Our group won gold for their age group (over all 5 – 8 ) and first place for their dance/size/age group, which is phenomenal considering most of our group is barely six (and a couple that are five, and a couple that are 7) and they were exhausted and it was the first time out for all but three of our eight. Phenom indeed. Oh, and they *might* make it onto the upcoming episode of Dance Moms. How exciting. Oh, did I mention we had to wait around till something like 7 PM for the awards ceremony? Oh yah. We played twister. We ate. We ran. We rested. We shopped. And then around 8/8:30 we packed it in and headed home. We dropped our passengers off at their home and I decided “daddy is still at work… work is on the way home… let”s visit daddy!” So little miss raccoon eyes and I swung by the shop and hung out for a bit. We made it home around 10 PM. Then we took off the make up, and fed the bellies and crawled into bed. I bet there was more, but really, who needs more?

It took me all weekend to recovered. Kudos to those who had to be there both days. I am decidedly not looking forward to then. Maybe E won”t be participating in Company by then… but I”m not holding my breathe.

No photos please, my raccoon eyes aren't photogenic

Competition season has started and we are off to Hollywood Vibe tomorrow. Now, if you are unfamiliar with Hollywood Vibe, it’s a weekend long convention that runs classes and competitions. My little one is in the “mini” category, so she (thankfully!) only goes one day, but what a long day it is! We’ll be up no later than six tomorrow morning (no big deal some of you may say, but she has a hard time rolling out of bed by 7:45 most mornings… so do I!) and we won’t be home until probably close to ten at night.

Today my day will be filled with packing up her makeup case, costume, extra clothes, her dance bag, curling & cutting her hair piece, last-minute rehearsals, it just goes on and on and yes, on. It’s now hours after I started this post. I have a quick run to CVS to make. My hair piece will not curl. Hopefully they have something close to matching that will be good enough just for tomorrow. The suitcase is packed. It’s overkill for one costume *but* it’s also holding the makeup box, all the shoes, jacket &pants… everything really *and* it should free up an arm (or two is E can pull it!)

I don’t even want to think about it.

Have I mentioned I took one dance class in my entire life? When I was maybe four? So last year I was a hot lost mess. This year I’m on the ball. This year is going so much smoother. I love this year. My little one is taking four classes this year, which is no means a lot, really, considering some of those girls are there from nearly open to close four and five days a week. It’s a lot to me though. Some weeks I feel like I never see my boys, and part of me goes “better to not see them than to drag them all over creation attending dance things where they will be bored to death” and part of me goes “but… but… we miss them we does!” (part of me is Smeagol on occasion) I think Sunday will bring some intensive family time doing something or other. Well, in between Hebrew school & music classes.

I read this book for the first time probably around 1989/1990. I’ve reread it many times since then. I’ve gone so far as to push it on my kids, although none ever took a real interest. I decided tonight to start it, and lo and behold, all three listened with very few interruptions. I got through the authors preface and 25 pages before I called it a night and my nine year old told me he likes long books when he can listen to them. (which is funny only if you know him and know that he really does like to read on his own)

We learned about Sam Gribley’s first winter storm, and how he learned how to make a fire and caught fish and found his great-grandfathers nature-reclaimed farm.

My kids asked me to read more tomorrow night.

I have a hard time getting them interested in books I loved as a child. Perhaps due to some weird generation gap. Perhaps due to gender differences (I highly doubt this however). Perhaps it’s just that my kids have so much more going on electronically than I remember having and they just don’t read as much as I did. They certainly have an extensive library – full of my and my husbands beloved children’s books as well as brand new books. We can’t leave Barnes & Noble without dropping at least a hundred dollars. Books are definitely not in shortage around here. Yet, they seem to get left by the wayside and video games and the internet prevail.

I got off track there, sorry. I am super-excited to revisit this wonderful book with my kids and hopefully they will enjoy it as much as I remember enjoying it. A camping trip might have to be in the works once we finish it. I’ll let you know I’m a fairly suburban city girl at heart. I grew up in the burbs, but within fifteen minutes of a major city. The most “rustic” I ever really got was playing in the woods behind my house, which I suspect weren’t nearly as big as I thought they were and only divided our pre-planned neighborhood from some older houses on the other side. I went looking for a tree to live in though, just like Sam. My own children will have to make-do with their ready-built “tree” house that came with their swing set – South Florida isn’t really known for it’s old, or large trees. We’ve got Palm’s in the back yard. I loved the idea of running away to the woods as much as the main character of this book did though. A nice quiet, large, deserted forest still appeals to the curmudgeon in me.

Amazon.com Review

Every kid thinks about running away at one point or another; few get farther than the end of the block. Young Sam Gribley gets to the end of the block and keeps going–all the way to the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. There he sets up house in a huge hollowed-out tree, with a falcon and a weasel for companions and his wits as his tool for survival. In a spellbinding, touching, funny account, Sam learns to live off the land, and grows up a little in the process. Blizzards, hunters, loneliness, and fear all battle to drive Sam back to city life. But his desire for freedom, independence, and adventure is stronger. No reader will be immune to the compulsion to go right out and start whittling fishhooks and befriending raccoons.

