Driving down to Mickey's for Christmas!

[Monknmom]

In the beginning of the school year Damien's teacher told us that she knows first graders and can teach them in her sleep because she has being using the same methods and little change to the lesson plan for 27 years because it works! With that being said his teacher also knew from the beginning of the school year that we were taking this trip and she said then that Damien will have plenty of time to catch up on school work before the trip. When the trip got closer I gave her a note again that we were going on the trip and when I came in for my school days day she told me not to worry about it, have him write in a journal everyday though (he needs help with handwriting)! So you guys saw that journal I made for him to write in during his vacation and I added math sheets, spelling, word finds and other things I saw he was doing in school. When we got home Damien took the journal to school and I don't think that she really looked over it because it's back home and he has a TON of papers to catch up on with a note "Mrs. Htun I'm glad that you guys are back safe. Damien sure sounds like he had lots of fun! If you can get him to do most of this work by Friday so I can grade it during vacation I would really appreciate it. Thanks, see you Friday" then she signs her name. Now because she said don't worry about it when I spoke with her I was under the impression that Damien's journal would be counted as his school work. Now I am pretty upset about this because well I could have had him do all of this either while we were driving or the day that I let him stay home after the vacation! I emailed her and told her my concern and she writes back "well what did you think he wasn't going to have to do his work?" No, I thought that's why I was taking time out of our vacation for him to complete a journal! AUGH... I guess she's right though that the journal doesn't count toward school and I was on the phone with my older sister while doing all of this and she makes a comment about how I shouldn't have taken him out during the school time I should have done it during vacation- yeah you can't tell her that Damien has issues with things because she doesn't understand (yes the same sister that has lost 2 KIDS!!!). So I guess that's my Christmas break is going to be making Damien get all 7packets done, make up all 8 journal entries, complete 5 pages of various math and science stuff, catch up on his poetry journal and study for 2 spelling tests (one he missed and the one that the class has when they come back from vacation)! This is going to be really fun because I know that he only got a few done last night and tonight he has a boy scout party so that's out the window for anything other than his regular homework.

 

[momabaarjo]

Okay...I think I would be ranting too! And I would not be in a rush to get it all done in a couple of days to make her life easier, that is not fair to Damien (and dare I say you). I am sure that your school has a make up policy...atleast 2 days to make things up for each day missed. DONT STRESS YOURSELF OUT OR DAMIEN...do it during Christmas and turn it in after the holiday! It is only 1st grade...and you did have him work during vacation...I would have counted his journal for the grades especially since you put so much time in it and he actually did it! KUDDOS to you for being a great mom...and now he has a great keepsake of the trip!

As for your sister, I would have hung up on her...like she has any room for parenting advice!

As a former teacher it would annoy me when I would go out of my way prior to the trip to get work ready and then have none of it completed when the child got back as promised by the parents and would tick me off when children were pulled for vacations...especially those that could not afford to be gone even a day from school. But I also understand those once in a lifetime trips...

Now what gets me really going is that "she can teach 1st grade in her sleep because she has done it so long"....UGH! I cannot stand teachers who do not see the need to improve and update instruction...kids are not the same as they were 27 years ago and sorry what works with 1 child does not work with ALL CHILDREN.

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Okay...I think I would be ranting too! And I would not be in a rush to get it all done in a couple of days to make her life easier, that is not fair to Damien (and dare I say you). I am sure that your school has a make up policy...atleast 2 days to make things up for each day missed. DONT STRESS YOURSELF OUT OR DAMIEN...do it during Christmas and turn it in after the holiday! It is only 1st grade...and you did have him work during vacation...I would have counted his journal for the grades especially since you put so much time in it and he actually did it! KUDDOS to you for being a great mom...and now he has a great keepsake of the trip!

As for your sister, I would have hung up on her...like she has any room for parenting advice!

As a former teacher it would annoy me when I would go out of my way prior to the trip to get work ready and then have none of it completed when the child got back as promised by the parents and would tick me off when children were pulled for vacations...especially those that could not afford to be gone even a day from school. But I also understand those once in a lifetime trips...

Now what gets me really going is that "she can teach 1st grade in her sleep because she has done it so long"....UGH! I cannot stand teachers who do not see the need to improve and update instruction...kids are not the same as they were 27 years ago and sorry what works with 1 child does not work with ALL CHILDREN.

Tammy just summed up eveything I would have said!


I'm sorry your having to deal with this right after your vacation Heather! She should not have asked for it to be back by Friday to convenience her. It's not as if it was a "Oh look we're pulling him out of school two days from now for a vacation!". She could have at least given you the work for the car ride instead of making your think what she did. We always left early before the Christmas break (well until we started having mid terms in middle school) and the teachers always gave us the work to either do while on the trip or over the holidays. As long as we had it back within that first week after the break, it was normally never an issue!

