Box of Chocolates

New topic but ranting again (just thought I would give you fair warning). Accelerated Reader. A blessing or a curse? I love that my kids can read. I love that Accelerated Reader motivates my kids to finish books. I don't like the ridiculousness that goes on behind good intentions.  My kids school gives them a range to read between and they have to get so many testing points a semester. It is part of their reading grade.  I don't agree with grading recreational reading.  Studies show grading recreational reading it is causing kids to NOT be life long readers. Isn't that what we want?  Yes! I also want my kids to be better readers but there is a fine line between becoming a better reader and having a person who can read but doesn't.   Accelerated Reading tests do few things for the teacher. It tests the kids on comprehension and it gives points based on the level of the book. For example my oldest is reading a book right now that if she gets all the answers correct o

My pity party is over and I am stepping up to the challenge of going back to school. If all goes as planned I will be starting classes in January. Just a couple of classes (for now).  I did a lot of self reflection. I really think I didn't pick the best college degree for me but what is done is done. I do not want to afford an other degree right now.  I love teaching and learning. I really don't love the state mandated testing and the helpless feeling of having to do it their way but teaching is a means to an end.  I had to really evaluate my goals and dreams this past week and I learned a lot. One thing I learned is that I have a very artsy personality.  I already knew this but it all makes better sense to me when I looked at in in terms of career. One website I came across in my deep search for self was based on Dr. James Holland theory that there are 6 different types of personalities and that you best fit into two to three. One of personalities is beyond a shadow of a dou

I have been a stay at home mom for 10 years this December. I have made choices in life that make me unhireable. These choices I would not change. The sad part to me is I have a MA in elementary education and I can not get a job in the classroom. I started to write my resume last weekend. It really is a joke and if I was an employer I would toss it in file 13. I wouldn't hire me. I will have to do a lot to get back into teaching. I had a horrible day last Thursday when I was trying to figure this all out. I think it all troubles steam from pride. I am proud to be the first to graduate college in my family with not one, but two degrees. You would think that would be enough to get a job. Not so. Thursday morning I was going to sign up for one of the tests I need to take but my heart was racing.  I decided to call the Department of Education in Montgomery to double check my facts. The website is horrendous and the the employee at the certification office in Montgomery is not nice.

I am so glad I started this blog in 2008. What I love is I do write occasionally and I have a journal of this so called life. I wish I did it more often and the past week showed me how wonderful it is to document even the silliest of things. I had no idea that when I started my blog when my mom was moving out of town that it would become my heart in words. I recently got asked to share my testimony for Financial Peace University. I was so excited that I didn't know where to start. I am all about living the debt free life. I know that the years of a budgeted life got us through one of the hardest times in our 15 years of married life. Six months of both of us being unemployed with three young kids. As I am reading over my speech of what I was going to say to encourage these people I had this inner voice say to me, "go read your Box of Chocolates from 2008."  I did and I started to see 2008 from 2012 and I was blown away.  I found my heart in words. I cried a lot. Not t

Ready of not here comes school year 2012/13. I am not sure why but my kids do not what to go back to school. I asked if they want me to homeschool and they all yell, "NO!"  They all have good teachers so I am not sure why they don't want to go back.  Maybe we have too much fun in the summer. As we prepare for another year of school I am thinking about the what is in store for me this year too. Today I found my mind wondering all over the map of my life. I think that this year will be my last year of stay at home mom. I really enjoy my time home without the kids but on the flip side I really miss them and dislike being a stay at home mom without anyone here.  I know I could do a better job of managing and cleaning house but in reality 100% of my time is not needed here at home.  I am ready to contribute monetarily.  I might only say these things because my chosen profession is teaching so I will have all the same days off as they have give or take a few.  Really one of t

Finally an exception to the law, sort of an exception. I got THE phone call today. Alex is officially going to third grade next year. I guess the proper term is double promotion or grade acceleration. Whatever they want to call it I am pleased. It took a long time. She will not only go into a grade where she no longer stands out physically but she will also get to start the gifted program. So many changes in the coming year. She blushed when I told her she was going to third grade.  So cute! Tomorrow is my birthday and I will be going into my 36th year with a smile on my face knowing that we had a major victory for us within the public school system. I do feel like this is a victory for us. For three years we have known that she was not a typical 4, 5 or 6 year old. It took a couple years of school and lots of testing to get to today. It took persistence and lots of patience. The road has been long and we have had a victory for our kid to get what she needs within the public school s

As I read this resource this quote explains so much of my past nine years as a mom, " The Gifted Child.  No individual can be more exhilarating, or more frustrating. The parents and teachers who deal with these wonderful children can often be described in a single word: Exhausted. The gifted child can speak as an adult one minute, comparing the emotional relationships in Les Mis with relationships in her own life, or discussing potential conflicts between evolution and the bible, and in the next minute throw an impressive tantrum because she didn't get what she wanted... right now! She can have you in awe of her theories on accelerated space travel, or pulling your hair out in frustration over her argumentative refusal to do her part in everyday chores."    ~hoagiesgifted.org Now I will say we don't have discussions on Les Mis or accelerated space travel.  Although we have had some crazy discussions in this house from time to time.  One that stands out is hovercra