Dad & Sara took Michael up to Stetson this morning to move him in. They left around 4AM, arrived around 8AM, saw the shuttle launch around 7:20AM, and Michael phoned me around 10AM and told me he was moved in and Dad & Sara had left. Super condensed, yes, but accurate.

Sara is bummed she isn’t moving on, but she can’t see that she is. Just because you are going to a local school and living at home doesn’t mean you aren’t moving on with life. It means you are moving on in a different direction than your twin because you are a different person. Next semester after she gets straight A’s she might apply to UF and move out too, or she might stick out her two years and finish her AA and get guaranteed acceptance into any Fl state school.

I posted to PMs that I cannot believe I have two kids in college. Mine, but not mine. I remember taking them to 8th grade and signing them up for 9th grade and I feel like it was yesterday. I remember getting the call that they were born.

My bio kidlets are in K, 3 & 4 this year. Where does the time go? I feel like I have stood still in many ways myself. I’ve been in my own holding pattern for the last eleven or so years. Maybe it’s time for me to break out too. Dance class, acro class, guitar lessons… I might need to dig out some time for myself to do something.

Yesterday morning started at 5AM for them. They went through four dress rehearsals (in a row no less), then home. We all got to FAU around 6ish (they got there before Michael and I did) and we sat through the longest graduation I have ever been to. My own was a class smaller than 200, it didn’t take too long. They had a graduating class of over 500.

There were some great speeches. Ferris Bueller was quote twice, Star Wars once. The student orchestra was amazing, as was the choir. I got some great shots and some not so great shots. I took some more when we got home, but since I didn’t set up any lights I may have to take them again.

I told Dad he did his job and he couldn’t kick us out even though most of my job is done. He laughed.I hugged them both and told them I was proud of them and mom would be proud too. I cried, but they didn’t know that until right now.

All in all it was a good night.

Michael is headed off to Stetson in the fall. He’ll be a Hatter! Sara is headed to BC. I have no idea what they are, sorry Sara! Exciting times, they are a’coming!

For the rest of you, school is about to end. Malachai got a citizenship award and perfect attendance, which pissed off Dorian who did get gold honor roll but not perfect attendance (he was all of 30 seconds late one morning. So was Mal, hence the irritation). Malachai’s G&T testing is this coming Monday, so we’ll see where that goes.

Eshiva “graduates” VPK on Wednesday night. She’s registered for K and will have her placement “exam” sometime in the summer to see if she knows her letters, numbers, can read, add, etc… I am kind of hoping she has the same teacher Mal had for K because she was awesome.

Dor goes into the gifted class again next year, mainly because he did awesome on his FCAT (he missed one in math and three in reading, go Dor!) if I understand correctly, but also based on his performance in class this year. From what I hear the teacher he will have is a good one as well. No clue who Malachai will have, as it will be primarily based on how he does on the test on Monday.

I totally had a whole awesome post I wanted to make but I am kind of wandering today.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-broward-elementary-specials-030910.doc20100308,0,5494407.story

Broward schools to consider cuts to arts, music, physical education classes
Elementary programs face big changes next year

Facing huge cuts in state money, Broward’s public elementary schools next year could see major changes to their art, music, physical education and library programs.

Under a proposal the Broward School Board will discuss Tuesday, the district’s 140 elementary schools will have four options for how it handles those non-core classes.

The choices: Four schools in the same zone would share a media specialist along with an art, music and physical education teacher; electives would be incorporated into classroom teachers’ daily lessons; teachers of electives would be required to teach two classes at once, with the help of an aide; or specialty teachers would serve as consultants to their colleagues on how to incorporate electives into the curriculum.

School Board members were told last month the district could lose $80 million to $100 million in state money and have to make up for $60 million in one-time money spent in last year’s budget. Board members are supposed to see proposals for cuts in the coming weeks.

Other changes being discussed Tuesday include using a school’s size to revise staffing numbers for administrators and guidance counselors; and again eliminating extensions under the Deferred Retirement Option Program. The state retirement program allows teachers to extend their retirement date three years. Broward stopped granting them last year, affecting 233 teachers and school support staff. It prompted a lawsuit from the Broward Teachers Union that the union eventually lost.

Tuesday’s debate on elementary electives will include a proposal that schools supplement arts and music education with virtual field trips, video conferences, the Student Enrichment in the Arts partnership with the Broward Center for Performing Arts and other options.

That portion of the discussion is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at the school district’s Fort Lauderdale headquarters, 600 SE Third Ave.

Laurie Firestone, of Coral Springs, has a son in the second grade at Maplewood Elementary School, which has already scaled back library time to once a week, art to once a week, and music and physical education to every other week.

She said teachers won’t have time to build electives into their regular lesson plans, so students likely would go without. “All they’re doing is studying for the FCAT,” she said.

