked her if it becomes a reality to sign us up for the Eastbound Repo as soon as it's available. This was her response:

Won't elizabeth miss the first week or so of school then?

so hard at that age...

 

[lbgraves]

William gave his report on the trip Wednesday. His teacher told me that he learned more on that trip than he could have learned in the classroom...especially about people and culture with his interaction with the Mayan children. If it wasn't a bad time of the year for DH to travel, we might consider it. I would just withdrawl the kids from school at the end of the year so they aren't on the rooster, then reenroll them when we returned from the cruise. Going thru the locks is in itself an incredible experience...one of those once in a lifetime ones. I would do this no matter how old the kids were.

 

[dh chrisva]

Won't elizabeth miss the first week or so of school then?

so hard at that age...

K,
If they come back Labor day weekend, then no...

School in VA starts the week after Labor day. SO worse case she misses maybe for days (tues - fri) if it comes back the week after instead of 2 whole weeks just before the end of the school year in May (Western Repo).

Of course with my retirement in Feb 2008 it may all be a big wish anyway but we'll worry about that after getting the Ressie...

 

[dh chrisva]

Lisa,

We chatting Tonight????

 

[elaineteresa]

Elaine, you could be writing about our school. I find it pathetic that more parents don't know what goes on inside the school building. We have to beg to get them to come out to help us with PTO projects that will benefit their children in the long run. Most parents do not know what the AR program is or even where their child's classroom is. Some parents have come in and signed in for programs and said they don't know who the teacher is. OY!

I have emailed and talked with William's teacher a great deal keeping each other up to date with how he is doing and coming up with new challenges as he gets bored. On the other hand, I haven't talked with Kaitlyn's teacher regarding her schooling since the first night we met before school. I have talked to the principal & assistant regarding that bully but I see no need to regarding her studies.

LOL - I could write about this forever. I am definitely the yuppie from the other side of the tracks. But there is even a pecking order it seems to where you wait to pick up your kids. The parents from the trailer park walk across the road and wait outside. They never set foot inside the school. I think there is some truth to what John said that they avoid the institution because they did not have a positive experience with schooling.

I learned at the PTA meeting last night that the parents complain that their kids are not in the yearbook activity pictures but it is because the pics are taken at school functions and evening functions that they just don't attend.
The same kids attend the functions and the same kids pics appear in the yearbook.

I am new to the school so I am trying to lie low and see what it is all about but..... all these parents who pick up by walking across the street - I don't see why they can't contribute some time. They obviously are home to pick up their K students. maybe there is an answer to this that I am not aware of - I don't know.

I haven't really gotten a handle from the faculty about how involved they want you to be. I get some impression that they also subscribe to the philosophy of "I'll call you when there is a problem", instead of getting some regular feedback.

thanks again Lisa for your feedback - it is really helpful to me to see how others are handling the same issues.

 

[klineyqueen]

Forgive me Brandi for the long post. I get passionate about these things, and worry more about the world Sophia will inherit as an adult, than what is going on in the here and now. Since we got on the subject, I couldn’t resist.

John1

Don't worry about the long post.....the scary thing....I often agree with you when you get out that soapbox!!!!!

 

[klineyqueen]

All of this school talk...well it makes me want to cry. Not really..but I only have a few more days until I will be back to the ole grind!

 

[elaineteresa]

We had this same separation, only just two classes of 30 some kids. The smart class and the dumb class. Then to top that off we were assisgned seats in order of our ranking in the classs.....smartest kid front seat at the left of the room, dumbest kid in the last seat at the right of the room. So, we had the smartest kid in the smart class and the dumbest kid in the dumb class and everybody knew who they were. OY! Don't be that kid!! I think WAY back then the thought was that you would try harder to get moved up.

that is awful Angie - how demoralizing. My next door neighbor scored 160 on the 5th grade IQ test but stayed in the middle group because he was a non- performer. He went on to get someone pregnant at 19 and never finish college.

We were alphabetical - I sat behind Mary Jane Ryan for years. I went to her house and vice versa every weekend for at least the first 5 years of school. I looked her up last year on classmates.com after 25 years. She has a summer home on Lake George about 2 hours from here. She remembers all sorts of stuff about coming to my house - way more than I do. lol. I got a headache trying to remember the name of the high school she went to but I finally did.

 

[klineyqueen]

Some parents have come in and signed in for programs and said they don't know who the teacher is. OY!

I have witnessed this at the school where I teach. It is shocking. I feel like saying, "It is Jan. how in the h*** can you not know who teaches your kid. They are with them EVERY day!!!!!"

 

[klineyqueen]

The school where I teach has a very high percentage of people living below the poverty level. Most of the kids do not go to preschool. I remember being amazed my first year or two that many of the parents do not care what happens with their kids at school. I remember being "shocked" the first week I taught because over half the K kids could not line up by color because they had no idea if they were wearing a blue, pink, green, etc. shirt. I would come home and say to my DH, I realize they are poor, but do they not even talk to their children??? It just makes me want to reach out even harder to the kids.

