Public vs. Private, Take 2

Well, it's official -- the Obamas have chosen Sidwell Friends School, a Quaker-run institution, as the place where their girls will be educated.  I'm kind of OK with that; I think.  I mean, come on. They have to worry about privacy and security - they don't want reporters harassing their girls and they don't want to worry about their girls getting kidnapped.  Those are definitely reasons to send your girls to private school if you're the President of the United States.  But wait a minute, weren't those same girls in private school in Chicago before their daddy was elected President? What reasons did the Obamas have then? What reasons do most Americans have to send their children to private school?

I've been mulling that question for some time.  A few days ago, I was fortunate to have breakfast with two good friends who are educators and finally had a chance to discuss the topic with them.  One of my friends sends her children to private school, but she is a public school teacher. "Do you really think your daughter is getting a better education?" I asked her.

She said, in her opinion as an educator, she did feel her daughter was getting a better education. The school her child attends requires that every student take an academic test and only those that do well on the test are invited to attend the school.  That means the school doesn't have to deal with children with learning disabilities or low performers.  The school can then focus on propelling those students who arrive with good academic skills already to higher levels.  

She also said she is sending her daughter there because she wants to shield her from the crazy things that happen in some public schools.  For example, she said that at her current school which has a special behavior unit, a boy grabbed a girl by the neck and pushed her against the wall because the boy was angry. That could be scary.  She would rather her daughter not witness those types of events.  

The final reason she gave was because she feels that in public schools, teachers need to focus on the low-performers and the high performers are ignored and that can cause high performers to not develop a love of learning.  

I respect my friend's opinion and all those reasons make sense.  And I guess when it comes to your own child's education, you have to do what feels right for you.   For us, it feels right to send our children to public school.

Both of my children attend the school where my husband is the principal.  It is a Title 1 school which means the majority of the children attending the school come from low socio-economic backgrounds. I think my children are getting a great education.  Their teachers have fostered my children's love of learning. My children love to read.  They love to write.  (My son has his own blog.)  They love science and math.  They are learning to get along with people from different backgrounds.  They are learning about compassion and empathy by seeing first-hand that there are other people in the world less fortunate than they are.  They are cognizant of the fact that they are privileged.  Those are lessons that many American children need. Would they get all that in a private school? Maybe.

Of course, I shouldn't be so hypocritical as I am the product of private universities.  It was exhilarating to be in a school where most students were serious about their studies; where most students could discuss issues in depth; where partying was a recreational activity not a major; where many students felt their lives were to be used to further a cause; where freshman writing seminars consisted of eight students working closely with an English professor; and so forth and so on....but the interesting thing about my private university is that the majority of the students, like me, came from public high schools. Hmm. Go figure.  And of course, I have many friends who got excellent educations in public universities.

But truth be told, if my husband were not an educator, I would send my children to private Catholic schools because I do think it is important for them to get a good foundation in their faith. So I guess I'll stop harassing the Obamas now.  I'm sure they can convince themselves that they have good reasons for sending their girls to private school even before their move to D.C.

TTYL.

Public vs. Private

I was somewhat ticked off at the Obama's last week when I read an article that said the Obamas are not even considering public school as an option for their little girls.  My first thought was, "What?  Are they too good for public school?"  But then as I read more articles about why the Clintons, and so many other high-ranking officials chose to send their kids to private school, I am starting to understand the Obama's choice a little better.

Hillary said that she was advised by several people to keep her daughter out of public school because the reporters would otherwise never leave Chelsea alone.  The truth is that with the Freedom of Information Act, any reporter could request information about the girls from their public school. That is pretty scary.  

I still can't get over the price tag.  The Washington Post reported that the Obama's will spend more than $50,000 per year on private school tuition for their girls.  Wow.  If a school like Sidwell, one of the two schools they are considering, has 1200 students and each student pays about $25,000 per  year, that means that it makes about $30 million dollars a year.  Can you imagine what a public school could do with that much money?

It could hire more teachers to reduce it's teacher-to-student ratio.  It could invest in a fully-equipped science lab and a science lab director.  It could invest in a computer lab with a full-time computer lab director.  It could fully stock its library.   It could have special ed teachers available full-time...the list goes on, and one, and on...

I am glad for the Obama girls who get to go to fancy private schools, but I am saddened by the thought of  how many more children's lives would be changed for the better if the Obamas decided to send their girls to public school.

TTYL.

 

Book Fair Stress

Who was I kidding?  My baby is still teething and she is still feeling miserable.  Thankfully, today was Little Gym day and she was busy balancing on beams, throwing balls around, and chasing bubbles.  That got her in a better mood.  I hope the tooth comes in soon!

