Quick Update

I just heard Carly have a conversation completely in Spanish.  We were at the school book fair and one of her spanish speaking friends was confused.  So Carly explained the whole book buying and raffle process to her friend in spanish.  (I'm happy to report I sort of understood her.)   

This means she met the mile stone for language acquisition by 7.  If a person learns a second language before the age of seven, the brain is somehow rewired and it will forever be easier for that person to learn additional languages.  In school, she's expected to be speaking conversationally at the end of first grade.  The teacher's been telling me she's conversational for months, but I never heard her speak spontaneously until today.  It was pretty darn cool.  

Next year, she's not allowed to speak English in the classroom and I was wondering how she was going to do that.  Now I know she's going to be just fine.

A rant: Solving the Budget Crisis

I've held my tongue on an issue in California for quite a while and I can remain silent no more.  As many of you know, both of my kids go to public schools and therefore, are impacted by the budget crisis in our state.  

My children attend schools that are ranked in the top ten of the State (specifically, we're number 7).  These schools boast high test scores, committed teachers, involved parents and bright students.  No wonder they rank so highly.  Yet, like every other school in the state, budget cuts threatens to increase class sizes and reduce janitorial services.  Library aides, reading specialists, counselors all may be cut by fall.  At our school, 17 of 34 teachers were given notices of potential lay-offs (this is just for Dual Immersion, it's more if you include the English Only classes.)  And most amazing, it doesn't have to be this way.  

There is an option on the table that allows schools to maintain 20 kids in every class, keep their janitors, reading specialists and every single teacher.  Yet, it's considered controversial.  The option:  Cut five days off the school year.  Currently the kids go to school from August 25 through mid-June.  They have most of the month of November off (no one really knows why this is, it just is), two weeks in December and a week in Spring. At a recent meeting with our superintendent, he told parents the schools need every single teaching  day to keep our test scores high. Every parent in the room practically shouted "BS" (and I mean the words, not the letters).  

Why?  Well, school may not be dismissed until mid-June, but education ended on May 15 this year and parents knew that would be the case.  See, state testing ends on May 15 and teachers generally take that as the signal to start closing down their classrooms. I mean why work with students if they've already been evaluated?   In La Nina's class, the reading program ended (so the teacher could inventory books and evaluate students), timed math tests ended (not sure why) and home ceased (I'm not complaining.)   In Maggie's class, it's similar plus she's had two field trips since May 1 and has another one coming up.    Today, every 3rd, 4th and 5th grader from our school went to a baseball game, counting pitches is very educational.  Basically, the schools take 5 weeks off, but can't afford to give 5 days back to families.

Now, I'm all for kids going on field trips and having some down time at school.  Homework is ridiculous in 1st grade and kindergarten, so I'm not complaining about that stopping.  Here's my issue:  If you can fix the budget problem in education by losing a week, what's the hold up?  Lose the week and move on.  

But wait, that would mean that our beloved teachers will lose 5 days of pay.  Hmmmm...lose jobs or everyone lose a little bit of income.  Given that many of my neighbors are giving up 10-20% of their income to keep their jobs, why are these people complaining about 5 days?  

And so, even though there is a solution, the only people I know who believe it's a good idea are parents.  Who knows if the governor will have the guts to make the needed changes to make this a reality?  The teachers union will scream to high Heaven.  The teachers will riot in the street about test scores dropping.  Administrators will use the shorter school year as an excuse for everything from increased truancy to childhood obesity.  Yet I truly hope the governor changes the laws and shortens the school year.  With an extra few days, we can get another weekend of family time and that's as valuable as school any day of the week.   

She did what??

This morning the girls' got in a fight.  A knock down, drag out because La Nina fed the fish we're fish sitting.  The fist belong to the Magster's friend and duties were supposed to be shared.  The Magster was beside herself.  We tried everything to calm her down but nothing worked.  

