- The hard copy of the ACT results came in the mail. The new interesting feature that we hadn't seen before was the subscores. Not surprisingly at all, Kevin's 'low' math score was a direct reflection of a low geometry/trig score (he's had a little geometry and no trig, and we could have spent some time giving him the brief overview of COS, SIN, and TAN, but, didn't). The surprising thing was one of his reading subscores, Social Studies/Sciences, where he was reported to have done better than 98% of the people who took the test!
- The latest from the Iphone camera
Matthew with a lego-Clone in Orlando
in the midst of the fever and the puke, the big guy catches some zzz's
Christopher getting ready to sing 'Dr. Seuss we love you!" at Dr. Seuss day.
It was very nice of Christopher's coach to get trophies for the boys. He delivered this to Bennett Woods since Christopher was too busy puking to play the last game; Christopher had a huge smile when he showed it to us after school.
Iphone doesn't take good night pictures; this is Christopher during our Wiley-walk Saturday night; the only light is the orange-sodium parking lot light.
Matthew was asleep on the couch when Suzanne and I arrived home Saturday night after going out to Casino Night. He had a friend.
- The Long Range Planning Steering Committee process churns along. Here are the top 4 or 5 reconfiguration options that are under consideration with my thoughts on each. A) K-5, 6-8. This is our current system; it would result in closing one elem school next year. I don't favor this; I think we can reconfigure for more savings and this configuration causes more class size inequities. Might be more optimal if you could close a MS as well by placing three grades in one MS, but, I think that's too full and don't like this option as well. Plus, a significant fraction of the community likes this option as it preserves the status quo (for them), neighborhood schools, while not quite realizing that a significant fraction already has lost their neighborhood schools. B) K-2, 3-5, 6-8. I like this option more than a) above, as it would solve the class inequities but still only results in one elem closure. C) K-3, 4-6, 7-8. More efficient, and has some appeal, but, I'm not for closing a MS and any option that has three grades in a MS is too many kids for the capacity. D) K-4, 5-6, 7-8. When I had to vote and rank them at the last meeting, I only cast two of my four votes, and this was second. Would still leave some of the problems of neighborhood schools but allows for some real efficiencies at the MS level. E) K-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8. My top choice, and it was one of the options I spoke out against two meetings ago, but, I've slowly come around to seeing how it's the best option. The most efficient option since it combines grades at schools. Completely eliminates neighborhood favoritism. Teachers at the SC meeting were very supportive of this concept (right now, 3rd grade at Bennett Woods and 3rd grade at Cornell look a little different.....this may be good but having all together would allow the best ideas to bubble forth and be implemented). A complete pain in the ass for families, like us, with multiple kids, and better yet, multiple kids in after care, but, another district in the area does it and I don't ever recall hearing complaints about it. The next community forum is a week from tonight...should be a fun-filled event!
- Lacrosse. Kevin's decided not to play this year. I have a lot of parental disappointment in this; I'm not sure if Kevin appreciates everything he's giving up by doing this. I'm not sure whether I'm pushing my 'wants' on Kevin by coercing or pushing or coaching him to play lacrosse. I think that Kevin would benefit from playing a team sport in high school, and, by choice and by luck, this is the only one left to him. Or maybe not. We'll see. He's going to run track in the spring, and the scheduling of track and lacrosse was going to cause a lot of conflict this spring anyway, so, it's probably not a bad thing that it's off the schedule. But I have a hard time seeing it as a good thing.
- Saw two movies this weekend, of which Watchmen probably deserves the most discussion here. Kevin had seen the ads and was very interested, so, despite the adult topics, I let him read the graphic novel and said I would take him to the movie. And despite the late time and the schoolwork, we went at 12:01 am Friday. The movie was good, not great. It certainly was gory at times, and that doesn't concern me much with Kevin. It certainly was sexy at times, and I told Kevin that this would be a fine lead in to our birds and bees discussion that is coming sooner, not later. And Kevin's begging and pleading to go at midnight is probably going to come back and haunt him since he didn't put in the effort he needed to towards studying for the math test the next day and didn't bring home the score that he should have. Also saw Coraline and found it amusing that both Christopher and Matthew were scared/worried at parts. I'd give Watchmen a B and Coraline a A-.
- Still enjoy that I can turn on Radio Disney in the car and have the boys singing the latest Hannah Montana song. Can't imagine the Hannah and High School Musical phase will last much longer.....