 

[Monknmom]

Okay...I think I would be ranting too! And I would not be in a rush to get it all done in a couple of days to make her life easier, that is not fair to Damien (and dare I say you). I am sure that your school has a make up policy...atleast 2 days to make things up for each day missed. DONT STRESS YOURSELF OUT OR DAMIEN...do it during Christmas and turn it in after the holiday! It is only 1st grade...and you did have him work during vacation...I would have counted his journal for the grades especially since you put so much time in it and he actually did it! KUDDOS to you for being a great mom...and now he has a great keepsake of the trip!

As for your sister, I would have hung up on her...like she has any room for parenting advice!

As a former teacher it would annoy me when I would go out of my way prior to the trip to get work ready and then have none of it completed when the child got back as promised by the parents and would tick me off when children were pulled for vacations...especially those that could not afford to be gone even a day from school. But I also understand those once in a lifetime trips...

Now what gets me really going is that "she can teach 1st grade in her sleep because she has done it so long"....UGH! I cannot stand teachers who do not see the need to improve and update instruction...kids are not the same as they were 27 years ago and sorry what works with 1 child does not work with ALL CHILDREN.

Yeah I basically told her that this morning when I saw her that we were going to get it done over Christmas break due to the short notice and him having to keep up with other work on top of that. So she said that it was okay and I left it at that..... I did not know that your supposed to get 2 days for every day that is missed!
My sister is on my sh*^ list today due to what she said and I talked to my grandfather about what she said and he said to ignore her and her comments and he knew because she called him after talking to me- yes we go to that old man with everything since we were little and I got sent back from Texas! But even he said to just let it drip out of my mind so I'm trying!
Damien is very smart- he doesn't seem like it because when asking him a direct question that he knows he doesn't really give you a straight answer but when your having a conversation about something he will start telling you all of these facts about other things (Ann learned this the hard way in Epcot- I felt bad and he could have kept going)! So really I wasn't worried about that because he is on level H books in school and most of the class (I know this because I do reading groups with them) are on e's and f's and there are a group of c's. He does have a small group on j's but it's only 3 kids so I'm not to worried! And I have to say she is great at teaching them- very strict but my son needs that when being taught and she loves doing it my only point was that if she said this in the beginning of the year why was it so hard to give me all of this work? Thank you though Tammie--- what am I going to do when I can't rant and rave to my Disney friends anymore??? Are you allowed to rant in a TR?

Tammy just summed up eveything I would have said!


I'm sorry your having to deal with this right after your vacation Heather! She should not have asked for it to be back by Friday to convenience her. It's not as if it was a "Oh look we're pulling him out of school two days from now for a vacation!". She could have at least given you the work for the car ride instead of making your think what she did. We always left early before the Christmas break (well until we started having mid terms in middle school) and the teachers always gave us the work to either do while on the trip or over the holidays. As long as we had it back within that first week after the break, it was normally never an issue!

Yes Tammie is awesome with words of wisdom, but all of you are! Yes it's a horrible situation to come home to right before the holidays but I guess it's better than him trying to catch up on school days with all of his other work! I told him that on Monday we are going to start everything to give him the weekend off since tonight he was filling out class Christmas cards! Then come Monday I am going to make it the same procedure that I use when I home school him during the summer! So this type of work will not be that different for us, just the time of it will be! It's okay though because I have set up a play date for next Thursday at the national lab near our house with some old friends and those 3 enjoy that stuff so it will be a nice reward for getting all of the work done!


Thank you both though and I am trying to start the TR..... but I am also trying to finish up holiday shopping and wrapping and prepping! How was your trip Ashley? Are you doing a TR? OH and speaking of TR's are we all just going to do one at once and drag them on for the year until we start prepping for the all girls trip?

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Yeah I basically told her that this morning when I saw her that we were going to get it done over Christmas break due to the short notice and him having to keep up with other work on top of that. So she said that it was okay and I left it at that..... I did not know that your supposed to get 2 days for every day that is missed!
My sister is on my sh*^ list today due to what she said and I talked to my grandfather about what she said and he said to ignore her and her comments and he knew because she called him after talking to me- yes we go to that old man with everything since we were little and I got sent back from Texas! But even he said to just let it drip out of my mind so I'm trying!
Damien is very smart- he doesn't seem like it because when asking him a direct question that he knows he doesn't really give you a straight answer but when your having a conversation about something he will start telling you all of these facts about other things (Ann learned this the hard way in Epcot- I felt bad and he could have kept going)! So really I wasn't worried about that because he is on level H books in school and most of the class (I know this because I do reading groups with them) are on e's and f's and there are a group of c's. He does have a small group on j's but it's only 3 kids so I'm not to worried! And I have to say she is great at teaching them- very strict but my son needs that when being taught and she loves doing it my only point was that if she said this in the beginning of the year why was it so hard to give me all of this work? Thank you though Tammie--- what am I going to do when I can't rant and rave to my Disney friends anymore??? Are you allowed to rant in a TR?



