We seem to have settled in to vegging out during kindergarten. Picking up a little knowledge here and there...and waiting to hear something about the gifted program.
I've recently renewed an old friendship with a girl who happens to be in gifted education. You bet I'll be picking her brain about all of this.
In the meantime, I'm just busy making the cutest little fire-breathing dragon and knight costumes!
Monday, October 20, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Left Turn...Kindergarten!
I've missed blogging this year, but I didn't have a topic. I said what I needed to say about Free Public Education, right?
Well, now I have a second kiddo in school - in kindergarten. If I didn't dread everything about home schooling, I would home school this guy. He is seriously bright. Gifted, I think. I've spent the past hour scouring the internet for clues and suggestions about how to educate him and his brother.
We are one month into the little guy's 13-year public education, and I fear we are losing him. He spends time at home in the mornings before school reading the cereal box or playing math games. Then he goes to school and "learns" shapes and colors. I've got nothing against the teacher or the school. They are doing what they have to do. I just have a special child. He is becoming less and less excited about going every day. If he decides now that he doesn't like school we're all in BIG trouble! It will be a long 12-13 years...
The problem is, after an hour of internet research I got nothing. Lots of philosophical babble, but nothing I can really and practically apply to his education in our district. HELP!
Well, now I have a second kiddo in school - in kindergarten. If I didn't dread everything about home schooling, I would home school this guy. He is seriously bright. Gifted, I think. I've spent the past hour scouring the internet for clues and suggestions about how to educate him and his brother.
We are one month into the little guy's 13-year public education, and I fear we are losing him. He spends time at home in the mornings before school reading the cereal box or playing math games. Then he goes to school and "learns" shapes and colors. I've got nothing against the teacher or the school. They are doing what they have to do. I just have a special child. He is becoming less and less excited about going every day. If he decides now that he doesn't like school we're all in BIG trouble! It will be a long 12-13 years...
The problem is, after an hour of internet research I got nothing. Lots of philosophical babble, but nothing I can really and practically apply to his education in our district. HELP!
Monday, May 26, 2008
Now What??
It's Memorial Day. No school. No requests for money. I did just spend $10 on a gift card for the teacher as an end-of-year thank you. It has been a good year. My son has learned so much. And I have learned so much, too. And I've kept a blog. This was completely foreign territory to me in August. And now, not only do I know how to "do" a blog, I also know how much money I've spent on incidentals for my son's Free Public Education! Perhaps at the end of next week I'll retire this mundane record and keep a new more interesting blog of the goings-on in our lives. For posterity. We'll see...
But this one's not over yet. AD just mentioned that he would like us to order a yearbook for him. On March 3, I listed the yearbook as $12 rejected. That was the price for a personalized yearbook. I said then that I might regret that decision. If we can still get one, I'll have to move $10 of that to the accepted column of the spreadsheet now. We'll leave the $2 personalization fee under "rejected books."
And I miscalculated how many school lunches he would buy for the rest of the year, so I've got to add another $2 to the lunch column for Domino's Pizza day this week!
I'll be out all week, but look for one more post to close out our school year.
But this one's not over yet. AD just mentioned that he would like us to order a yearbook for him. On March 3, I listed the yearbook as $12 rejected. That was the price for a personalized yearbook. I said then that I might regret that decision. If we can still get one, I'll have to move $10 of that to the accepted column of the spreadsheet now. We'll leave the $2 personalization fee under "rejected books."
And I miscalculated how many school lunches he would buy for the rest of the year, so I've got to add another $2 to the lunch column for Domino's Pizza day this week!
I'll be out all week, but look for one more post to close out our school year.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Into the Home Stretch...
We are just about ready to find out our grand total for an entire school year. I have done my best to keep track of every request for $, as well as every penny I have actually donated or spent. Here are the latest:
$20 more for lunch money to get us through the rest of the year. AD is taking his lunch about 3/5 of the time, and I never did account for the cost of a home-packed lunch. I guess I would have to make him lunch even if he were not at school, so the lunch money column is only for school lunches.
