Thursday, August 26, 2010 by karen.

School in disturbia is an entirely different experience than in a rural area. Besides the fact kids walk or are driven to school more than they ride the bus, the teaching techniques are a bit modern. I wish my youngest rode the bus, I think it would be good for him. Isn’t that where we learned most of our social skills, street smarts, etc…? The stuff that only the bus driver would allow? Good times! We’ve had a good start to the year with a 5th grader, 8th grader & 11th grader. No calls on the 5th grader and the 11th grader is finally involved in a physical activity requiring more than just a flick of the wrist….swim team!

Our 8th grader on the other hand has decided to make this year his best yet.  He is planning on trying out for the basketball team, baseball team, obtain better grades (if not A’s) and be in the school musical for the 3rd year.  You could also say he wants to have stud status since he likes having a ‘girlfriend’ which means, he texts her and can change his Facebook status to ‘in a relationship’. Way to go son!  I’ve already received a call from one of his disturbia teachers. The conversation was a bit like this:

T: Mrs. ****

M: Yes.

T: I’m calling you to discuss ****

M: OK

T: Do you know what a few of the boys were doing over the weekend?

M: Uh, well, yeah….but I guess not. What have they been doing?

T: It appears a few of the boys have been lighting themselves on fire by spraying Axe on their skin.

M: Oh yeah. (pause) I know. **** was very proud & showed me. It looked pretty cool.

T: (light gasp) So you know about this??

M: Yeah. He asked me if he could do it and was very persistent. I finally told him ‘ok’ he had to do it in front of me.

(Can you say white trash? “Hey mom, watch this!” sort of thing)

T: I think you should know one of the students has an infection and missed school yesterday.

M: Oh, Ok. Yeah, I know him.

T: This is a serious matter, Mrs. *****. Kids are getting hurt. He had an infection and had to miss school!

M: Ok.

(I got the feeling she doesn’t know what to say at this point.)

T: Do you watch Dr. Phil?

(What?!)

M: I know who he is and I’ve seen a few episodes. Why?

T: I think you and your family should watch him today. I feel you would benefit from him.

M: Ok, why? What is he having on his show today?

T: Dr. Phil is having a discussion about children lighting themselves on fire.

M: Ok, I will look into it.

Are you kidding me???  I’m sorry the boy got hurt, but guess what, he is my son’s best friend and I already spoke to his mom. She was there when my son showed us. What the teacher doesn’t realize is for my son, it’s a magic trick, not ’setting himself on fire’. We are talking about the boy who had a quarter removed from his esophagus when he was 10yrs old for attempting a ‘trick’. My friend was initially upset but now gets a kick out of the situation as she said it best “He’s such a dumb ass”.  

I did the typical mom thing.  I called my 13yr old and cursed at him for making me look bad.  He finally understood I wasn’t upset with him for doing the ‘trick’ but for discussing it at school. I informed him he cannot tell everyone the shit I let them do since many disturbia folks would call CPS on my ass. Trust me, I would have a field day with CPS.

After discussing this with a few people (my rural living sister included), I question if this is really a teacher’s duty? I think it’s a fine line. The ‘dumb ass’ act didn’t occur on school campus or during school hours. Ms. Disturbia Teacher, save your breathe for the incompetent parent or the truly abused child who needs you to step in.

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Monday, March 8, 2010 by karen.

I just heard about a school in Denver that is rejecting a preschooler due to the fact the child has 2 moms.  http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/22769137/detail.html

I understand the catholic religion pretty well and while same-sex relationships are deemed inappropriate along with many other lifestyle choices, it just seems ridiculous.   I attended catholic school for 8yrs and was raised catholic continuing to attend mass into my mid 20’s.  I was married in the catholic church and had my children baptized.  I was also one of 3 sisters to become pregnant before marraige.  We were still accepted into the church and our children were accepted as well.  Even after a divorce, the church accepts you.  I remember attending school with kids who’s parents were divorced or going through a divorce but they were still able to attend the school.  I am confident there are lesbian/gay teachers in this country working at catholic schools but perhaps the demand for quality teachers is so high the church over looks them.  Where do they get off to simply choose who they are going to throw stones at?   I assume divorce is so common that it is simply accepted in the modern church.  How long until same sex marraiges/relationships are allowed in the catholic church?

Lesbian moms, why even bother to enroll your daughter at a catholic school?  You should know better.  Perhaps the education quality is the reason, but there are many other high-priced education facilities for your child to attend where you and she will be accepted. 

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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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Wednesday, February 10, 2010 by Dana.