Maybe twenty minutes later, La Nina was humming a tune the Magster didn't like.  The Magster told her twice to stop and when La Nina didn't listen, it was revenge time for the fish.  The Magster tweaked her sister's nose.  Yep, you read that right.  She reached over, grabbed her nose and twisted it.  It was a move that made the 3 stooges proud.  Of course, La Nina burst into tears, it hurts to have your nose tweaked.  The Magster, who was completely unsorry, was sent to her room smirking.  And I was left to stifle my giggles and comfort La Nina.  

After a long time out, need to control my giggles, I went back to her room to have a serious discussion about why we don't tweak noses.  The Magster's response to my question if she understood what she did wrong:  "It was about the fish."   Yeah, I knew that.  She did offer the most insincere apology I've ever heard and my guess is she won't have the same problem tomorrow with her sister. 

Quiet Weekend, Literally

Have you ever seen such a headline from me?  Probably not.  Because since I started this blog, I've never had a weekend like this.  It's completely, delightfully and blissfully quiet.  The dad took both girls camping yesterday and they don't return until tomorrow.  The house is clean, quiet and all mine.  

 Sure, I've had weeks away.  But it's even better to stay home.  I can cook my own meals, the way I want.  I can watch whatever I want on television.  I can run to the store or not.  Whether or not I go to the store, I don't have to coordinate anyone else getting their shoes and going to the potty before we leave.  

I told the Dad before he left I wish I could be a fly on the wall for his trip, just to see how he manages.  His words, "You probably don't want to know."  He's probably right.  However, I do know that I'm grateful he does such things, because this is a great mother's day gift.

Disney World Adventures

It's Mother's Day and while there is much to be done to recover from our vacation, I'm having a slow morning.  So, rather than do laundry--doesn't it seem wrong to do laundry on Mother's Day? I thought I'd give a brief run down of our Disney Adventure.

Days Spent at Disney World:  7

Days Spent Traveling: 2

Parks Visited:  4

Number of Condos/Hotels:  2 (Lake Buena Vista Resort Condos and Wilderness Lodge) 

Favorite Park (Girls Vote):  Hollywood Studios

Reason:  American Idol Experience and High School Musical 3

Favorite Park (Adults Vote):  Epcot

Reason:  Alcohol readily available 

Average Temperature:  92 degrees

Average Humidity:  We have no idea, but a lot higher than California.  

Number of Times we got lost:  5 (we only drove 4 days) 

Number of Character Signatures Gathered:  34

Best Character (LN):  Pocohontas and Meeko

Best Character (M):  Mickey and Minnie Mouse

Most Unusual Characters Found:  Tinkerbell, Jiminy Cricket

Favorite Ride (LN & M):  Kali River Rapids in Animal Kingdom

Best Thing We Saw (M):  Epcot Golf Ball

Best Thing We Saw (LN): Characters

Best Thing We Saw (Adults):  We kind of thought the White Rhinos at Animal Kingdom were cool, but what do we know?

Best Nighttime Fireworks:  Epcot's Illuminations

Best Parade:  Nightime Spectacular at Magic Kingdom    

Best Swimming Pool:  Pool at Disney's Wilderness Lodge

Child who whined the most:  La Nina  (She has the potential to make a man perfectly miserable some day.)

Child who ate the least:  Magster

Number of chicken nuggets consumed by Magster:  56 (I don't think she ate anything else)

Best food:  Didn't exist.  However, it was much easier to find decent salads, fruits and vegetables than I remember in Disneyland.

Number of blisters:  1 (On La Nina who refused to follow my shoe advice, even after the blister.)

Number of Stuffed Animal Souvenirs Purchased:  7

Overall assessment Disneyland v. Disney World:  I'm very glad we did Disney World, the girls were the perfect ages for it and we had a great time.  At the same time, I don't know that we'll go back.  It's a long trip.  While it's fun and different from Disneyland, I'd rather go other places and do long weekends at Disneyland.  It should be noted the girls do not agree. 

Where in the world....

We're out and about and thought it might be fun to test everyone.  From this picture, can you say where we are?  Please be specific.  This is for bragging rights only.