Today I'd like to highlight something that I have been stewing over in my own mind, trying to talk myself in or out of at every turn, something that I thought was an issue to me alone.
A very dear friend, with whom I work in the Young Women's program at church, recently posted this on her Facebook page. I lifted it directly from there. She is a math teacher at our high school, and a brilliant one at that. Her thoughts carry a lot of weight for me as I have an incoming sophomore.
"Friends: No matter how perfect and capable your children are, please don't let them overload their lives. I have so many incredible students who are falling apart because they HAVE to be in every sport, music group, and AP class; get their Master's degree; miss weeks of school for exotic trips; AND get straight As. They don't have an actual time-turner. Help them breathe and enjoy what's left of their childhood."
This has been a concern for me since the concurrent enrollment and distance learning conversation have began to pop up here with The Girl. I want her to have a challenging high school academic career, but also want her to make memories and have fun and build her friendships and develop talents.
Can she do all of that in three years at the high school? And can she do all that and still get a scholarship to a university where she wants to attend? Will she choose the right courses and extra curricular activities to look good enough on a collegiate application for them to admit her to their school? And why do I feel such a sense of urgency about all these questions when she is still only a freshman at the moment?
This whole thing makes me worry, and fret, and eat chocolate. Well, to be honest, I eat chocolate really often, so that may not be a telling sign in this case. But I do still worry and fret.
I appreciate this dear friend's comments about her students. Her concern is legitimate and sincere. Which just makes me want to worry and fret some more.
Is 8 AM too early for chocolate?
Friday, March 19, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Too Pooped To Party
For a Thursday night, it sure feels like a Friday. I am pooped. I can't really say I did a lot of running around today, but I did blow the whole morning with our niece helping her learn some family history navigation online. We found tow long-lost-cousins in a 1920 census record. They were kids. And one didn't make the next census, she died at age 7. Bummer. But my point was, the three hours we were working on it, flew past--at least, once the baby went down for a nap. The rest of the day I fought a sinus something coming on, and the rain moved in and sucked all my sunshiny happiness out the window. So, I am snuggling in with my girl Jane, that's Miss Austen to you, and nod off to bed as early as I can make it there.
Tomorrow is another day. And a Friday, I might add.
Tomorrow is another day. And a Friday, I might add.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
10 O'Clock and All Is Well
It is St. Patrick's Day today, and I was a little late off the start. I picked up 21 "gold" coins--really they are chocolate--yesterday at the grocery store and had planned to leave them all in GG's computer bag and over the kids' beds during the night so they woke up to leprechaun gold this morning. But it all went south last night about 8 PM when the kids were discovered to have lied to me (The Girl) and not done their after dinner chores but played outside instead (The Boy). I was so frustrated I grounded them. So, no leprechaun visits last night.
But this morning, there was no computer or TV--per the grounding regulation they both got last night. That was good. They got off to school with only a reminder to brush their teeth prior to the carpool leaving. So far so good.
Then I got on the phone with our dental insurance because I received notification that they didn't cover our February visit for regular cleaning and Xrays because we weren't within our coverage period. That coverage started in January, so they had some explaining to do. Instead I discovered that the dentist's office had our old group number still for three of the four of us, amd consequently I didn't have to wait for 45 minutes for the next available customer service operator to take my call in the order in which it was received. Easy fix with the office and claims will be resubmitted.
I headed out for a walk in the sunshine and my iPod was stacked with 80s tunes. I feel better after the 45-60 minutes I can walk and absorb the sun.
Now I am done exercising, done fixing insurance trouble, and done getting kids to school. The day is nearly mine and beyond a drop in visit at Costco, I have very few things that HAVE to be done. With the sun shining, what more can I ask?
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Unexpected Family Discovery
Thursday morning I am meeting with my niece to help her figure out how to put the pieces of our family's history together. She is interested in finding a great grand uncle she knew as a child and hooking him into the family tree properly.
In preparation for that, I got online and started hunting around, refreshing my memory for what info we actually have and what we are missing. I discovered something fantastic.
Genius Golfer's great-great-grandmother was the end of the line as I had it. She was born in 1874. I hadn't given much more thought to that line, as I've been worried more about the folks that emigrated from Holland, where we are also stumped.
Yesterday, I got curious and started clicking away at G-G-Grandma Sarah's dead end. Low and behold...it wasn't dead at all. Since I last looked, there was a set of parents. And beyond that, another pair of parental sets. As I clicked excitedly, I found many generations back to Robert Pierce, born in England in 1570. Holy Cow! What a wonder.
Now, none of these people are famous--like Sarah Jessica Parker's discovery in the show Who Do You Think You Are? that I have blogged about before. But this line follows closely, time wise, behind the earlier Plymouth colonists in Massachusetts. And the idea that a dead end can be detoured and corrected?! That is priceless.
The line looks to have been linked to our information due to name extraction work done in Massachusetts parish records. I can't even fathom how long it would have taken me to research that out myself. Especially since we had no idea what came next, per the family information, or even where to look.
Miracles happen when you seek out your family. I believe Malachi told us that sort of thing would happen. I just never expected it from this family.
In preparation for that, I got online and started hunting around, refreshing my memory for what info we actually have and what we are missing. I discovered something fantastic.
Genius Golfer's great-great-grandmother was the end of the line as I had it. She was born in 1874. I hadn't given much more thought to that line, as I've been worried more about the folks that emigrated from Holland, where we are also stumped.
Yesterday, I got curious and started clicking away at G-G-Grandma Sarah's dead end. Low and behold...it wasn't dead at all. Since I last looked, there was a set of parents. And beyond that, another pair of parental sets. As I clicked excitedly, I found many generations back to Robert Pierce, born in England in 1570. Holy Cow! What a wonder.
