Celebrity Sighting 2

This one is definitely real.

Mr. Q and I were at a getaway in Alabama (more coming soon) staying at a historic hotel that had been converted to a Hampton Inn.

We went up to have the free breakfast and lo and behold, there was Mr. Jesse Jackson making his own waffle for breakfast !

Woof !

I love seeing my children reach developmental milestones and go through developmental explosions, like putting on their own shoes or coats, walking with alternating feet up or down stairs, initiating pretend play instead of just imitating it. I love the "explosions" that come where all of a sudden they are talking up a storm, or their vocabulary increases, or they have new ideas for building things out or blocks. Those things have generally meant far more to me than any sort of academic type stuff - counting, letter recognition, etc. My new standard phrase to explain this to people who I don't know well is "I'll put my kid's imagination up against your kid's reading level anyday, anytime, anyplace !"

Until recently.

The light that comes on in Beezus' eyes when she sight-reads or recognizes a word is awesome.

It all started a couple weeks ago during one of the many little snowstorms that we've had. We were hosting some friends (who were powerless) with a little girl Ramona's age and her younger baby brother. As is often the case with babies, Baby J. was wearing a cute little outfit with a word on the front. Beezus and Ramona were entranced with him and Beezus was sitting on the floor with Baby J. and his mom and she was pointing at the letters that were on his shirt.

"W"

"O"

"What's this thing right here that is the dog's face ? "
"I think that's supposed to be an 'O' " replied my friend.

"F"

"Woof !" Beezus says and looks up at my friend questioningly.

"Yes ! Woof !" said my friend.

My friend later said that she could see the light come on in Beezus' eyes and on her face. I hurried over and we all expressed our excitement that Beezus was reading. In reality, it was partly phonics and partly context clues that helped Beezus figure out, but it was definitely cool.

Since then, it's happened a few other times when it was definitely phonics or sight reading and not necessarily context clues. "happy" "love" "day" are the three others that come to mind easily. She also recognizes the first names of ALL the children in her class, both on a list and in her own handwriting and all the names of our family as well.

We have a new game where I spell words ending with -at and she correctly states the word and uses it in a sentence.

She still has troube distinguishing visually between lowercase b and d, and auditorally between p and t. But there's enough success that it feels good to her.

I just love seeing the light in her eyes. I hope it's the beginning of many more times like these.

Wife Number 2 ?

As Mr. Q and I were preparing to go out for a long awaited date night on Saturday, leaving the girls with a neighborhood mom from the babysitting co-op, Ramona protested a bit.

The girls are fairly used to me going out in the evening: to jazzercise, a meeting, or out to dinner with other mommies. In fact, they can usually clearly pinpoint where I am going by what I am wearing.

But for both of us to be leaving is an unusual enough occurence that Ramona wasn't sure what to expect.

So, she told me that I should go out and do the grown-up things my myself, and that Ms. P. could stay and help Daddy.

"Just what Daddy would love to have," I told her. "Another wife !"

Game Changer

Hey ! Did you know that I live one block from a fantastic public school that is FREE ?!?! One block ? Free ? Good school ?

And I might not send my kid there. She might go to the fantastic Catholic school that is NOT FREE and that is a mile from my house. A mile that is on a busy road that would require DRIVING her there or biking there.

See, we had made our decision. Beezus would go to the public school (for either kindergarten or first grade, still TBD) and after I dropped her off on the first day I was going to drive right to a car dealer and buy a new car to replace our 9 year old Highlander that has almost 90K on it. I was excited, I felt good, I had heard rousing endorsements of the kindergarten and first grade teachers.

Most of all, I was happy that our decision was made.

But then, the game changer. It was Catholic Schools Week and at mass on Sunday all the faculty from the school attended and opened up their classrooms for an open house afterwards. I actually GOT TEARY seeing the teachers at Mass and acknowledging that they were giving up their Sunday with their families to be at work ! Seriously, WHO DOES THAT ?!?! Lots of people, I suppose, and all the teachers I know work way more than what they are paid for. But still, I was touched.

Over the past few days, I spent some time re-reading this new "classical curriculum" that this school has implemented. I read the bios of all the teachers, including the EIGHT TEACHERS THAT ARE NEW TO THE SCHOOL THIS YEAR. I looked at their daily schedules, weekly homework schedules, and learning objectives. I read the 46 page student handbook. I was still excited but not convinced.

