Winter in Hawaii

These tide pools emerge in the winter when the sand is relocated by the north swells. It's a tad chillier for swimming, but when you're jumping in and out, working hard, you hardly notice it in the warm afternoon sun.

These tide pools emerge in the winter when the sand is relocated by the north swells. It's a tad chillier for swimming, but when you're jumping in and out, working hard, you hardly notice it in the warm afternoon sun.

Dave took some really great shots of these tide pools. We really love this place and were happy to see the pools reemerge in the low tide. Sam and I are looking forward to our sunrise hike tomorrow morning with three buddies of Sam’s. We’ll be up early at 0530, and on top of a little pu’u (hill) by 6:30am ready for 7:11 sunrise. Mercury gets up at 5:42am, so maybe we’ll see that planet on our walk up. I have blinking headlamps for boys, glow sticks, coffee for moms and doughnut holes for the top 🙂 I also have whistles for the way down to wake the rest of the base up – ha ha!

As I was getting my coffee carafe unpacked, I noticed it is a 34 oz carafe. So I asked Sam casually, “How many 8 oz cups of coffee will we have if this is a 34 oz carafe?” He paced a bit with his 25 ft rope in hand (he’s been working on knots and stuff with the rope, featured in a couple of the shots linked from the above picture).  “Four and a quarter, Mom.” He had the answer in 16 seconds (I was still working on the second part of the answer as he said it!). Wow. He is one cool kid. But his latest report card says he’s DP (developing proficiency) using objects or fingers to add and subtract single digit whole numbers. A burden I carry around with me every day is unraveling this fundamental disconnect between who he is at home, and what the teacher says he is at school. Am I doing the right thing for Sam’s education? Should I be doing more? Is he getting enough stimulation and challenge outside the classroom to make up for what he’s not getting in class? Is observing the other kids in class and learning to work within a system, however unchallenging, a viable form of learning at this stage? It is only Kindergarten, after all, I tell myself most days. So while I grapple with this question, I continue to invest my time and energy in nurturing my kids as best I can outside the classroom and volunteer my time and energy to help refine programs, policies, strategies to help other kids reach their potential at school. Maybe one day I’ll be a science tutor to contribute more to the local education system.

One Comment

  1. Anonymous 17 January, 2011

    Awesome… Little Ben looks like Sammy when you all first moved out here to Hawaii.

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