Thursday, March 4, 2010 by karen.

Public school in Disturbia isn’t quite the same as in a rural area.   Modern school, itself isn’t the same as it was 15yrs ago. 

My 4th grader has racked up 24 tardies this year.  Many are to be blamed on myself, however, it shouldn’t be overlooked that regardless of who’s fault, that number is absolutely absurd!  Today would have been #25 but he just stayed home instead.  I believe I was ‘played’ by him.  I understand he didn’t feel well upon waking up most likely due to the abundance of sugar he consumed yesterday.  It has been determined he has a sensitivity to sugar and highly processed foods.  He was up way past his bed time due to having trouble sleeping from the sugar.  Congrats to him for baking the cake on his own and making the frosting from scratch.   Kudos to me for actually having all the ingredients in the kitchen! 

He informed me he wishes to be home-schooled again and questioned why everyone in school is so immature.  I chuckled as he is probably the most immature boy in his class but I quickly learned his view of immaturity is quite different than mine.

In AZ, the schools are required to submit the students to standardized testing known as AIMS.  His scores last year were good.  I want to see what his scores are this year before deciding to home-school again.  I suspect they will not be as good as last year’s.  I am weighing the pros and cons.    

My goal as a parent is to raise my children to be happy, self sufficient and successful in their future whatever that may be.  I do not measure success in dollars. 

Home-schooling isn’t just a way to ‘get by’.  He was learning more last year and retaining it. The AIMS scores proved it.  Home-schooling has a stigma but it is becoming more & more common due to resources making it easier. 

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Thursday, March 4, 2010 by Dana.

As a youth baseball coach for the past 16 years, this crime really bothers me.  Good umpires for youth baseball are hard to find, and nearly all of them take more crap from parents eager to relieve their glory years through their boys.  You never hear a parent yell to their son, “be a good sport and accept the call that was made”.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/Payson-couple-accused-of-pocketing-money-paid-for-Little-League-umpires-86294562.html

So you have these underpaid umpires that range from high school kids to out of work parents to retirees, and they agree to be heckled and harassed for $25-$30 per game… to later be cheated out of their money by a couple of greedy scumbags.  Based on the mug shots showing the extra chins, they must have been using the money to dine out at the waffle house way too much.

What are your thoughts?

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