Now, none of these people are famous--like Sarah Jessica Parker's discovery in the show Who Do You Think You Are? that I have blogged about before. But this line follows closely, time wise, behind the earlier Plymouth colonists in Massachusetts. And the idea that a dead end can be detoured and corrected?! That is priceless.
The line looks to have been linked to our information due to name extraction work done in Massachusetts parish records. I can't even fathom how long it would have taken me to research that out myself. Especially since we had no idea what came next, per the family information, or even where to look.
Miracles happen when you seek out your family. I believe Malachi told us that sort of thing would happen. I just never expected it from this family.
Monday, March 15, 2010
The Girl's Next Adventure
The Girl is preparing for an academic challenge. She is planning on using her high school years to also take concurrent enrollment classes to walk out with an associates degree along with her high school diploma. While this was never an option where I went to high school, I am proud of her for wanting to try it.
As part of the concurrent enrollment application process, a parent had to write a letter telling the college why their child would make a good candidate for this program. Here is what I came up with for her.
To Whom It May Concern:
I write to encourage you to approve THE GIRL for the concurrent enrollment program. She is my daughter and is preparing to become a sophomore at the High School in the fall 2010.
The Girl is a tremendous student. She is anxious to learn and do well in school and throughout her life. She is well rounded and has many friends, skills and talents. She is curious, a voracious reader and is a self-starter.
All through her school years thus far, she has achieved very good grades. Her choices for academic challenge show her interest in further achievement. She has the ability to learn something and apply it in her life. At times, I am startled at the capabilities she is developing in this arena.
Besides her school work, The Girl enjoys many friends. She finds friends wherever she is, and with little hesitation. She has served as a PAL (peer advisory leader) this year in the junior high school, where she has introduced new students to the campus and showed them around to their classes and also worked with small groups of struggling students in team building and self-esteem building activities for them. She enjoys seeing her friends from elementary, junior high and now, high school friends any time she can.
She enjoys swimming competitively. She is a member of the HS swim team, and was named women's team Rookie of the Year this winter. She competes on the recreational city team in the summer as well. She is hoping to work as an assistant swim teacher this summer at our community pool to teach others her joy of this sport.
The Girl is also an artist. She draws and paints for her own satisfaction, but also entered our city's festival art show and her piece was selected to hang in the community recreation center for the year. She likes music and drama. For the past month, she has been assisting at our elementary school with their school play during their rehearsals.
It is sometimes difficult to coax her downstairs to eat family dinner because she is so enthralled in a book. She love to read fantasy and various young adult fiction. She reads so many books that I cannot keep up with her. She chooses wisely in the books with which she is willing to spend her time. She shares her favorites with friends and neighbors.
She has been developing her skills as a babysitter, tenderly caring for children in our neighborhood and community. She is dependable and reliable and quite mature for her age. She is level headed and seems to understand the influence she has with these little children as she encourages them to be their best and do their best.
Please consider The Girl as a candidate for this program. She is a wonderful daughter, an outstanding student and is looking forward to a wider horizon of learning possibilities.
Sincerely,
Her Mom
As part of the concurrent enrollment application process, a parent had to write a letter telling the college why their child would make a good candidate for this program. Here is what I came up with for her.
To Whom It May Concern:
I write to encourage you to approve THE GIRL for the concurrent enrollment program. She is my daughter and is preparing to become a sophomore at the High School in the fall 2010.
The Girl is a tremendous student. She is anxious to learn and do well in school and throughout her life. She is well rounded and has many friends, skills and talents. She is curious, a voracious reader and is a self-starter.
All through her school years thus far, she has achieved very good grades. Her choices for academic challenge show her interest in further achievement. She has the ability to learn something and apply it in her life. At times, I am startled at the capabilities she is developing in this arena.
Besides her school work, The Girl enjoys many friends. She finds friends wherever she is, and with little hesitation. She has served as a PAL (peer advisory leader) this year in the junior high school, where she has introduced new students to the campus and showed them around to their classes and also worked with small groups of struggling students in team building and self-esteem building activities for them. She enjoys seeing her friends from elementary, junior high and now, high school friends any time she can.
She enjoys swimming competitively. She is a member of the HS swim team, and was named women's team Rookie of the Year this winter. She competes on the recreational city team in the summer as well. She is hoping to work as an assistant swim teacher this summer at our community pool to teach others her joy of this sport.
The Girl is also an artist. She draws and paints for her own satisfaction, but also entered our city's festival art show and her piece was selected to hang in the community recreation center for the year. She likes music and drama. For the past month, she has been assisting at our elementary school with their school play during their rehearsals.
It is sometimes difficult to coax her downstairs to eat family dinner because she is so enthralled in a book. She love to read fantasy and various young adult fiction. She reads so many books that I cannot keep up with her. She chooses wisely in the books with which she is willing to spend her time. She shares her favorites with friends and neighbors.
She has been developing her skills as a babysitter, tenderly caring for children in our neighborhood and community. She is dependable and reliable and quite mature for her age. She is level headed and seems to understand the influence she has with these little children as she encourages them to be their best and do their best.
Please consider The Girl as a candidate for this program. She is a wonderful daughter, an outstanding student and is looking forward to a wider horizon of learning possibilities.
Sincerely,
Her Mom
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Video Sunday
Some days you wonder if this guy didn't have ENOUGH to worry about. Now this? Ahhh, the beauty of creative history. Just kidding. The creator has been messing with Jane Austen's work for sometime. It's about time for an American historical disaster plot.
Blessed Sabbath, all. ☺
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