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 c...

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...

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. ...

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 scho...

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 ho...