No Wimpy Kid

I had Cameron's parent/teacher conference tonight. He's doing very well. No concerns from his teacher. And I heard the two "s" words I've heard the past 2 years. SMART and SPACEY. Does not surprise me at all. Except the "spacey" part is actually getting better I feel. He hasn't forgotten anything this year, yet. Not sure if that's Cameron maturing or the teacher being on top of him.

His school had the bookfair this week. Eventhough I already let him choose a few books, I allowed him to pick out a couple more today as a reward for such a great conference. He chose a diary/questionairre book in addition to a couple others. The book is a companion to 2 books he read last year in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Tonight, in addition to several question pages that he completed, totally independently, he also wrote 7 1/2 pages in the "diary." I didn't even ask him to. He just did it.

(I'm so grateful for the awesome writing teacher he had last year).

I just thought I'd take a moment to brag on my kid. I think he deserves the praise.

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I meet with my regular oncologist tomorrow. We'll be discussing some serious stuff, and be making decisions on what, if any, treatment will best work for us at this point. If we do decide upon the chemo that drips directly into my head...well, that will be starting in less than two weeks. It's all very serious now.

14-16 "If you'll hold on to me for dear life," says God, "I'll get you out of any trouble. I'll give you the best of care if you'll only get to know and trust me. Call me and I'll answer, be at your side in bad times; I'll rescue you, then throw you a party. I'll give you a long life, give you a long drink of salvation!" Psalm 91

Hitting the books again...sorta.

Despite the fact that :

A. I was certified and taught middle school in Massachussets for 2 years AND

B. I passed all proper tests to be certified to teach middle and high school in New Jersey for the four years that I taught there, AND

C. I taught 6th - 9th grade at a charter school in Minnesota for 2 years AND

D. I now have my Masters Degree in English Curriculum and Instruction,

according to the state of Minnesota, I'm not actually qualifed to teach all the grades in middle school.

Apparently, I have one class, The American Middle School, that I must pass to earn my middle school certification in "Communication Arts." It's offered this fall, and is taught by a middle school principal in the area.

With nothing else pending at the moment, I decided to go ahead and register. So yes, I'm a student...again!

School's out...now what?

Our first week of summer...meaning no school...has officially begun.

Max's last day of preschool was actually a couple weeks ago. We were a little concerned as the school year was ending because he kept saying that he had no friends at school and no one wanted to play with him. He never complained about school, and happily went twice a week, so I was a bit baffled by his claim of playing with nobody. I did meet with his teacher about this, and she assured me that he is very well liked, all the kids like to play with him...although he does prefer to play with the girls (which in no way surprised me). His perception is definitely not in sync with reality apparently. And when I went to his end of the year program, this was his contribution to the class's poster on each kid's favorite activity (which was done before I even meeting with his teacher):

Max with his very loving and creative teacher, Miss Peg.

Cameron's last day was Thursday. But Cameron NEEDS to be busy. If he's not, he tends to torture his little siblings, causing nothing but troube. However, I don't want to overschedule Cameron. Although he would probably love all the different camps and activities I could put him in, I don't want to spend all that money, or do all the driving around. Plus he has lots of friends in the neighborhood to hang out with (and they're free). And I think it's important for kids to figure out different things to do together, on their own, that does not involve playing video games.

Cam and his amazing first grade teacher. I do hope Max gets her someday.

In order to have a successful summer, I'm trying to getting into some routine with the kids. The usual breakfast, teeth brushed, beds made, clothes on routine still exists. But I don't want the TV to rule our mornings, as is often the case on the weekends. So in addition to a couple of chores a week, the kids also will have homework to do. Both Cameron and Max have a book they're working out of, and Ella, well, she has crayons and paper. Plus, Cameron will be doing some reading of novels and some journaling as well.

