July. Hot, thunderstorms, lots of sun. I like summer. This is the kidlette's last summer, she'll be a senior next year. Hopefully she'll graduate with her class.
This "No Child Left Behind Act" sounds great on paper, not so great in practice. Every child is forced into the exact same mold, No account is made for different learning styles, for learning differences, for anything outside of the cookie cutter. I think this is actually hurting our kids much more than helping them. My kidlette has actively wanted to quit school twice in the last 2 months. She doesn't do well in the large, crowded, noisy classroom settings. She's a kid that thrives in a small class setting, where she can ask what she needs clarification on, have quiet to study and concentrate, hands on activities to help her understand the concepts. The modern high school classroom is a group of 30-35 kids with a bored teacher teaching straight from a book, no imagination required, just pump the answers into as many brains as possible so the teacher can keep his/her position and maybe get a raise. So we have summer school. She has also become so afraid of tests that she has a guaranteed job, she just has to do an online assessment test. She'd rather not get the job than take a test. I agree that education in America needs improvement, but this isn't the way. New York is also one of the few states that doesn't have access to the free online school. I looked into home schooling, but she would still have to pass the regents tests or take the GED test, so that makes that option not workable. So we are holding on tight, trying to find the way to work through this mess.
My Dad is home. He's doing well, but slacking off now that he doesn't have PT or OT all the time. He tends to sit in his chair and ask everyone to get whatever he needs. Frustration!!!! He gets out of bed, walks to his chair, sits there all day unless he needs to use the bathroom, then gets up to go back to bed. Total walking of about 100 feet all day long. I guess if that's his choice, we need to deal with it, but I want to kick his butt and make him take care of himself.
Other than that, things are bobbing along. Comparatively, things are going well. No one is dangerously ill, no one is in the hospital, we can handle this. I hope you are having a lazy, relaxing summmer.