I must go to bed early tonight.  Long nights are not good for someone who is just recovering from a sinus infection.  I still feel tired and now stressed.  I am in charge of the school's book fair and getting volunteers to work it has been rather difficult.  The fair is scheduled for the week after Thanksgiving.  If we had to do it over, I would not pick the week after we are all going to be out of school.  This means that the fair needs to be set up the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and reminders about the book fair need to go out too far in advance.  I'm sure it will all work out but right now I'm feeling a little bit of pressure.  Who said stay-at-home moms don't have stress?  :)

TTYL.

See Sylvia Run

Life is hard when you have a teething baby in the house.  Everything was a crisis for her today. Poor little thing.  I know she's in pain, but can I get one tiny break from the screaming?  Please, baby?  One tiny little one?  

I finally put her to bed at 6:45 pm and she was out by 7:15pm.  When I came out of the bedroom after she was down for the night, I was so ready to run away for a few hours to decompress by aimlessly walking the aisles at Target or Wal-mart.  But I was so moved by the scene in my family room -- the kids in their pjs sitting on David's lap while he quietly read Rapunzel's Revenge to them.  How can I run away from that?  I couldn't do it.  I let them finish their chapter and then the kids were sent up to bed after brushing their teeth.  And it was only 7:25 pm!  Bonus!  I can't remember the last time the kids went to bed before eight.  

So instead of running away, I decompressed by cleaning the kitchen with David, packing lunches, and then reading books on the couch together.  I am in a much better place now and tomorrow is a new day and a new chance to start all over again with my little baby.  

TTYL.

See Pug Run

I am so happy.  Tonight, for the first time ever, my kindergartener read Green Eggs and Ham all by herself! She has been reading those little Scholastic Bob books since she turned 4, but those don't really count because they aren't even real books.  For example, here is the text from the first 3 pages of Sam, one of the Scholastic gems to which I am referring:  page 1, "Sam and Cat."; page 2, "Mat and Cat."; page 3, "Sam, Mat, and Cat".  See what I mean? 

Tonight, we were reviewing her homework after dinner when we realized that we had not done one of the items on her list.  I was supposed to read her a book and she was supposed to follow the words with her fingers as I read them.  She loves Dr. Seuss so she picked up Green Eggs and Ham for me to read, but before she gave it to me, she read the title.  Then she read the author and next thing you know, she was reading the whole book.  I wish I could capture the look on her face when she realized what she was doing.  She was beaming, and I guess I was, too.

Every time our children hit a milestone, it brings back memories of my own childhood. The first book I ever read was called Pug.  I still remember the first few pages of that book, probably because it is so similar to the Scholastic gems I was just talking about--Pug.  See Pug Run.  Go, Pug. Go.  Run, Pug. Run.  I guess we all have to start somewhere.  

I wish all kids had a chance to get excited about books early in their academic lives.  I was lucky to have two people in my house who were avid readers: my grandmother and my dad.  I have this vivid memory of my grandmother sitting under a tree reading her favorite book to me. I am supposed to be playing outdoors with my little neighborhood friends, but instead I am sitting right in front of her fascinated by her story.  She looks so cute with her glasses on and that look of total concentration on her face.  She is reading The Three Musketeers. That is such a happy memory for me.   

My dad also loves books.  He has a special affinity for westerns.  We had many, many books and many, many bookshelves in our house growing up.  We didn't have children's books, but we had two encyclopedias - Childcraft and Brittanica, six huge dictionaries where you could look up any word in 10 different languages, many religious books (my dad was educated in a seminary), many science fiction books, including a large collection of Isaac Asimov's, many books on math and physics, and hundreds of other books all over our house. We, kids, all loved the Childcraft Encyclopedia and we all read it from cover to cover by the time we were in fourth grade.  I still love those books.  My bookshelves don't look right if I don't have a set of Childcraft Encyclopedias on it.  Those books must mean a lot to my siblings, too, because at least two of them also have a set in their house for their kids. 

I was lucky, too, that my first grade teacher had a passion for books and she shared it with her students.  She had a loft in her room decorated like a tree house.  We all loved climbing up into that tree house to read.  I wonder how many of those 6 and 7 year-olds are still readers today because of that tree house?

Some people say that they associate whole periods of their lives with certain music.  They hear a song and all these memories flood back.  Books do that for me.  I hope they do that for my children some day, too.

TTYL.

Stars and S'mores

We were supposed to go camping this weekend, but since we were expecting it to freeze, I was sick, and IK was incredibly cranky because she's teething, we decided to cancel the trip. It was for the best. We ended up having a very productive and fun weekend. Well, mostly David was productive. I spent most of Saturday on the couch watching him do laundry and clean the kitchen. He even found time to entertain the kids (and one of their friends!) with a trip to the library and the mall while I took a nap. Yes, life IS good.  