Blame budget cuts and the state Legislature, said School Board Chairwoman Jennifer Gottlieb.

“They are scraping us to the bare bone. It’s been that way for the past few years,” she said. “Until the state starts to adequately fund public education, these are the conversations we unfortunately have to have.”

But other board members wonder whether there are other areas to consider cutting.

Board member Robin Bartleman suggested scaling back work calendars of new administrators, or looking at district contracts to see whether there are programs that aren’t worth renewing.

“Those music classes, those art classes … you can’t take that stuff away from kids,” Bartleman said. “Sometimes that’s the only thing that’s sparking the interest of the kid.”

Kathy Bushouse can be reached at kbushouse@SunSentinel.com or 954-356-4556.

Copyright © 2010, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

This curriculum continues the imaginative mood set in Kindergarten, but expands to include the lower case alphabet, phonetic studies, and beginning reading. Stories are used to learn the numbers to 100 and the four processes of math. Children explore the world of nature through experiential activities. Throughout are fairy tales, poetry, songs, recorder playing, knitting, painting, and drawing.

The First Grade Curriculum requires a set of two teacher manuals: The Heart of Learning and Home Teacher’s Process Manual.*

Includes:
Oak Meadow First Grade Syllabus
Oak Meadow Beginning Recorder Book
Oak Meadow Songbook
Oak Meadow First Grade Music CD <- I am missing this item
Oak Meadow First Grade Fairy Tales
Oak Meadow Word Families Reader
Little Bear
Little Bear’s Visit
A Kiss for Little Bear
Frog and Toad Are Friends
Frog and Toad Together
Mouse Soup
Mouse Tales

This sells for 280$ now, I think I paid in the 250$ range a few years ago. The books are unopened – no creases, no pen/pencil marks, no damage of any kind.

*I am not offering the teachers manuals or the health manual. You can find them on ebay for pretty cheap. Hell, even new, considering you can get 8 years out of them, they are pretty cheap *laughs* I still use the as reference, or I’d include them.

Asking 200$, or make me a reasonable offer. I am willing to barter depending on what the barter is.

Channukah is almost here! First of all, my yearly link Anyone else celebrating it? It’s early this year, Dec 11! My dad is going out of town the next day, for the weekend, so we’ll be doing it up big the first night I think.

Sara wants to make sufgoniyot (jelly doughnuts) this year, because you know we have to get fat to celebrate the miracle of finding oil

I need to make latkes – last year my uncle made some with spinach and feta and I think I might get his recipe this year. They sounded delish.

We’ll celebrate Yule this year as well, but I haven’t really thought about what we’re going to do just yet. Channukah looms large on the horizon Brisket, latkes, sufgonyot, latkes, latkes, latkes…. mmmm latkes.

Speaking of Channukah, we had adult Hebrew school this morning (the Rabbi runs it once a month while the kids are in) and today was… Channukah! Quelle Suprise! I always feel so smart when we leave, because I know what he is talking about We also spoke with another Rabbi and took care of HS tuition (which we can’t afford right now) and I was going to pull the kids out, but they will remain, and I will let them know when we have our feet back under us. I know I bitch about Chabad… I don’t feel like I belong there, like we are Jew-y “enough” to be there, and that we have to cover up (which I would do anyway, it’s the proper thing to do – I jsut resent *having* to do it) but those are *my* issues and they have never, never turned anyone away and I can get behind that. Recently a homeless Jewish man died in the community and they took up collection to bury him in the Jewish part of the local cemetary – his family wanted nothing to do with him. Things like that make me feel good about being connected to them. I might not be Jew enough in my own eyes, when compared to the ultra Orthodox there, but good people are good people regardless of faith. They are good people. I offered my graphic design skills in barter, but I know they have someone who does that already. I don’t really have any other skills to offer, so… I offered what I could.

If you are looking for someplace to donate to this season, and don’t care if it doesn’t match your faith, please consider donating to Chabad of Coral Springs (and please make your donation in memory of Phyllis Johnpoll). If your faith does matter, please consider Delrey School (please make it in Erin Johnpoll’s name) or UCP directly (this does not directly benefit Delrey school, again, please make your donation in Erin’s name). None of those make you feel good about yourself? Please pick any charity you desire and send them at least a few dollars. If you give back to the Universe, the Universe gives back to you.

In other news, I lost my shit with the kids yesterday. Their room is still a mess, as is the living room. They will be cleaning today before we do anything fun. Oh yes, they will. The dogs have fleas. I got Program tabs and Capstar tabs and once they arrive they will be administered, the house will be flea bombed and hopefully they will stay uninfested for a long while.

Today is a laundry day, joy! Not so much. I wish the mail came today. I am expecting a check. I need to give dad back 155$ (for the flea pills), set some aside for our dinner, buy Dorian some shirts, buy two new bike seats and two water bottle holders. I think it should stretch far enough to do that

I need to get back into writing every day.