the queen speaks out on education

Friday last week, I met wth the “Student Success Team” at the girls’ school to discuss Lexi’s potential vs her actual achievement…and what to do to close the gap.  Mind you, she’s only in 2nd grade and one of the youngest in the class due to her late-July birthday.  I walked in to the meeting full of hope. I walked out frustrated, annoyed, and ready to ditch USD 266 and the public school system as a whole.

Three days later, I can’t say the sentiment has changed much.

I find myself in a battle over what’s easy for me as a parent and what’s best for my brilliant daughters.  Truly, the battle began many years ago, but as she gets older and falls behind in mundane classroom work, I stuggle more and more.

She’s not a “bad” kid.
She’s not disruptive.
But she has been diagnosed with ADHD (of the distracted, non-hyper variety) and her teachers struggle to keep her enaged in the classroom. Perhaps I should say engaged to their satisfaction.  Lexi is on ADHD medication, and while it does help her settle her brain for longer periods when she’s really interested in something, she disappears into her head quite often. “Alexia Land,” as the family affectionately calls it, is full of rainbows, butterflies and, most recently, robots.  If there were a way to record/video her deep thoughts, the world’s problems might be solved.

After Friday’s disappointing meeting, I was schooled in some other education options by a dear friend. She also copes with ADHD and would be a fabulous spokeswoman for the cause.  Since before Christmas, I had been looking mainly at the viability of homeschooling as a single parent with a 40-50 hour per week job.  This friend suggested I also look into The Independent School and Wichita Montessori.  The financial burden would be comparable for all three options.  To homeschool, I would need to hire a full-time nanny.  Private school tuition for the two girls would be about the same as a nanny’s salary.

While I find myself focused on Lexi’s wellbeing and success, I can’t forget about my other princess.  Ella is just as bright as her sister, but her learning style is more in line with public school expectations.  I recognize that what’s best for one of my children may not be the best option for the other.  So what’s a mom to do?

What’s the “right” answer?
Do I split the girls based on their individual needs or do I keep them in the same school…whichever it may be?  
Would Ella benefit from a Montsorri environment as I believe Alexia would?  
Would they get the attention they need from homeschooling?
IS there a right answer?

The one thing I do know today is the status quo is not acceptable. Even though I am a successful product of Kansas public schools, and I am the daughter (x 2), granddaughter, sister, and niece of public school teachers, I feel the current system is failing.  

“No child left behind” my ass.  Kids like my Lexi are being left behind all over the country. They’re the brilliant ones who don’t fit the standard mold or even the alternative mold. No one knows what to do with them or wants to figure it out.  I’m done fighting an administration who doesn’t get it.  And I plan to soon be done with public school system.

Fire at the House

When I went to bed Friday night, I had no reason to suspect our weekend plans would abruptly change.

Alexia had attempted to cook a container of Easy Mac (don’t judge…) for dinner Friday, but forgot to add the water. So when I had been smelling the smoke from that for a couple of hours.

But when I woke up at 5:45 Saturday morning, something wasn’t right. I jumped out of bed and flipped the bedroom light on. Smoke…the air was filled with dense, creamy colored smoke. I made a bee-line for the kitchen, expecting the fire to be there. Nothing. 

That’s when I went on auto-pilot. I threw on clothes & shoes. Slammed open the girls’ bedroom door and yelled for them to get up because there was a fire.  I ran to the garage and hit the door for the opener.  Went back and told the girls to get in the car. Buster ran out into the street. Grabbed my cell phone and laptop. Girls & I got in the car. I backed out & parked across the street at the neighbors’. Then I called 9-1-1.  

In all, it took maybe 2 minutes, but seemed like 10.  I don’t know why I put them in the car. Maybe because it had been raining. Maybe because I didn’t want to take the time to find clothes & shoes. I just know that it made sense at the time.

The first fire truck arrived within 5 minutes of my call.  It was followed by at least 2 more. Plus investigators in 3 small trucks. Street was packed. Girls stayed in the car. I watched…and waited.

It was an electrical fire that began in an outlet in the laundry/utility room. There were clean clothes all over the room…most in plastic baskets…sorted, but not put away. Most everything that was in the room is now toast. Dryer, deep freeze, clothes, a couple of heirloom quilts. Not sure about the washer yet.

Waiting for the insurance adjuster to call me so we can start going through the pile and doing inventory.

For now, we’re staying in a hotel. It will do for a week or two, but I want to get back into a house sooner rather than later. If it was just me, it would be okay. But the girls…they need structure. And a place to run around outside.

new job day 2

So here I thought I had an office job. Yeah…partly, but not 100%. I kinda forgot that Bombardier has a service center right on site. And, well, we support all of the service centers. The guys here think we need to come crawl around on the plane. Not such a big deal. Unless you’re me…the girl who was looking forward to wearing dresses. 

I spent time today under a wing. Good thing I chose capris! 

Now all I need are MS Access and authority to make long distance calls. Tried to call a customer rep this afternoon and failed…miserably! Had to send email instead. Terrible way to make a first impression.

Ready for day #3. It can only get better!

new adventures

At 8:30 on Thursday morning, another round (4th…5th? I’ve losy track) of layoffs was announced at work. I didn’t make this round unscathed.

Don’t panic but…as of Monday, I’ll no longer be a Liaison Engineer within the completions group.

I’m moving to customer support engineering where they fix in-service airplanes. It’s technically a lateral, but because there is some on-call time required (I’ll carry a phone about one week a month), there’s a pay premium that amounts to about 2.3%.

I won’t have to deal with furloughs either. 

And I’ll be back in a real cubicle farm…with air conditioning!

I had talked to the supervisor over there several weeks ago anyway. I was even working on updating my resume for her to hang onto until there was an opening. The layoff situation deleted the need for that formallity.

Yes, I think this will be a good move. Not as much hands-on, but definitely a more steady workload.

Yes, I am excited!

Yes, I am scared to death! 

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