$30 for basket raffle tickets. We did not win any of the baskets. Bummer. We were hoping for the Wii basket. Or the Birthday Party basket. Or, of course, the Need for Speed basket that I had helped put together.
$5 for Spring Carnival tickets. This event is where the baskets were actually raffled. The carnival tickets covered games, food and inflatable rides.
"Good" News: since we had several snow days this past winter, our school year was lengthened to May 30. This allows us to add one more Market Day pick up to our schedule! Aren't you excited?! I'll add another $75 to the 'Free Public Education Expenses' spreadsheet for that - in the 'rejected' column. (At the $75 order level, customers will be entered into an incentive prize drawing.)
Also, parents are being strongly encouraged to order the "Ready, Set, Summer!" family curriculum package for $19. Note home from the principal even kind of implies that your student will fall behind, plus miss out on a recognition ceremony next fall if they do not participate. Manipulative! Hmmm. Not sure what we'll do. I'm not even sure which grade level to order if we do it. Our student consistently performs above grade level, so I don't think the suggested materials would be right for him anyway.
Hangin' in there for one more week...
$20 more for lunch money to get us through the rest of the year. AD is taking his lunch about 3/5 of the time, and I never did account for the cost of a home-packed lunch. I guess I would have to make him lunch even if he were not at school, so the lunch money column is only for school lunches.
$30 for basket raffle tickets. We did not win any of the baskets. Bummer. We were hoping for the Wii basket. Or the Birthday Party basket. Or, of course, the Need for Speed basket that I had helped put together.
$5 for Spring Carnival tickets. This event is where the baskets were actually raffled. The carnival tickets covered games, food and inflatable rides.
"Good" News: since we had several snow days this past winter, our school year was lengthened to May 30. This allows us to add one more Market Day pick up to our schedule! Aren't you excited?! I'll add another $75 to the 'Free Public Education Expenses' spreadsheet for that - in the 'rejected' column. (At the $75 order level, customers will be entered into an incentive prize drawing.)
Also, parents are being strongly encouraged to order the "Ready, Set, Summer!" family curriculum package for $19. Note home from the principal even kind of implies that your student will fall behind, plus miss out on a recognition ceremony next fall if they do not participate. Manipulative! Hmmm. Not sure what we'll do. I'm not even sure which grade level to order if we do it. Our student consistently performs above grade level, so I don't think the suggested materials would be right for him anyway.
Hangin' in there for one more week...
Monday, May 5, 2008
A Couple of LOUSY Weeks
Been busy...lots to report. I'm just going to include a list today. But hey - I've successfully kept track of (nearly) an entire year of public school expenses and requests for money. Just a couple more weeks and we'll have a total! If I remember last year accurately, these will be a busy couple of weeks. So here goes:
We spent $13.69-ish on our basket raffle donation/decorations, not counting gasoline to run all over town for "stuff." But check out our completed "Need for Speed" basket.
Green Tree Spring Carnival: 6 Raffle Tickets for $5 (We'll probably buy two sets of tickets.)
Teacher appreciation week: Have your child write a thank you card to all teachers, principals and counselors. We will spend about $5 on this.
Summer Dance Camp: $40 - NO
Wentzville Parks and Rec Programs: $1093 - NO to most though we might do BBall or Science.
(Wentzville Idol $5; Tennis Clinic/Lessons $92; Theatre Camp $93; Circus Skills Camp $99; Dance Camp $60; Abra-Kid-Abra Magic Camp $99; Youth Lacrosse Camp $85; Football Camp $65; Baseball Camp $75; Basketball Camp $70; Soccer Camp $35 for goalkeeper, $85 for soccer; Golf Clinic $20; Hapkido $55; Young Rembrandts $50; Flip Flop Class $15; Sticky Fingers $15; Little Wizards Science Experiments $15; Little Chefs Cooking Class $15; Ballet Dancing $45)
Camp Gators 2008: $585 - NO
(This is a weekly summer camp at $65 per week for 9 weeks. We might consider one of the weeks, but for the most part the kids are participating in a free public school program and/or staying with grandparents this summer!)