We had a conference yesterday even though school is out.  I didn't get an official word on moving Alex up a grade but I got a ton of data.  A TON!  I am having a hard time processing all this new information and what it may or may not mean. What I learned is there is a Iowa Acceleration Scale Form that is used in our state.  What this form does is looks at your student in 5 different areas and depending on the score helps determine if your student is an excellent, good, marginal or not recommended for acceleration.  The five areas are AAAA (academic ability, ability, aptitude and achievement), school and academic factors, developmental, interpersonal skills, and attitude and support. Each of the areas has a point system.  For the achievement part it is hard to argue with the points based on  scores to two different tests.  Some of the other areas are subjective and well I just don't like some of the questions.  You get more points if you have no siblings,  You get less poin

The last day of school has come and gone.  Still no official word on moving up a grade.  What I do find very exciting is the last nine weeks my daughter made straight A's.  Not surprising but she spent one nine weeks in second grade, the last of four and still made straight A's.  Just more data to prove the move will be a good one for her. Also, I had a parent from that class yesterday tell me that her daughter really enjoyed having Alex in class.    This might not sound like a huge deal but being accepted by new peers and getting along with those kids is something they look at in moving a student up a grade. The gifted teacher is working so hard for a few students even though the final bell has rung.  I am so appreciative of their efforts.  For now we joke with Alex about what grade she is in.....because we don't know.  She said that makes her feel stupid (that is a first).  It is all in good fun.  She knows their is a possibility of not moving and she said if she goes

Four more years!  I couldn't help myself.  Only four more school days and the 2011-2012 year is over.  I still have not heard what is go to happen for next school year in regards to moving my kid up a grade.  I do know they are feverishly going to get a test done with the hopes of knowing for sure with quantitative data that Alex can skip a grade.  After her moving up one grade (short term) and being with her newest peers I am convinced that this will be the best thing for her long term. Short update but it is an update.  I'm sure you will hear me all over the world when I get the official word. Moving on. I had a parent call me this week and we talked for a long time mostly about education.  She also has a student that is high performing but this parent also feels like all her students needs are no being met or that the process for getting these needs met is long, tooooooooooo long.  One of the first things out of this parents mouth was, "I don't talk about it bec

I am happy to report that my first grader is going to second grade for reading and math.  I feel like I should have taken a picture of her first day of second grade. EEKS!  Oh well, life will go on. Although this is my middle child and this might be the flub that ruins her life. She has more homework but is adjusting.  We have had one incident since she started leaving her class.  The nosey little boy next to her would not let it go and figured out where she was going everyday.  Alex didn't want her class to know that she was going up a grade.  Well this little guy is like a cat, curious. He apparently went through her desk while she was gone one day and connected the dots. Confronted her on the playground (sounds all made up but this is real). Some nasty words were exchanged something along the lines of, "so you think you are smarter than everyone here." Then started to tell the whole class where she was going.  Since she was not feeling well her reaction was less than

I am a dreamer. I am a thinker. I know for a fact I over analyze everything and question life constantly.  Lately it was been my role of mother.  What I have recently called my guilty pleasure in life, being the stay at home mom of three school aged kids that send to school 5 of 7 days a week.  The other day as I walked out to the mailbox in deep thought I had a epiphany.  What if God's plan for me with my degrees in education is just for the purpose of sheepherding Alex.  Humbling to tears.  What if what God wants for me is not to go to work everyday to make a teachers salary but for the soul purpose of being the best advocate for my kids.  Given all the tools needed to make sure my kids get the best education possible.  I don't thinks these thoughts even if they sound silly should be ignored.  If anyone knew that Alex would be so unique wasn't it God?  Did he guide my path into education just because one day I would be her mom?  Maybe.   I read a devotional a few we

I try hard not to be that parent.  The parent that really has no business making outrageous requests on behalf of their children. On the flip side my past teaching experience tells me that my kid is unique. I know enough to be dangerous. I have been in the public school as a teacher long enough to know how things work, what questions to ask, and I know who you ask is crucial. Last year in kindergarden my student was reading on a third grade level early in the year. I requested her to take the STAR test early. The STAR test gives you a grade equivalent to reading skills. I only knew this because of my older student. Kindergardeners usual don't take this test because most of them do not read. She was reading on a mid third grade reading level. Her teacher of 26 years said she never had a student that could read so high. Bells and whistles went off in my head. We had our conferences and made requests. What we would have liked to see happen didn't. On the flip side she loved sc

Education seems to be a touchy subject with so many people.  I know for a fact it is one of my hot buttons. As a parent and former elementary teacher I often think about education and all the different forms.  As a parent I struggle with what is best for my children.   There are so many choices in education.  So when you mix my hot button of education, my children, and the fact I like to write for fun.  You get the following.... We choose to send our kids to public school.  For a number of reasons.  One of them is I don't have the overwhelming desire to homeschool.  We don't send them to private school because we have three kids.  Tuition for three kids at even a low costing private school can run over $15,000 a year.  I also don't think that a private education always gets you the best education. I also feel this way about all forms of education.  I don't think there is a perfect learning environment.  All learning environments have there pros and cons.  I am pretty

I recently watched the movie I Don't Know How She Does It. I found it entertaining and irritating all at once. I really don't know how the working mom does it. If her husband is not doing at least half of what I do as a stay at home mom for the family, I see why people end up divorced. This movie probably irritated me because of where I am in life. I am an over-educated stay at home mom. I have been in the college classroom longer than I actually worked in my degree field. I do struggle with this fact more than a normal person should struggle with a silly fact of life. Life is about choices and I made my choices. I had the opportunity to go back to college with tuition paid to get my masters degree. I was newly married with no kids. Carpe Diem!  For two years of my life, two days a week I went to class. When I graduated I was three months pregnant. I never went back to working outside the house once I had our first of three kids.  You can only imagine the guilt that one has w