May 21st, 2010 09:33am
Guest Blogger: Surviving Finals Week
April 7th, 2010 01:39pm
6th grade right of passage
It is a 6th grade right of passage to attend 6th grade camp before the end of the school year. It’s a way to celebrate the end of elementary school, and a way to make new friends from other schools before being bunched together in the big, scary halls of Jr. High.
At 12 years old, I went with my class to our own 6th grade camp. I was excited to leave my parents and sisters behind and have the opportunity to hang out with all my friends for a whole week. And the best part? No school work! We spent the days playing games out in the field, going through “ice breaker” games that helped us to get to know our future classmates from other schools. We ate in the cafeteria, food that was just as good as cafeteria food can get, but decent enough to eat. And we’d stay up way later than the obligatory “lights out” call mandated. About 6 of us were crammed into a cabin with bunk beds. I got the top bunk, and shared the room with some of my closer friends from school. Our parent chaperone was very lenient, allowing us to hang out on each other’s bunks after the last call was given as long as we kept it down to a low roar. I think this was also to encourage us to stay in the cabin and not sneak out. And for the most part, it worked. (more…)
February 11th, 2010 12:04pm
Stripping schools of their sports
Imagine, if you will. Colleges send their scouts out to all the different high schools looking for their next Tim Lincecum or Zack Greinke. They sit in the stands at numerous games, taking notes and writing down names for those ballplayers they wish to extend invitations to for the next season’s college teams. Several students will receive scholarships to guarantee their entrance to their college. And a select few of those star ballplayers will go even farther and be drafted to a major league baseball team.
These scouts will not be attending any Santa Rosa high school games. (more…)
February 9th, 2010 01:38pm
10 things I learned as a parent
As parents, it is our job to guide our children and teach them important lessons in life. But sometimes it is our kids who are teaching us. Here are some very important lessons I have learned from my children.1. Girls don’t always dress like girls. My daughter was the very first girl of the family. This resulted in piles of pink clothes with frilly lace being thrust at me from all directions. Me? I was never a girly girl. I preferred to dress my new little girl in neutral colors and overalls. And when she got older, she abhorred pink with a passion. But her grandparents always tried. She’d receive pink shirts and pretty dresses – all of which would end up in the back of her closet or in a pile of clothes to return that would just end up going into the Goodwill bag because I was too lazy to make it to the store. Did I wish she would dress more like a girl? Have I tried to sell the idea that pants can still be worn under dresses to make them somewhat less girly? (more…)
February 3rd, 2010 11:22am
Education – Who’s in charge here?
Over the past several months, I have written several articles on kids in school, mainly because of the troubles I’ve been having with the Taz – a bright kid who has a hard time not being a distraction in class or staying focused on the lessons he is being taught.
Mark Alton, a teacher at Rancho Cotate, wrote to me after I wrote “When Teachers are Great”, an article on the … Read More »
January 29th, 2010 03:33pm
What The Tortilla Curtain taught me
You had to have been living in a cave to have missed the local hot topic of the week. A Santa Rosa Mom went before the Santa Rosa City school board to plead her case as to why the book, The Tortilla Curtain, by TC Boyle, needed to be removed from the required reading list. …. In the end, the school board voted unanimously to keep the book on the required reading list, and left the option that students may read a different book if they choose not to read this one. But this event brings two very clear points to light… (More…) January 20th, 2010 02:52pm
Raising the Ambitious Child
Ambition. It’s what the goal of the week is for my son, instructed by his teacher at yesterday’s conference. Really, it’s the goal for the whole year. Ambition to do his work neatly and with care. Ambition to pay attention during class. Ambition to show he is there to learn by staying near the front of the class anytime the teacher has something to show the class to give them more insight into what they are learning about. This week, ambition is the focus as we enter the second half of the year, eventually saying goodbye to 3rd grade as he enters the higher grades at a different school. It’s ambition to change the negative habits of yesterday and create positive habits for tomorrow. (more…) January 13th, 2010 03:11pm
Kindergarten Big Kid
Her clothes had been laid out the night before, and she brushed me aside, determined to get ready by herself. A turquoise top to go over her new cropped pants. Some brand new sneakers, a stark color of white that would probably be closer to gray by the end of the week. A new lunch box that matched her brand new backpack. She pushed me out of the room so that I wouldn’t interfere. (And what went in her lunch? Read more…) January 6th, 2010 02:40pm
Parents, the First Line of Defense
Teachers have one of the hardest jobs in the world. As a parent, I am handling the issues of my two children, and there are times when I am so frustrated I want to throw my hands up in the air. I couldn’t imagine the frustrations of a teacher who has a classroom full of children that they are trying to teach when they have students, like my own son, who are easily distracted, and who easily distract others. On top of that, the limitations that the state is imposing on schools are making the classroom a much harder place to maintain a proper learning environment. A teacher’s job is not easy at all! (Read more…) December 15th, 2009 09:30pm
Never, Never Land
There’s a moment in Peter Pan, the one created in 2003, when Peter and Wendy are standing on the threshold of her nursery.
“Forget them, Wendy,” he whispers in her ear. “Forget them all. Leave the nursery, and you’ll never have to deal with grown up things forever.”
She smiles at him, wistfully. Downstairs, her parents are bounding the steps, racing upstairs after a panicked Nana alerted them that something was wrong.
“Forever,” she said with her small smile, “is an awfully long time.” (Read more…)
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About This Blog
Single-parenting it since 2004.About the players:
Me: 32 year old dreamer
DQ (Drama Queen): 12 year old dramatic tweenage daughter
The Taz: 9 year old tornado son
Mr. Wonderful: my patient and loving boyfriend
Ex: my ex-husband and my kids’ learning fatherEmail me at crissi@santarosamom.com
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