I generally don't tell the parents where I live because I have had a few comment the I live with the "richies." Every year when they print the standardized tests (which BTW I think are used incorrectly and are a bunch of hooey) the schools near where I teach and my district are so low. The school where I live is always the highest in the county. I don't think the teachers are making it that way. It is the parents that are making the difference. Most of the kids where I live have parents with good jobs and they want the same for their children and are involved with their everyday life. Where I teach many have dropped out and they don't care if their kids do also. It is amazing how different the USA can be in a matter of a 25 min. drive!!!!!

 

[waltsgirl]

William is in second grade and I can still see a difference between the kids that are at the other end of the age range. He is one of the oldest because he missed the cutoff here by a month...10/15. He doesn't understand why some of the kids act the way they do. He has always been one of the oldest and this has resulted in him being very patient with kids younger than him. He stepped into a leadership role early on helping his friends who didn't understand the work, especially in first grade. While this is a nice quality for him to have, my concern as a parent is that he is in school to learn ~ not teach the other kids what he already knows.

You never know this skill could end up helping him later in life. Even now Alex is ahead of his classmates in some classes and catches on to things faster so he tutors. He also tutors in the University tutoring center and makes $$$. Not everyone has the ability to work with others that don't understand things or catch on.

 

[klineyqueen]

Today is my brother's birthday. He and his wife and 3 kids (all younger than Jake),my mom, and my kids and I went out for breakfast. A lady stopped by the table and made a comment about all the little ones. I said "Can you even image my baby brother has 5 children all under 4 and there are no twins." Her eyes almost fell out of her head! I was My brother was My SIL was My mom was . The lady would have believed me and walked away but my mom's reaction ruined it!!!!!!

 

[klineyqueen]

Who is ready for a few pics??

Me at MVMCP with my free hot chocolate (I loved it BTW.)

 

[klineyqueen]

Eliza's first ride on Dumbo...I loved the Santa hats.

Mommy and Jake rode too.

 

[elaineteresa]

Public schools were established to give the other children of our society that same opportunity that in the past only those of wealth could afford. The result is the wealthiest nation in the world, and the largest middle class the world had ever seen. In my opinion, that was achieved because of the great mixture of talents and children that attended public schools, and in the collective rise of a great deal of those children to opportunities they may not have had without each other to learn from or lean on.

As parents, we all worry that our children should receive the best education, and be challenged and afforded the opportunity to reach their full potential. Parents have felt that way through the ages.

What I think we have begun to forget is that when we make choices based ONLY on our child, we are en-masse making decisions that will affect not only them, but the world that they live in. Urban flight has left urban school districts with only the poorest of the poor, without any positive examples and leadership that those children desperately need.

Education cannot happen with the teacher alone. Children need positive role models, and they need leaders. When society pulls all of those role models and leaders out of that environment, we should not be surprised at the result. Those children end up not responding to positive influences, and respond to the only thing they have experienced – negative experiences. The other children end up not knowing how to relate or communicate with someone who is not “like them”. The divide in our society grows deeper.



John1

I grew up in NYC where the public education system is the city - it's the life of the city along with its arts institutions. But I think some of this philosphy stems from a time when we were trying to get a basic level of education available to all at a basic cost. We have established that now. Large public education systems saw that the paradigm was no longer working for the extreme ends of children in the system so the system was tweaked with satellite schools etc.

In our small town of 20,000 we don't have any of these alternative schools available. I think there will definitely be kids on either end of the spectrum whose needs may not be met well. I know the taxes we are paying in our county are substantially more than in counties north of here with far superior school systems.

I know that right now if my kids want AP credits at the high school level, they have few opportunities for this. I will have to drive them to area colleges to gain credits that other kids can do right in their own school. Because we live in a small community, it takes a real committment to supplement what is available - the larger universities are all about an hour away. At some point, it becomes easier to be in a community where the services are more readily available instead of having to travel to them.

Ken grew up about 1/2 hour from here and no one from his high school ever got into Cornell - the premiere science school in upstate NY. They just did not select from his demographic - maybe because they knew the alumni dollars would not be there - who knows.

I think if you plan on having the average school experience then the local available resources may be adequate - but if you need more services from any perspective then the local resources are often not enough and the parent needs to seek alternatives or supplement when reasonable. I know local kids who need special services are really inconvenienced in order to get services because enough care providers are not available. It is the same way we all seek healthcare. Do we go to Sloan or the local community hospital?

 

[klineyqueen]

Dumbo stopped by our room while we were at the party and dropped of a gift for each of the kids. Jake still sleeps with his Dumbo every night.

 

[klineyqueen]

Here is the tree outside of Animal Kingdom

Here is the tree hugger.

 

[klineyqueen]

Mommy and Eliza match

Everest - that was AWESOME!!!!

 

[elaineteresa]

You never know this skill could end up helping him later in life. Even now Alex is ahead of his classmates in some classes and catches on to things faster so he tutors. He also tutors in the University tutoring center and makes $$$. Not everyone has the ability to work with others that don't understand things or catch on.

I agree with Amy - this is a character trait - because even those with the skill and talent to share what they know do not have the generosity of spirit to do so. I think it is wonderful that he does this without prompting. There is your role model, as John said.