During a business dinner tonight, a co-worker asked how my coaching activities were going.  I was telling him that my middle child was now on 2 teams, having made his 7^th grade team.  I coach his club team, and I was talking about how so many of the boys on our club team had made their school teams.  This was rewarding for me because the club team had been put together specifically to help get the boys ready for their school team tryouts.  My wife then chimed in with “You’ve coached all the boys that  made the school team, right?”.

I paused to think, and then I realized… yes, almost.  In fact, I have coached 12 of the 14 boys, and the other 2 I have coached against.  I also have coached for or against nearly all the 8^th grade boys and the 7^th and 8^th grade teams at neighboring schools.  It gives me a great sense of accomplishment to have been able to see these boys grow and develop in baseball and in life.  Youth baseball coaches don’t get paid, volunteer large amounts of time, and spend money out of their own pockets for gear… and we don’t ask for anything in return. We do it because we want to, and we do it because we like seeing the boys grow and improve because of our contribution.

If you are a youth sports coach, I tip my hat and extend my thanks to you for all that you do.

If you are a parent, let your coach know that he/she is appreciated. It means a lot to us.

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Saturday, January 30, 2010 by Dana.

News bulletin… college kids are rowdy, and ASU is more rowdy than most.  Wait… that isn’t really news, is it?  On a particular slow news day, writers form the local PHX Metro rag took a few crime reports related to egg throwing (not cool) and wild parties (the norm?) to make it sound like there was something news-worthy to report… Here is the link, but you will want your 3 minutes back after you read it.

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Friday, January 15, 2010 by Dana.

Local news… more white collar crime by idiots.  In this case, a couple embezzles from a charter school.  A note in the article states they are looking for the husband in this case.  I’m just wondering if he is running from the law or if his wife’s scary mug shot is motivating his flight.

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Thursday, September 10, 2009 by Dana.

Why is this news?  Because AZ Republic (azcentral.com) doesn’t really doesn’t print much else… anyway… this article about the schools (where my kids go) now have SmartBoards.  This is a technology available 10 years ago, and deployed to many businesses 6-8 years ago.  I guess they finally dropped the price tag down to a reasonable level.

Now teachers can electronically scribble on the PowerPoint slides they made in 1998 and never updated.  Isn’t the state of education in America great? *eye roll*

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Thursday, August 6, 2009 by Dana.

So the report is that this FORMER elementary school Assist. Principal is an escort.  I emphasise the word FORMER, because nobody is claiming she was doing both at the same time (as of yet).  So now 2 sources have come forward (to the local news) to out her.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/ahwatukee/articles/2009/08/05/20090805n12-escortprincipal08052009-CR-CP.html

I’m guessing that some angry wife found out her husband used her services, and she made him to go with her to the news or lose half of everything in the divorce.

And if there is no proof that she was doing both at the same time… get off her case.  She may have quit to be able to make enough money to pay her mortgage, because everyone knows teachers are underpaid.

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Saturday, August 23, 2008 by Dana.

Home Schooling seems to be more pervasive today than when I was a kid.   Back then, home schooling was just for religious fanatics that were too protective of their kids to expose them to learning about sex on the school bus.

As I mentioned in a previous post, our youngest attends school from home.  It isn’t really home schooling in the traditional sense.  He attends a public, state-funded charter school that conducts its classes and instruction on-line, using a parent as the learning coach.   He has a teacher that reviews his assessments, answers questions, and provides on-line or phone based assistance.  Some lessons include a lecture element conducted on-line.  Everything is provided including the books, science lab supplies, and PC with a printer.

What’s the issue?  We have 2 older boys in traditional schools (6th grader in middle school and freshman in high school), and now they are having grass is greener on the other side syndrome.  Our middle child is envious that his younger brother is at home learning when he is at school trying to dodge the kids that are bullying him in the hallway.  The middle child wants to be able to do part of his learning at the coffee shop, and his desire to not be at school has resulted in multiple calls over multiple days in the 1st 3 weeks of school wanting to come home because he didn’t feel well.  Our oldest seems fine being in high school; however, he struggles to remember to complete work and turn in completed work.  Of course there are medications that help him focus, but being home schooled would soften the “turn in your homework” requirement substantially.

The solution sounds simple… let them all attend AZVA.  The questions… does that create more problems or different problems to address.  Will Karen have time for all 3 boys during the day so they are learning effectively?  How will it impact her ability to run her business out of the home?  Will it add to the stress in the household or will it improve the family bonds?  Will the kids get the social interactions they need (remember we live in Disturbia, not the rural countryside)?  Will they miss out on important extracurricular activities?

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