This One Is For Reesa... AKA Mr F Mocks His Daughter

Highbrow Halloween

This costume, sadly, went over everyone's head. They had to have a costume inspired by a book. The teacher actually took the book and leafed through it... like she had never seen it before. Hmm...


Lowbrow...

And If I Can Do That... What A Gift It Will Be

#1 I read this, and it pretty much summed up my feelings on homeschooling.


#2 Dark green carpet may not show dirt... but... it shows EVERYTHING else.


#3 I went into the school to talk to Kid's teacher. I asked her how Kid was doing socially. She said "Fine". When I told her she was actually having a hard time adjusting, blah, blah, blah, and that there were some mean kids, etc., the teacher responded with....

"Well, we all have our hardships."

(FYI, that was not an acceptable response.)

I also had to bear the heartbreaking disappointment of seeing that the kids' desk were all prepped for the next morning with their stacks of worksheets. I know we get about 10 home everyday... but... I didn't know it was this bad. I wouldn't wish a boring non-stop paperwork job on an adult... I certainly am not going to sit back and resign a year of my child's life to that. REALLY. This is the actual learning style of that classroom. They walk in, sit down, and work on worksheets ALL DAY. It's raining... no recess you say?... no problem... they don't have free play... they have FUN WORKSHEETS to do in their desks. SERIOUSLY. These kids are SEVEN YEARS OLD.

So yeah...

#4 Kid is coming out of that school before Christmas. That I can goddamn guarantee you.


I talked with Kid about some choices. I talked to her about another private school. "They don't have any worksheets there." I said. She was excited, then said slightly concerned, "What about fun worksheets, like coloring ones?" "Honey, at this school you can draw whatever you want." She had a huge smile.


I may not know what we're going to do next. And I may not know how it will be. But I do know it will be better than what she's doing now.

As I said to Kid, while walking home from school....

"There is a difference between being *happy* and not being *sad*.



We can't control everything. We can't protect our children from all hardships. God knows, we know that.

But, you can choose to change the things within your control.

You can choose happiness, when happiness is a choice.

And if I can teach my children anything.

It's that.

Bewitching

Spelling Lesson

I let Kid stay home from school again today. I just thought she was tired and needed to sleep and just let today be an *easy* day emotionally. (Plus, I was really tired from staying up late watching Lost...just kidding).

When she woke up (2 hours after she would have had to get up for school), I told her we would do a practice homeschool day.

We started with the assignment her teacher had emailed me. Then we went on to practice her spelling words.

When we introduce new spelling words I usually give it in the context of a sentence.

So when I told her "kicked", I followed it with...

"I accidentally kicked you in the head." (As if that isn't what came to your mind first, too)

Then Kid said...

"Which actually happens all the time at school."

"Except... it isn't an accident." She finished.

R.I.P.

Kid woke up early to snuggle Dasher for awhile before he was put down.
She was doing pretty well until we had to get out the carrier. Then we all started to lose it. Well, not Baby, she did fake cry to keep us all company though.

The hardest part for her (and me, honestly) is the empathy for him. Just feeling so overwhelmingly sad that he only got to live for 5 months. It is very hard not to anthropomorphize animals. But, we talked about it (for days) and we wondered if we would have adopted him even if we knew he was dying. Wouldn't we have brought him home and given him the best possible 2 months he could have? Love him, and let him live out his days sleeping and playing with his brother? Wouldn't we have wanted to make sure he didn't suffer? Of course we would have.

His short life was, sadly, inevitable and we need to focus on the quality of life he got to have. That he did not know he was dying, as we did. And was able to die peacefully and humanely in the arms of a loving family member. However short, he did have a good life for the few months he lived with us.

Right before he left with Mr F this morning, I gave him a pile of treats (he had stopped getting up to eat regularly). While he was eating he lost his kitten tooth. It was both a gift for us... a little physical reminder for Kid to hold onto... but also just a sad, sad, statement that he was losing his life just as he was losing his baby teeth.


Mr F had the unfortunate task of taking him to the vet to be put down. Mr F said "How many animals must I bury?!". This just feels so cruel after losing Canine last year.

Unfortunately, this is the dark side of pet ownership. And as I said to Kid, the natural world isn't a fair place.

Heartbreakingly, Tiger is roaming around the house crying out. I didn't think he'd notice yet, but he's definitely acting as if something is wrong. Or maybe he's just mad that I gave the last of our treats to his brother...

We still need to work on not anthropomorphizing Tiger, apparently.

Good Guess... But...

"Do you know where my party is going to be?" Kid asks Baby.

"At the... jail?" Baby whispers cautiously.