All Things Slothful

Danny has a big research paper due in Biology on Monday.  Which means that both of us get to become well acquainted with his chosen subject matter.

His chosen subject matter?  The three-toed sloth. 

Would you like to know a few of the fascinating facts that I learned today?

• sloths are the slowest moving mammal.
• sloths body temperatures can fluctuate as much as 10 degrees in a day. I seldom do that.
• a full grown sloth weighs about 8 or 9 pounds.
• during the dry season a sloth can hold 'it' for two weeks, and then make a 2 pound dump! Yikes!
• sloths take care of all of their other business while hanging in a tree.  All of it.

Thankfully, he was able to finish up his rough draft before dinner...another 30-60 minutes and he should be done (and by he, I mean we).

Did you want to know more? Yeah, me neither.

Snow Day

It may not be a lot of snow...but it's enough.

Enough to cancel seminary...and school for Alex (the college is closed).

This is one of those days when Danny wishes he went to a 'brick and mortar' school.  There are no snow days at WAVA. He'll be in good company.  Steve will be working 'virtually' today.  Turned out that his van pool van didn't come equipped with snow chains.  After a nearly two hour commute, he ended up parking it about a mile away from our house.  He could drive it in to work today - but since none of his riders will be going, he'll be logging on to work from here.

School is on its way....

...and it's being shipped via UPS.



I hate doing all the paperwork involved in registering a child for school. Hate it. So....when I was getting Danny all registered for high school of course I missed a form. Of course. I finally faxed it in last week. He is now officially registered with WAVA for 9th grade - and his books are on their way. I got the UPS tracking number this morning - by Friday afternoon we should be the proud owners(?) of the 9th grade curriculum.


Wahoo.

Pomp and Circumstance

That's a lot of empty seats to fill...
There's Alex - next to last row about the 7th from the left (he's just this side of a short kid)

See that lighted area near the top of the picture? That's where we were sitting. Yup, nosebleed section.

Steve pretty much had to sprint from one side of the arena to the other side to get these last two pictures (Alex in line and Alex crossing the stage). Yea Alex. Yea Steve.

And here's the Boy Wonder himself.

The Family Robe

Appearing for the 5th time tonight!

We bought this robe for David - back in the day. I think it cost around $30. Every child of ours that has graduated from MPHS has worn this baby. We totally lucked out the year Stephanie graduated - she was assigned to wear red that year (the school colors are red and white). Usually most of the girls wear the white robe (which can be incredibly tacky - depending on what they wear under it). Lucky us. We didn't have to fork out another $30 bucks for another robe.

I had to have Steve haul out the sewing machine this morning - the bottom 4 or 5 inches of the zipper had come unsewn. Easy fix.

I need to make sure I have extra batteries for the camera tonight. One more set of pictures of the family robe. Yea, Alex!

It's Raining, it's pouring...

Actually, I think the rain has taken a brief break.

The boys took our wheelbarrow into the back yard on December 22nd - so that they could build a bigger snow ramp for the grandkids. It hasn't moved since. It looks fairly full of water - a combination of melted snow and steady rain.

That same combination of melting snow and heavy rain is playing havoc with Western Washington right now. All the passes are closed. I-5 south is closed. Many school districts around the state are closed. This on top of snow closures. The required make-up days are sure adding up fast.

I wonder if this is Mother Nature's way of voting for year-round school? At this rate the kids who attend brick and mortar schools won't be out of school until July. Not us. Yet another advantage of going to a virtual school.

Happy Back To School!

First Day of School 2004 - that's Danny with the black backpack and blue shorts.

For the first time since David started preschool (22 years ago!), I'm not sending anyone off to school this week. I sort of wish I was. I love that feeling of accomplishment and solitude. Not so much solitude here. Alex will start seminary next Monday....but then, so do I. Alex and Nathan start school at Everett Community College a couple of weeks later.

Danny starts school next Monday...and in a way, so do I...that's the curse AND blessing of homeschooling.

Smello-vision

Smells that remind me it's back to school time:

1. Nothing smells more like back to school than the smell of hot tar in August.

It must have been some kind of rule back in the 50's,60's and 70's that all schools had to have a flat roof. A flat roof in Oregon is just an invitation for leaks. Surprisingly, it does rain a fairish amount in the Northwest. At least it does in the winter.

Every summer it seemed like one school or another was getting a new coat of hot tar. The smell of hot tar seemed to float for miles - I suppose it's like when you burn up the belt on your vacuum and the whole house stinks.