Many of the teachers have master's degrees and/or experience in another area of education. For example, the first grade teacher has a master's in special education and experience in a Montessori school. The second grade teacher has a master's in reading and spends FIFTEEN MINUTES every day reading aloud to the class. None of these things guarantee that the teacher will be "good" but they do imply that these teachers will likely have more tools in their toolbox.

Then, today, I went to the open house. I spent several minutes talking with E., a former CUA student who is now their resource specialist. Then I spent an hour talking with him and with the principal and touring the K-2 classrooms, lunchroom and gym.

Wow.

Because this school was built in 1943, there are floor to ceiling windows along one wall of every room. The ceilings are high and have plenty of blank space at the top so as not to overstimulate the children. The walls are painted soft shades. The classrooms were clean, free of clutter, and well organized. THEY WERE NOT OVERCROWDED. (I know it's Catholic Schools Week and they did a lot of work to clean, but still.)

The lunch room also has floor to ceiling windows along one wall (southern exposure, I might add) and round tables with proper chairs with arms.

The gym is gorgeous - a wonderful large space where the children have PE and where they have recess on rainy days or when the combined wind chill is below 40 degrees.

When talking with the principal, I mentioned concerns about quantity of homework. She said something to the effect of "Well, homework doesn't fit in very well with all the components of a classical curriculum on a daily basis. In fact, there is NO research that demonstrates that homework is even helpful in the learning process." I stared at her open mouthed and dumbfounded and sort of whispered, "Yes, I know. Homework . . . not that helpful . . . until 7th grade . . . " So then, I said, "Well, some homework does help develop executive functioning skills" at which point she nodded in agreement.

There were several other instances where I felt like the principal and I were speaking the same language. It. felt. good.

When we observed in the 2nd grade classroom, the children were in a transition phase. As it was winding down, the teacher said something to the effect of "in your seats, please" and put her hand on her head and started counting backwards from 5, with her voice getting softer as she did so. At 3, she leaned over to the only child standing and whispered "I'm on 3, you need to hurry. I thought it was a cool way to restore order and a respectful one at that.

But the best part, the very, very best part ?

When we observed in the first grade class, the teacher was teaching a lesson that was comparing a contemporary children's story (which the class was reading aloud together) with a Greek/Roman myth (one of the many that the children learn throughout the year). The children were sitting on the floor in a rough rendition of an oval. Well, some were sitting. Some were kneeling, some were wiggling, some were bouncing on their knees, some were slouched against the wall, one was even sort of half-sitting/half-laying in a way that looked very uncomfortable. ALL OF THEM WERE LOOKING AT THEIR BOOKS AND AT THE TEACHER !!!

When I called Mr. Q after the visit, he gently reminded me that I have a tendency to get excited about things right away and that perhaps we should let this simmer. He also reminded me that I have not yet visited our public school. I told him that he was right, that I would turn in our application and the non-refundable deposit and that I would visit the public school this coming week. But I won't write the tuition check yet. Honestly, I fully expect to be this enamored of the public school as well.

It's possible that Beezus will go to the Catholic school this year, or maybe to public school for a year and then to Catholic school, or maybe . . .

But now, I'm just. so. grateful. Grateful that we will likely have two wonderful choices to choose from. We are very, very lucky indeed.

But I'm still annoyed that I might not get my new car. Darn game changers.

Novena for WhyMommy

I will be participating in the novena for WhyMommy - hopefully at her church, and if not, then from my home.

Although the novena will be asking for intercessions through Blessed John Paul II, I thought it couldn't hurt to include some other people in the intercessory list.

So, I found SO MANY other saints who had characteristics shared with Susan who will intercede on her behalf !

Saints who were mothers

Saints who were converts

Saints who were married

Saints who were teachers (I know Susan isn't a traditional teacher, but she sure has taught me !) (Good Lord, I went back to find the link I was thinking of where I reference WhyMommy and there were 4 posts that reference her. Sort of embarassing. One, two, three and four).

Then, there is also the Patron Saint of Scientists: St. Albert the Great; and the Patron Saint of Astronomy and Science: St. Dominic de Guzman.

All of these Saints, pray for us !

(I feel the need to mention AGAIN that I am not a religious nut. I'm just a regular person who swears, drinks, doesn't make it to church every Sunday, but boy oh boy, I BELIEVE !)