The Writing Experience

Every time I begin a blog post, and look at the last date I posted, I chide myself for not writing sooner. The thing is, I think about writing something, and I talk myself out of writing it, for fear that it is stupid, or I can't put together some thoughts in my mind, so I drop it. But what I am remembering is my college experience. When I had a paper to write, I always, but always, put it off until the last minute. Even in my freshman humanities classes, where we had to write a rough draft and go over it with a classmate, I never used the rough draft when I wrote the final paper. Instead, I usually became inspired around eleven or midnight the night before the writing was due, and pounded out a paper on my electric typewriter, which usually got a pretty good grade. I don't have to have The Great American Blog Post planned out in my head before I start writing. As in other areas of life, maybe the most important place to start is by just showing up.

Mad at Ohio

At my daughter's dance lesson tonight, I was talking to a father who happens to be a teacher in our school district. He informed me and the other mom there that the state of Ohio is shifting to mandatory full-day kindergarten AND mandatory *preschool.* I'm angry and appalled! Yes, I sent my daughters to preschool, and they enjoyed it, but it was only mornings, not every school day, and I certainly wouldn't want it to be forced on every child. I also don't see five-year-olds as necessarily being ready for all-day school, either. They're still so young! Of course, too many children that age are in all-day daycare anyway, and I have to wonder if parents who do have children in daycare were a driving force behind this. It also makes me mad that I am subsidizing their daycare, basically. They are probably using some sort of excuse about helping the children academically, but seriously. When my daughters were kindergarten age, they were still solidifying letters and numbers. I don't see going to a whole day making a difference in that. Not to mention that there is evidence that even Head Start ends up not giving kids an advantage in the long run. Where is the evidence that all-day preschool will work?

Another issue is the cost. Our school district is blessed to be in a financially good place at the moment, but adding all those extra kids, and the extra hours, will put a strain on the district's budget. How will districts that already struggle financially deal with it? Especially in this economy? It will mean more levies, and of course the schools know how to manipulate parents, by cutting "non-essential" classes like art, extracurricular activities and busing. Of course, so many parents work today that they are apparently happy to pay the extra taxes to ease the burden of having to drive them to school, and pick them up right after school.

I'm so disappointed in Ohio. I'm definitely contacting my legislators, although it's a bit late at this point. I wish I had a place to get good Ohio news besides the local rag. Homeschooling did not work out in the long run for us, but I think I would probably homeschool during the preschool and kindergarten years if I had children of that age. It's a sad development.

Communication

Not only do we access our daughters' grades, homework and other notes online, the "newest thing" among our daughters' teachers seems to be having blogs. Do you think time putting up homework assignments, updates on what the class is currently working on, and pictures, time well spent? It certainly can help give parents a handle on exactly what their child is learning.

Summer Reading

"When I was your age, television was called books."

The Evil Genius family is a family of voracious readers. The Dancer is cruising her way through the Lemony Snickett series currently. The Equestrienne has been going back and reading old favorites, but she also has three assigned books for her freshman Honors English class that she has to read this summer: A Separate Peace, Night and A Raisin in the Sun. I need to buy them for her soon! I am glad to see she is reading more classic literature than she got in her 8th grade English class. I myself read the first two books for school as well. Night was assigned while we were studying in Germany, and I got to hear Elie Wiesel speak at Kent State University, although honestly I don't remember much of it! I remember I did evaluate the speech for the public speaking class I was taking that quarter.

Cheryl did a post a while ago which made me think back to all of the classics that I have read for fun or self-enrichment. I read The Picture of Dorian Gray, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Ivanhoe, All Quiet on the Western Front. I read translations of Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera after seeing the musicals. I have a tendency to do this; I read The Princess Bride and even 101 Dalmatians out of interest from the movies. Read The Neverending Story but haven't seen the whole movie. I'm sure once I end this post I will remember more classics I have read on my own.

I will have to come up with a new name for the Equestrienne, as she has lost interest in riding, at least for now. Can't come up with a better name than the High Schooler. Maybe I'll ask her for input.

Loving to Learn

The Equestrienne starts high school next year. It will be a big milestone for our family! They are already doing class planning at the middle school for next year. I wish I had had as many class options as the Equestrienne does. I attended a small parochial high school and the classes were mostly very basic college prep. I was prepared for college courses, so my schooling was not inferior; we just didn't have nearly as many options as they do in this large suburban high school. I find myself wishing that I had attended public school. The public schools in the town I grew up in were and are very well thought of academically, and I know they had more to offer even back in my high school days.

I've always seen school as not only for creating a foundation of learning for life, but also as preparatory for earning a living. That's why I'm glad for more than one reason that the Equestrienne will be able to take classes such as photography or fashion. She can be exposed to a lot of different things that may lead to a career or just an activity to enjoy.

I'm also interested to see what honors classes, if any, the Equestrienne will be able to get into. Right now, college is a necessity for her career goals, so I'd like to see her get as many advantages in her high school years as possible.

I've sometimes thought I'd like to take classes, at the undergraduate level. That will have to wait, if it happens, until my girls are fairly launched on their own. Of course there are many ways to learn outside of a school, so I can still pursue my interests! Especially now that the girls are in school during the day.

The Pace of Life

Some people (and families) seem to like to be constantly on the run. They're never at home, except to sleep and maybe eat; their lives are filled with scheduled activities. I am not one of those people. Perhaps it's because I am introverted, and need big doses of quiet, "alone time" to rest and re-energize. Perhaps it's because I show a lot of the indicators of ADD, and I'd go nuts trying to juggle more than I already am. In any case, as my kids are growing older I'm really appreciating how much homeschooling helps with a laid-back lifestyle. We're involved in a lot more activities than my husband and I hoped to be in the naive years of our early parenting. However, several of them can be fit into the daytime, so that we're not on the run all late afternoon and evening. For example, my daughter's Latin class, taught by one of our pastors, is held on Wednesday mornings. She also takes piano lessons, and those can be taken during the day as well. Not to mention how this really minimizes having to run one child one place and then run another child someplace else. It's so fulfilling, and yet so relaxing!