2. Rain. The smell of rain after a couple of weeks of dry weather.

3. Paste. The kind we had back in the 60's. I don't know if it still smells the same, since glue sticks were invented I don't think I've had to buy paste for my kids.

4. Shoeboxes. The kind that your new school shoes (that you weren't allowed to wear until school started) were stored in.

5. Lunchboxes. The old metal kind would have a very specific kind of smell after a few weeks of use. Not an appetizing smell - a combination of peanut butter, grape jelly, tuna, mayo, apples, cheese, etc...

What smells remind you of school?

Back to School Preparations

I feel woefully unprepared for "back to school". I've spent more time this summer setting up and dealing with kids and school than I usually do (in summer), but it still doesn't quite seem real. In spite of all the signing up, placement tests, registering, emails, phone calls, etc... I haven't done the one thing that really evokes that "back to school" feeling.

Back to school shopping.

Alex and Nathan don't actually start school until September 22nd. That's right, the 22nd. They will both be going to Everett Community College. This will be their first time since Alex was in preschool to be going to the same school together. Nathan pretty much has a new wardrobe since he got back from his mission - so no need for new clothes there. Alex, yeah....well, he pretty much needs the gamut. Except socks. He's good on socks.

Danny starts school on the 8th - but since he's "virtually" going to school, I "virtually" have not bought him any new clothes...I haven't felt that pressure yet. I think I should get him some new clothes. Nothing says "back to school" like new socks and underwear and a pair of new shoes.

Speaking of underwear, HERE"S a related Olympic story that I found fairly hilarious.

I think I'll have to post later about back to school shopping in my youth.

Winding Down

Daniel and I went and turned in his textbooks today - also turned in his end of year evaluation. We are done with all the "official" stuff, and left with three and a half days of school to do with as we please....

It sort of brings to mind the winding down days of school when I was at good old Elizabeth Page Elementary School. It was all about helping the teacher get the classroom packed up, field day, parties, etc...I don't remember doing anything substantive.

I do remember going to school the last couple of days of second grade with the mumps. I didn't want to miss the partying. I wonder how many kids had the mumps over summer vacation because of me?

A Month and a Day.

Friday June 13th- one month and one day until school gets out. I hope the date is not an omen of things to come this summer.

I was talking to Suzanne today - her kids get out at the end of next week. I am ever so slightly envious. Usually I'm not that anxious for summer vacation - but since I've been Danny's teacher this semester, I'll be glad of the break. I hope to still get him to do some work over the summer (shh! I haven't told him yet), but if we do it will be much more casual.

Steve and I been trying to get our summer vacation plans put together - but I don't think we're going to be able to pull off anything big this summer- we have so many activities that just don't coincide.

Alex has 3 separate weeks of camp/EFY.

Andrew goes to the MTC in mid-July.

Danny has scout camp.

I have girls camp.

Nathan starts summer quarter on June 23rd.

One week in August for the family 50-miler.

Our calendar sort of looks like one of those logic puzzles they throw at you in junior high math class.

So, how are you spending your summer vacation?

Real Genius

Alex headed off to the state Knowledge Bowl tournament today. Up until yesterday Steve and I were under the impression that it was to take place somewhere in eastern Washington. Silly us, it's actually in Camas, WA (adjacent to Vancouver). I had spent the week trying to get information out of Alex about it. About the only information I did get out of him was the name of his team.

"Oh My Lloyd".

That's pretty much my sentiments.

He left me to speculate on which "Lloyd" is the Lloyd being referenced.

We're Not Gonna Take It

Interesting headline article in our local paper today about student unrest at Totem Middle School. Totem Middle School is the school that I recently withdrew Daniel from.

The school where he had his finger broken by another student.

Students at the middle school staged a walk-out for 2 hours during school to protest the school's inadequate discipline. I asked Danny if he would have walked out of class, he said he wouldn't have. I can't say that I support the walk-out (during class hours) by students. Of course, this comes from a mom that staged the ultimate walk-out by totally withdrawing her son from this school.

Different Drummer/School Daze

Two items of interest on the education front.

First: Alex's Knowledge Bowl team qualified to go to State. Ably assisted by Alex on answers such as "what subatomic particle in the lepton family can pass through a light year..." he buzzed in with the answer "neutrino". The rest of the question was "...of lead without hitting anything?" He's awesome in soooo many ways (as the clip proves).