Yes Tammie is awesome with words of wisdom, but all of you are! Yes it's a horrible situation to come home to right before the holidays but I guess it's better than him trying to catch up on school days with all of his other work! I told him that on Monday we are going to start everything to give him the weekend off since tonight he was filling out class Christmas cards! Then come Monday I am going to make it the same procedure that I use when I home school him during the summer! So this type of work will not be that different for us, just the time of it will be! It's okay though because I have set up a play date for next Thursday at the national lab near our house with some old friends and those 3 enjoy that stuff so it will be a nice reward for getting all of the work done!


Thank you both though and I am trying to start the TR..... but I am also trying to finish up holiday shopping and wrapping and prepping! How was your trip Ashley? Are you doing a TR? OH and speaking of TR's are we all just going to do one at once and drag them on for the year until we start prepping for the all girls trip?

Yes you can rant in a TR! Why wouldnt you be able to?!?! We'll all still be here for each other! And yeah, I will be doing one. As soon as all our pictures get to our photopass account I will start.

I figured if we all drag them out and talk and rant in between, we could drag it out till October, and then start our PTR a year out?

 

[momabaarjo]

Heather....LEVEL H is AWESOME for a 1st grader at midyear, and the best way to get better at reading is READ READ READ! He is right on target! Don't let the teacher ruin the magic of the trip, look at it this way, he (or should I say you) have a great keepsake in that journal and that will just make him further ahead on top of the work he missed! I wish we had more parents like you that took the time months in advance to warn us about trips...my middle sister and her dhs family do not value education and it is always the school/teachers fault about everything...they have taken my nieces out of school EVERY YEAR for 2 weeks at a time (which now adds up to almost a semester of school for vacation) plus all the sick days (they are always sick)...my nieces are not good students in the first place so they need to be at school...and my SISTER NEVER catches them up. She has learned not to talk about school around me because I tell her like it is...which is not what she wants to hear...probably yet another reason we are not on speaking terms currently which does make me sad....

I am sure you are so ready for your photo pass pictures...sorry to be the one on the share that is holding things up!

Who says we can't rant in our TR? It would not be any fun if we don't and if any new followers come along...they just have to join in the ranting. We also have facebook, although I really don't use that anymore other than the Disney Christmas Planning group...

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Heather....LEVEL H is AWESOME for a 1st grader at midyear, and the best way to get better at reading is READ READ READ! He is right on target! Don't let the teacher ruin the magic of the trip, look at it this way, he (or should I say you) have a great keepsake in that journal and that will just make him further ahead on top of the work he missed! I wish we had more parents like you that took the time months in advance to warn us about trips...my middle sister and her dhs family do not value education and it is always the school/teachers fault about everything...they have taken my nieces out of school EVERY YEAR for 2 weeks at a time (which now adds up to almost a semester of school for vacation) plus all the sick days (they are always sick)...my nieces are not good students in the first place so they need to be at school...and my SISTER NEVER catches them up. She has learned not to talk about school around me because I tell her like it is...which is not what she wants to hear...probably yet another reason we are not on speaking terms currently which does make me sad....

I am sure you are so ready for your photo pass pictures...sorry to be the one on the share that is holding things up!

Who says we can't rant in our TR? It would not be any fun if we don't and if any new followers come along...they just have to join in the ranting. We also have facebook, although I really don't use that anymore other than the Disney Christmas Planning group...

a photopass share was done? and i missed this? how? lol

 

[momabaarjo]

a photopass share was done? and i missed this? how? lol

I joined a photo pass share clear about last spring sometime on the facebook planning group...one of the people dropped out and Heather was able to join the share.

 

[Monknmom]

Yes you can rant in a TR! Why wouldnt you be able to?!?! We'll all still be here for each other! And yeah, I will be doing one. As soon as all our pictures get to our photopass account I will start.

I figured if we all drag them out and talk and rant in between, we could drag it out till October, and then start our PTR a year out?

LOL good because this has been great to get everything off my chest.... therapy... who needs that when you have Disney friends? I don't mean massage therapy though- I could use that on an hourly basis

That sounds like a great idea Ashley!