Today, except for Max's complaining that writing letters was boring and insisting that he write E's when he was supposed to be writing F's, all went well. Cameron completed his work in less than an hour, with no moaning and groaning on "this is not what summer is for" (as he had done when I told him about our routine for this time off school). Sara took the kids to Teddy Bear park while I ran and did some errands. When the kids got home, Cam played with some neighborhood friends, and Max hung out in and around the house.

All in all, a good first day. I hope we can keep it up.

The lone nerd

Cameron signed up for Chess Club recently. It was through Community Ed, with what I thought was a rather hefty fee attached to it, and lasted for 8 Thursdays, right after school. He loved it!

When it came time for signs up for the next session, I hesitated. Not only did the $89 fee leave me a little unsettled, but track was going to be starting soon, which also took place on Thursdays, causing a very harried evening trying to juggle activities and dinner.

But Cameron REALLY wanted to do it. He kept asking me if I had registered him yet. He was very excited to continue. I figured that Chess was a good thing, so despite my initial hesitation, I decided to go ahead and let him continue with it.

It was to start yesterday. But shortly after Cameron left for school, I got a phone call from Community Ed stating that Cameron was the ONLY one in all of our county to sign up for chess club, so they had to cancel it.

Needless to say, my little chess geek was very disappointed.

Close enough

Today I had the opportunity to chaperone a trip to the Science Museum. The first graders were to see a movie at the Imax and then visit the different galleries. Cameron told me that the movie we were to see was about Apes.

At breakfast, we were discussing what we knew about apes (basically that they have no tails). And on the bus I was asking all the kids if they were excited to see the movie about the apes. "I'm sure the movie about apes will be really cool." Most of the kids were excited about seeing the furry creatures.

As the movie began, however, the huge dome screen was filled with nothing but snow and mountains. Now I may not know too much about apes, but I was pretty sure that they lived in the jungle, not in frozen climates.

It was then that I realized that we were about to see a movie not about apes, but about the ALPS!

The only primates in the film were the crazy ones scaling those dangerous cliffs, but the kids and I enjoyed the movie nonetheless.

Conference on Cameron

Yesterday I had a conference with Cameron's teacher. I was almost late because the boy forgot to get off at his bus stop...which is directly in front of our house! So I literally was chasing down the bus with my car. Apparently he was talking to a friend who gets off at another stop, so he just forgot about his own stop. Totally does NOT surprise me!

Nor did this surprise his teacher, as we both laughed at his absent mindedness. She said he's super smart, works really hard, but can be somewhat of an airhead sometimes. To which I responded that he gets that from me. She said he'll come over for reading group sometimes with nothing..no book, no supplies, nothing. Then she'll just sorta ask him if he forgot something, and then he remembers that he actually might need a book for reading group. She said that he's very well-liked, a real sweet heart and very polite. She also said that he's the best writer in the class. Now seeing that I'm a writing teacher, I beamed at that bit of information. I guess all that journaling I forced him to do this summer actually paid off.

Overall the conference was a success. Although I'd still like to see more advanced work being done for the kids who can handle it, I am pleased that his teacher seems to be organized and I certainly see much progress in Cameron's reading this year. She also told me that he has journaled about me having cancer. It will be interesting to see what he writes when I lose my hair. I bet he'll have a blast drawing a picture to go with his text.

Chemo Update: Still feeling rather nauseous and tired throughout the day, with a slightly elevated temperature....just high enough to make you not want to do anything, but not high enough to make you want to sit in the house all day either. Hopefully this will have worn off by tomorrow. When people ask me how it feels, I tell them it feels like your first trimester of pregnancy. You just feel like crap. But I am fortunate, because of the advancement in medicine, I'm not barfing my guts out like you used to see in movies or read about in books when a character had chemo. I just keep reminding myself that.

I could only laugh when my husband brought this home.

Maybe I'm being a bit presumptuous here...

but I don't think the cake decorator from Cub Foods had the proper training for his job.

Done

We moved to Minnesota when Cameron was just 5 weeks old.

A couple months later I started my journey into grad school.

