Time to Slow Down

These last few weeks seem like they are part of a tesseract.  We have been so busy with Thanksgiving, book fair, and getting ready for the faculty party last Saturday, that we have not had a chance to really sit down and enjoy the season.  I am hoping this week will be slightly different.  It's still full of activity but it feels more planned somehow.  Tomorrow is N's class holiday party and we are having our former neighbors over after school for a play date.  We miss them so much.  We have awesome new neighbors, but still, we miss the days of hanging out with our buddies.   Thursday is the school sing-along at 7:45 a.m. and then Daniel's class holiday party at noon.  N has a sleep-over at school that night, too.  She is so excited!  Friday, I want to take the kids caroling around the neighborhood.  It's so much fun.  We did this once in Houston with our friend Kevin and once in Boston with our friend Susan.  I really want to have a posada which is a traditional Mexican celebration of the holiday season, but it entails too much planning so we will stick with caroling this year.  We'll put the posada on the list of things to do next Christmas...Sunday is David's birthday!  I can hardly wait.  I think I am always more excited about his birthday than he is.  The kids and I have been stealthily collecting a stash of gifts for him.  I am thinking of having a birthday party for him, but haven't had time to organize it.  Isn't that sad?  Ok, that's it.  I'm sending out the invitations right now.  TTYL...

Rethinking Old Posts

Is it really December 8 already?  Chairing a book fair the first week in December might not be the greatest idea I've ever had.  We have two weeks left of school now and I am still not done Christmas shopping.  This weekend we are hosting David's faculty party so the house needs to look spic-and-span.  Remember what I wrote in my Domestic Goddess post about having a plan figured out to have my house looking nice all the time?  The plan only works when you are not running out of the house every day at 7 a.m. and coming back home at 7 p.m.  My house is a wreck right now. With the Christmas tree falling over on Monday and spending what little time I had in the evenings making it look good again, I have not had a chance to "maintain."  I am feeling the urge to call in some hired help and have them clean it up....it's very tempting and we have done it in the past, especially the year I was pregnant, but we'll see how I manage this week.  Wish me luck.  

I should really be asleep right now, but my sweet 17-month-old has a cough and woke me up about two hours ago and for the life of me, I cannot go back to sleep.  Remember what I said in an older post about how nice it was to cuddle at night with your kids?  I guess that doesn't apply when they are sick.  

Must go back to bed if I am going to be a sane momma tomorrow....TTYL.

Home Sweet Home

We are finally home after a quick visit to my family in the Rio Grande Valley.  I am totally sleep-deprived and suffering from heartburn after binging on my mom's home-made tamales, but my heart is brimming with joy-- the unique joy that comes from spending time with your loved ones in the town where you grew up.  

I love taking my children back home to visit our extended family.  My dad had thirteen children and my dad's brother had sixteen and those two families have grown tremendously. Thanksgiving Day down there is like a big open house day.  Relatives, neighbors, and friends drop in throughout the day to taste the delicious Mexican-style turkey my mother makes, her tamales, and her tres leches cake, and to catch up with the family.  My kids especially love spending time with their many cousins.  Remember how much fun it was to go visit cousins when you were little? 

I also enjoy sharing with my children the spaces and places where I spent the first 19 years of my life. I am overcome by emotion at the thought of my children playing in the same beach in the same sand with the same rocks with which I played when I was a child.  That's when I ponder the insignificance of my 40 years of life on this earth which has been here for 5 billion years.  My great-grandchildren's grandchildren will probably play in that same beach in that same sand with those same rocks long after I am gone. 

My kids love to stand in the room where I slept as a little girl. They can't believe their mom was once a little kid just like them. My parents have combined my grandmother's old room and the room  that my sister and I shared into one large guest room, but sometimes late at night when I walk into that room and see the moonlight coming in through the window, I feel like I am an 8-year-old again looking out my bedroom window.  

I love visiting my childhood home, but I also love coming back to my very own home where my children are creating memories of their own. 

TTYL.

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.