Summer Reading Programs: $299 - NO
Wentzville Rotary & Schools Foundation 5K Run & Walk: $15 Adults, $10 Kids - NO
Holt High DECA Spring Fling: 5 tickets for $1 - NO
See spreadsheet for updated totals.
We spent $13.69-ish on our basket raffle donation/decorations, not counting gasoline to run all over town for "stuff." But check out our completed "Need for Speed" basket.
Green Tree Spring Carnival: 6 Raffle Tickets for $5 (We'll probably buy two sets of tickets.)
Teacher appreciation week: Have your child write a thank you card to all teachers, principals and counselors. We will spend about $5 on this.
Summer Dance Camp: $40 - NO
Wentzville Parks and Rec Programs: $1093 - NO to most though we might do BBall or Science.
(Wentzville Idol $5; Tennis Clinic/Lessons $92; Theatre Camp $93; Circus Skills Camp $99; Dance Camp $60; Abra-Kid-Abra Magic Camp $99; Youth Lacrosse Camp $85; Football Camp $65; Baseball Camp $75; Basketball Camp $70; Soccer Camp $35 for goalkeeper, $85 for soccer; Golf Clinic $20; Hapkido $55; Young Rembrandts $50; Flip Flop Class $15; Sticky Fingers $15; Little Wizards Science Experiments $15; Little Chefs Cooking Class $15; Ballet Dancing $45)
Camp Gators 2008: $585 - NO
(This is a weekly summer camp at $65 per week for 9 weeks. We might consider one of the weeks, but for the most part the kids are participating in a free public school program and/or staying with grandparents this summer!)
Summer Reading Programs: $299 - NO
Wentzville Rotary & Schools Foundation 5K Run & Walk: $15 Adults, $10 Kids - NO
Holt High DECA Spring Fling: 5 tickets for $1 - NO
See spreadsheet for updated totals.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Fund Raisers - 3; Mommy - 0
Last week, Velveeta cheese wasn't enough. It turned out that several parents didn't send anything in for the Fiesta, so a last-minute plea came home to please empty your pantry of anything Rotel or corn chip, etc! We sent in a $1 can of Rotel, but also dropped by the classroom for any last-minute, last-minute requests. They also needed paper plates, and for $1.89, we delivered!!!! It's nice to feel like a hero sometimes :-).
Remember the Basket Raffle? It's getting cranked up, now. I've still only spent $1 in actual cash, but much, much more in time! Maybe I'll post a photo of the completed basket in a few weeks!
So I'm 0 for 3 on Pinching Pennies this week. But worthwhile expenditures one and all! Spreadsheet is updated with the entire $3.89.
Remember the Basket Raffle? It's getting cranked up, now. I've still only spent $1 in actual cash, but much, much more in time! Maybe I'll post a photo of the completed basket in a few weeks!
So I'm 0 for 3 on Pinching Pennies this week. But worthwhile expenditures one and all! Spreadsheet is updated with the entire $3.89.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Help - I'm buried under a sea of paper!
Velveeta cheese: classroom request. (They're studying Mexico...still haven't made the connection? It's time to make some queso.) $3.99 plus tax.
Family Trivia Night: second try. The last one was canceled due to lack of interest. I personally am still not interested. $10 rejected fund raisers.
Camp Invention: now this sounds cool! But we just can't afford to do everything that sounds cool. $130 for a one-week day camp if you are among the first 50 to register. After that $205. It really sounds great - teaching kids to think creatively by inventing new ways to play old games, etc.
That's all for tonight. I've got to get my head above water, no, paper!!
Family Trivia Night: second try. The last one was canceled due to lack of interest. I personally am still not interested. $10 rejected fund raisers.
Camp Invention: now this sounds cool! But we just can't afford to do everything that sounds cool. $130 for a one-week day camp if you are among the first 50 to register. After that $205. It really sounds great - teaching kids to think creatively by inventing new ways to play old games, etc.
That's all for tonight. I've got to get my head above water, no, paper!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)