Six years and 2 more kids later, I finally completed the 30 credits for my Masters in Education in Curriculum and Instruction in English Education from the University of Minnesota.

We had a party last night called my “Finally! fiesta”

Several people were asking me the question of the night: “So what are you going to do now?”

And I don’t think my standard answer of “I don’t know” portrayed any kind of intelligence.

Here are the things I have in mind:

Take another class. My advisor wants me to take his class on some new technologies which involve a bunch of stuff (great vocab for an English teacher) that I don’t really get since I’m no longer around teenagers on a daily basis…things like creating podcasts, wikipedia, etc.

I could just be a mom…and continue with doing all the daily chores that I abhore around the house…(the chores I abhore…not my kids…love them…but not their messes!). I could actually try to teach my 2 littlest ones their letters and sounds and plan some real learning activities besides watching Backyardigans, Dora, and Wonder Pets.

I could get a teaching job….but I will only do part time at the moment. And then I’d fear that I’d spend too much of my time with my kids too stressed out worrying about how I was going to get all my school work done. Because when you’re a good teacher, your work day NEVER ends at 4 PM like so many non-teachers think. Plus, it’s actually quite hard to find a part time job for a middle school teacher. And, despite my certification, I have little interest in teaching high school. Furthermore, despite the benefits of my advanced degree, too many school districts have too many budget restraints that won't let them hire anyone with a Masters or beyond.

I could try to be a consultant. That’s what I think I want to do. That way I could answer my calling and feel like I’m really doing something, while also having the flexibility to be with my kids as I/they need. My plan is to take this next year, figure out how to create a business as a consultant, and get it all together to implement the following year. There are so many charter schools in Minnesota…many who can’t afford departement heads who are needed to create effective and inspiring curriculum…that I feel this could really work. But my problem is I’m not much of an extrovert. Although I do feel confident in my teaching abilities and I have the passion for middle school students, I’d really be stepping out of my “comfort zone” to do something like this. And this is S-C-A-R-Y!

Plus, if I don’t so something, how am I supposed to justify having Sara four days a week who helps me out so much with the housework and my 3 munchkins. We have NO intention of letting her go…but I feel I need some sort of “job” or “school” to justify her help without feeling like a completely spoiled housewife!!!!

But I am so grateful to my husband for his support both emotionally and financially, and I need realize that I am so blessed that I do have so many choices. But if you were around my kiddos lately,…who ignore everything I say, or who whine and cry for everything, or who reach for anyone else who is near as soon as she sees me approach her, you’d understand that I need SOMETHING else to help me feel like I’m contributing something positive to society.

Now What?

A 1:30 AM this morning, I turned in my last grad school assignment.

It's exciting and kinda sad at the same time.

Controversy

During Max’s “After Hours” time, (that’s what I call it when he decides to make a visit after I already put him to bed), he often wants to do whatever I’m doing. Tonight, when I was drinking my wine, he wanted some grape Kool-aid. When he sees me typing on my laptop, he wants his Barney “computer” When I’m reading a text for my grad project, he, too, wants to be turning the pages of a novel…not one of his books, but one of MY books.

The other night he seemed quite interested in this year's Newbery Award winner, The Higher Power of Lucky. Despite the hastened ending, it's a heart-warming story.

Oh, gasp, some of you may be thinking. If you read the New York Times or have any interest or connection whatsoever with middle level readers, then you know that my son is reading a very controversial book.

This novel, which received the highest honor for books for young readers has the word SCROTUM in it……Gasp! Oh, wait, there’s more…because the word SCROTUM is in the book not just once, not just twice, but THREE times!

Goodness, if this is what my children will be reading, I might need to start burning my whole library! Wouldn’t want to corrupt them with realistic terms for parts of their body. What a travesty.

(For an interesting and more realistic portrayal of this book, read Young Adult author Scott Westerfeld's response to the NY Times article here...scroll down to Feb. 19th).