They brought home The Island of Blue Dolphins from the library.  I read that book in jr. high. It was such a treat to read it with the kids.  It's probably not age appropriate for N, but she seems to be enjoying it and keeps asking lots of questions.  We spent most of Sunday morning reading it. We did a few house projects in the afternoon and we thought we would just have an early Sunday dinner and put the kids to bed, but once we fired up the grill, the kids and David insisted that we have dinner in the backyard even though I thought it was too cold.  When we finished eating our burgers, there were still hot coals in the grill.  We decide to pretend like we were camping and had s'mores for dessert.  The kids loved roasting their marshmallows and assembling their chocolaty treat. 

After dessert, to continue with the pretend-camping idea, we went on a "midnight hike" around the neighborhood. The weather was perfect for it and the kids really enjoyed being out getting some fresh air.  It's amazing how a walk can have such a calming effect on children.  Even IK who had been drooling and whining all day was a happy baby on that walk.

Since it was only 6:45 pm when we got home from our hike, we decided to finish off the pretend-camping night with a real look at the stars.  Our neighborhood has too much light to really see anything in the sky so we drove to West Cave Preserve, a light-restricted area in the Hill Country somewhat near us.  The drive to the preserve was peaceful and relaxing. The kids were in their pj's and drinking hot cocoa and everyone was in a talkative mood.  The one slight problem with this plan is that by the time we actually got to the preserve both girls were already asleep and D was about to doze off.  The sky was just too gorgeous to not wake up N and let her see it.  She was glad we did.  D remembered to bring his binoculars and the four of us stood outside our van, huddling together to stay warm, looking up at the Milky Way, the Seven Sisters, Cassiopeia, and a billion other stars for a long, long time.

TTYL.

What I Know For Sure

I was sick as a dog two days ago - so sick that I had to visit the doctor for the first time in a year.  The doctor diagnosed a sinus infection and sent me home on antibiotics. He also recommended I get "the real Sudafed". You know, the kind you have to swipe your ID for.   

There must be something in that "real Sudafed" because a few hours after I started talking it, I felt like a million dollars.  I only took one Sudafed that day because I went to bed early that night, but I  woke up the next morning at 5:30 a.m. full of energy.  The only reason you could tell that I was sick was because I sounded nasal. Otherwise, I was just having another busy bee day.  That night, however, I realized that you shouldn't take non-drowsy Sudafed right before bed.  You really don't get drowsy. The same day that I woke up at 5:30 a.m. I stayed up until 3:45 a.m.  I was up 22 hours.  Exactly what is in that "real Sudafed?"

While I was up lamenting my lack of sleep, I began to ponder "deep thoughts" as always happens when I have insomnia.  I had just had a conversation with a dear friend about family and I guess that got my brain going.   I began asking myself, Oprah-style, what do I really know for sure about family, friendship, love and just life in general?  Below are some of the crazy thoughts I came up with at 3 a.m.  after being up for 22 hours.  This list is in no particular order and by no means, is this list exhaustive, but I thought I'd share it anyway. 

What I Know For Sure

1. Family loves you no matter what.  You can be the meanest person to your mom, but she loves you just as much as she did when she first held you as a tiny baby in her arms.  Same goes for other family members. 

2. I don't think people realize how much their parents love them until they have children of their own.

3. True friends are the ones that don't mind listening to your issues over and over again.

4. It doesn't matter so much what I wear.  What matters is how I feel.  If I feel good, I will look good.

5. A parent's job is to teach their children to be productive, compassionate members of society. If you model compassion, your kids will be compassionate.  If you model selfishness, your kids will be selfish.  On the other hand, you can't blame it all on your parents, you make your own choices, too.

6. Seize the moment.  Some opportunities only come once in a lifetime.  You don't know how long your life is going to be.  Carpe diem!

7. There is no greater passion than the love between two married people (or people committed to each other) who are sharing the ups and downs of life together.

8.  Life is a lot about attitude.  If you have a positive attitude, you will have a positive life.

9.  Volunteering makes you happy.  Somehow dealing with other people's suffering makes you realize how good your life really is.

10. Life is a little about the destination and a lot about the journey.  My grandma used to say this to me all the time, in Spanish.

11. Don't let somebody who is having a bad day make you have a bad day, too.  Smile and move on.

12.  You can't really get to know someone else until you get to know yourself.  

13.  The guy tail-gating you is probably just in a hurry.  Move over and let him pass you.  There are few things in life more satisfying than watching him get pulled over a few blocks ahead of you for speeding.  :)

Okay.  Your turn.  What do you know for sure?

TTYL.