Heather....LEVEL H is AWESOME for a 1st grader at midyear, and the best way to get better at reading is READ READ READ! He is right on target! Don't let the teacher ruin the magic of the trip, look at it this way, he (or should I say you) have a great keepsake in that journal and that will just make him further ahead on top of the work he missed! I wish we had more parents like you that took the time months in advance to warn us about trips...my middle sister and her dhs family do not value education and it is always the school/teachers fault about everything...they have taken my nieces out of school EVERY YEAR for 2 weeks at a time (which now adds up to almost a semester of school for vacation) plus all the sick days (they are always sick)...my nieces are not good students in the first place so they need to be at school...and my SISTER NEVER catches them up. She has learned not to talk about school around me because I tell her like it is...which is not what she wants to hear...probably yet another reason we are not on speaking terms currently which does make me sad....

I am sure you are so ready for your photo pass pictures...sorry to be the one on the share that is holding things up!

Who says we can't rant in our TR? It would not be any fun if we don't and if any new followers come along...they just have to join in the ranting. We also have facebook, although I really don't use that anymore other than the Disney Christmas Planning group...

Actually not to brag, but when I did reading groups today they were moved up onto I's!!! I am very proud of him! I'm sorry about your sister's kids, we have a family in his class that have been to Disney 2 times this year already while school was in session (small one week trips on the points system) and I would understand if I did that, but I don't do that. Damien needs to be taught during the summer because he gets anxious with surprises- like the day we left for Disney he was CRYING in school because I was going to take him out for an hour to eat "lunch" (really surprise him with Disney)! So I know that I am good with that stuff, but I guess that I should have thought about her point of view too today she told me she didn't use the journal because she wouldn't know how to compare the marks with his grade level (meaning she has nothing to compare it to to see if he's on point) and I understand that so I'm a little more okay with what happened.
No stop that! I am fine- the only reason I have been wondering about them is because when we got home Damien asked me about your frame and I have been wondering which photo would look best because I can't even remember if we took pictures with a Christmas tree or not!
Yeah I like facebook.... It's easy to share photos and keep up with everyone!

a photopass share was done? and i missed this? how? lol

Oh on the facebook one... and I barely made it!

I joined a photo pass share clear about last spring sometime on the facebook planning group...one of the people dropped out and Heather was able to join the share.

Yeah I think that I joined in November....

 

[momabaarjo]

I Level...that puts him at end of the year 1st grade around here and we have pretty high standards! Great job Damien (and mom, cause again the only way to get better at reading is to read, read, read).

 

[Monknmom]

I Level...that puts him at end of the year 1st grade around here and we have pretty high standards! Great job Damien (and mom, cause again the only way to get better at reading is to read, read, read).

Thank you!!! Yeah he is pretty good, now only to make him better in math! Aren't you a math teacher and looking to come see NY some time?

 

[Monknmom]

Merry Christmas to all of my friends here!!! You girls have been really great and I have enjoyed becoming friends with all of you!

 

[momabaarjo]

Thank you!!! Yeah he is pretty good, now only to make him better in math! Aren't you a math teacher and looking to come see NY some time?

Taught reading for many years too...but my love is math.

 

[annmarieda]

I am excited to hear how your trip went. It was so good to meet you and spend time with you. Damien is so darn cute! He cracks me up

And as for his school situation. I am so sorry...that truly stinks.

And...as soon as I get a chance, I plan to start a TR. If we were to wait turns... I fear we might forget things (or at least I would) by the time we got around to writing.

Hope you had a very Merry Christmas!!!

 

[shocky5]

Hi Heather! Ditto what Tammie said about Damien's teacher! That's nuts.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and can't wait to hear more about your trip!!!

 

[Monknmom]

Taught reading for many years too...but my love is math.

I like math- not so much reading I grew up in this country and know no other language but did you see how I put the "know and no" together... I can't understand WHY!!!

I am excited to hear how your trip went. It was so good to meet you and spend time with you. Damien is so darn cute! He cracks me up

And as for his school situation. I am so sorry...that truly stinks.

And...as soon as I get a chance, I plan to start a TR. If we were to wait turns... I fear we might forget things (or at least I would) by the time we got around to writing.

Hope you had a very Merry Christmas!!!

Thank you! I am going to start it when Damien gets back to school! I have been keeping him busy between homework breaks so that he doesn't feel it all at once (I lost my voice so I could learn this lesson when vacation started)!

Hi Heather! Ditto what Tammie said about Damien's teacher! That's nuts.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and can't wait to hear more about your trip!!!

Thank you! Yes I am going to start... I'm a slacker I will though!


I should come back here tonight and maybe start early it just means that the trips really over and we aren't going back for a few years!

 

[Monknmom]

I hope that everyone has a super Happy New Year and with tons of joy, laughter and health!

 

[Monknmom]

Okay I did it! I started it! That means my trip is really over and K is not going to ask me what we still have to pack and Damien is not going to try to look at my ticker and ask me "Wait isn't there 7 days in a week?" It's sad!

THIS is the link to it... I am going to try to change my signature too!

 

[OCDPrincesses]

Poke