Second: Took Daniel in for his assessment for the district homeschool program. He did well in reading, not too great in writing (no surprise there)..but what did surprise me was that he did so well in math (supposedly 11th grade - but it must be 11th grade remedial...). After the test our advisor went to get his textbooks. She took a while but when she finally came back she could barely carry the armload of books. At first I thought she was also restocking her office, but no, they were for us. We ended up leaving 4 books there (we will go back and get them as he finishes up the ones he has). The pile was still pretty tall.

Withdrawals

I was feeling a little like a yo-yo today. Went to the middle school to withdraw Danny. Went to our appointment with the district homeschool advisor. Back to the middle school to get the principal's signature, BACK to the homeschool advisor to turn in all the paperwork. I'm hoping that all the paperwork is done.

It just better be.

I did have a little contretemps with the middle school principal...When she started throwing around "the 31 years I've been in education has taught me there is no substitute for a classroom education"....I rebutted with "I'm cutting out the middle man". I refused to be drawn into her diatribe.

Snow Day

Today was supposed to be the last day of finals.

Supposed to be.

Alex had 2 finals scheduled for today - 3rd year Japanese and College Algebra. There is already no school planned for tomorrow - it is a scheduled day off...so my question is....

Do we save the pecan pie or have it for FHE treat?

Sick Day

I'm not sick today. Yet. Danny is the one staying home sick. He was miserable yesterday - coming home from the science center, and since he is not one to suffer in silence, we ALL knew it. He finished off a box of tissues during family home evening - we got him into bed early - then Steve gave him one Benadryl in hopes of his nose drying up enough to get to sleep. He was supposed to go to the orthodontist this morning, but I called and cancelled. I feel bad about it, because this appointment was already a rescheduled one because he was sick last month.

After I called his orthodontist to cancel, I called the middle school to report him absent. The school secretaries make themselves felt, even over the answering maching.

"Please leave the childs name, grade, reason for absence, date of absence, your name and your relationship to the child."

For anyone not counting, they want SIX items of information. They are lucky to get four from me.

Knee Jerk Reaction

I had to go to the middle school this morning.

I have a problem with school secretaries. I admit it. I have something against middle school and high school secretaries in particular. I really try to cut them a lot of slack - because frankly given the option between doing their job and having major surgery, I'd have to give it some long hard thought. Yes, I know that they have to deal with teenagers all the time - but then again, so do I. Perhaps the problem stems from the kind of teenagers that they spend time with. The ones that get sent to the office.

Once (9 or 10 years ago), the school nurse at the middle school called to have me pick Nathan up at school because he was sick. The school was only a mile away, so I just put Danny in his car seat without bothering to put shoes on him (he was about 4 years old). When I got to the school I left Danny and my purse in the car while I ran in (I could still see him) - the secretary wouldn't let me check Nathan out of school without picture ID. I explained that THEY had called ME. Didn't matter. I had to run back out to my car, get my purse, get Danny (and then carry him because he was barefoot), show the secretary my ID, then they released my son to me. I mean, give me a break - who would want to steal a middle school kid? They should be grateful that anyone would take them.

Superlative Boy II

"In recognition of your outstanding achievements in Social Studies"...???

Evidently this is a monthly award ceremony. Monthly. Each teacher that nominated a student for the award gets up and tells how that particular student showed leadership. Some were specific (food drive, choir manager, etc...) Many were vague (good grades in class, good attitude....) When Mr. Kessler (Alex's teacher) awarded Alex his certificate he stated that Alex was getting his leadership award for his knowledge - whenever there is a question about something in class, instead of turning to the textbook, all eyes turn to Alex. Apparently he writes awesome papers also.

So, basically, Alex gets an award for being Alex.

After they got their awards the kids were invited to introduce any of their family that was there. One mom flew in from UTAH for this award. Yikes. Alex turned it around and when he introduced me he said "That's my mom, I blame this on her."

You go, Superlative Boy.

Superlative Boy

"They keep finding new ways, to celebrate mediocrity," sighs Mr. Incredible.



There is some kind of awards ceremony after school today at the high school. We got a letter to that affect last month - inviting us to attend because Alex has earned a "leadership" award. I'm not quite sure what it's for, and frankly, I don't think Alex knows what it is for either. I'm all for giving pats on the back, when pats are due - but it would be nice to know what it's for.

I'm not implying that Alex is mediocre in any way - he is superlative - in fact, I would go as far as to say he is incredible!