KampKrug

Look at this guy! He is so grown up! Here we go biking/running 1 mile to school

So this is the first full week of school and my policy is not to wake sleeping boys. So it got interesting…at 7:16 Sam rolled out of bed. I’d already been in to change Ben who had gotten up an hour earlier. Sam was still sleeping at 7am. They are usually both up at 0630 but Sam apparently needed some sleep. We managed to get him fed (yogurt and granola), dressed, on his bike and rolling in 15 minutes! Wow.

Today’s funny school story is a girl was “poking my body parts even though the teacher said ‘no poking body parts’ and she did it a second time, so I turned around and gave her my funny face” (Mom: “Did she quit poking you?”) “Yes, and she didn’t get a time out because she stopped.” Another boy fell out of his chair onto the carpet because he wasn’t sitting properly and had to go to the health office because he kept crying. They had to line up outside the classroom this morning before the bell rang – boys in one line, seated, and girls in another line, seated (criss-cross applesauce). I am still not sure of the rationale for this one other than so they don’t “Clump on their way in.” I volunteered immediately to help offset the clumping but it seems this is another tried-and-true rule. I am really trying to keep an open mind, but I have to say that there is little apparent time for learning given that every day a new rule introduced. You can’t possibly teach anything if you’re focused on compliance with rules. These kids are, in my humble opinion, being forced into a shoebox when they probably can handle a bit more wiggle room. After five years of hiking with preschoolers, I contend that young kids are more capable than we give them credit for being. I will continue to wait and watch, and listen. My neighbor is all set up with her Hawaii Tech Academy computer and curriculum. What an outstanding program that is! But I am hoping to give public school a fair shake as Sam and I both like him to have a physical building, classroom, and schedule to adhere to as an introduction to what school is all about before we consider going off the grid again. I am looking into augmenting his classroom time with perhaps an inclusion program or something to ensure he is being challenged at some point during the week.

Tonight while pulling Ben around in a wagon I asked how fast he was going. He said 5 miles an hour. Then I said “how fast would you be going if you went four times faster than 5 miles an hour?” Sam replied instantly “20″ Wow! And finally, while playing with Dad in the music “studio” (the office) he played a new song – “Don’t Steal My Bicycle” – Dave was hilarious singing the made-up words. It sounded a little country!  Sam decided to call themselves the “Almond Brothers” band – I think because they loved some almond milk I gave them just before dinner. Aloha for now!