From Home-school to a Dolphin

I just love dolphins. They have to be my favorite animals of all time. I've recently found an organization where we could even adopt a dolphin. No! Not actually keep it here at home like a goldfish, though that would be SO cool! But, for just $40/yr we could help protect a dolphin. You can find more information Here!. ** I get nothing from The Oceanic Society for this post* This may be a project that K and I do together this year.

Not only am I Mama, I have also been home-schooling my daughter for roughly the past year. We've mainly been letting K "un-school" or do child-led schooling, and it's gone well. She's smart, creative and I love her every day even more because of her creativity. However, with a 2 yr old brother who puts the fine line definition in "terrible two's", I'm finding that I can't compete with the governments stupid, ridiculous standardized testing. Kindergarten was easy to teach because I wasn't required to test K at the end of the year. But, this year...the tests are staring me in the face, laughing at me, screaming "you can't win with us"....(maybe that screaming is my two year old...who knows), so because of our recent move (new district....yay!!!!), K and I have decided that she's going to finish out the year AND do 2nd grade in public school.

Public school: that's where the dolphin comes into play. It's the new school's mascot!!!! Fate right??!!? After CAREFUL research, a non-creepy drive by, and an email with the ACTUAL principal (not just one of the lackey's like they did at the last school), we submitted paperwork and K begins her journey as a dolphin on Monday (weather permitting. Ugh! Snow). We're so excited! Monday, we were told to go in early so we can get a quick tour of the school, meet the teacher, and get K settled (also something NOT done at the other school). Already got the positive points and she hasn't even started yet!

I battled with myself about this change. Since she began her school career, we've tried both Kindergarten and First grade in public school and things just didn't work out. While any mother wants things to be perfect for her baby, it's not always the case. I just want my daughter (and my son) to be treated as something more than a number. People say, "well there are so many children in the schools, it's hard to individualize them", FALSE...that's laziness to me. There are ways to treat kids like they MEAN something more than just test scores. It's all about finding your heart.

Things have changed since the 90s...teachers are now so super stressed because of the new testing crap, that it's like their creativeness has been sucked out of them (I totally don't fault our teachers of course), and kids become just numbers or reading group colors.

*Hops off soap box* As a Mama, you have to make decisions that may come back to bite you in the booty, and not in the fun way. Praying this new school works out and that my baby can get not only a fun education but can also make friends and learn even more than what I'm going to be teaching her at home! Oh yeah! That's right. I'm totally still going to teach her things here at home. Sewing, Cooking, and More!

Have a great day everyone!

Remember to smile this month....it's a new year....positive thinking makes a huge difference!

~Sarah~