Sunday, April 30, 2006

THE TEST

Here in California there is a very high stakes testing environment. Each student from the second grade to the twelfth is tested in some way, shape or form. This last week, I had the distinct (dis) pleasure of testing my 29 third grade students for about 2 hours per day EVERY day from Monday to Friday.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not one of those teachers who is completely anti-testing. I think it's great that we want to hold our teachers and administrators accountable for helping each student to achieve to the best of his or her ability. I also think it's important to have standards to guide what should be taught at each grade level. This prevents students from being driven to boredom after learning the same information about how caterpillars turn into butterflies every year from Kindergarten through Third grade!!

But almost 10 hours of testing for 8 year old children is a little much!! All I had to do was wander around and make sure no one skipped a question or bubbled 2 answers for the same question, and I was exhausted!! I can't imagine how they must have felt!! But, I was soooooo proud to see how hard they tried.... How they persevered..... How they gave their best effort. They were total troopers!!

Thursday, April 27, 2006

My Son


When my son, Mason, was born, my life changed forever. I was a Mommy, and this wonderful creature was mine! His perfect existence caused me to begin my journey as a Christian. His wit and humor and love has graced each day of my life for 14 wonderful years...... But lately, things are changing. I am not sure how to relate to this young man.... who is so tall when I hug him I barely reach his shoulder with my cheek. His interests are different. His attitude is often lacking in "sunshine"..... And the worst part of all is what happens to me. I want to be the Mom who is loving and calm and rational, but often I what I hear in my voice is irritation and sarcasm. How do I rid myself of this? This is not the Mom I signed up to be!!! Help me!

Friday, April 21, 2006

Why 'The Scoop'?

So, those of you who know me may be perplexed as to why I named my blog "The Scoop". Well, a few days ago I was thinking about the blog's that I like to visit on a regular basis and all of the fun and clever names that people come up with. I, of course didn't come up with anything overly clever, but it just occured to me to name it using one of my childhood nicknames. You see, my dad doesn't call anyone by their real name very often, and he's not the type of guy who would call me 'sweetie' or 'cupcake' or something. So, when I was about 10 he started calling me "Scooter McGooter". I have absolutely NO recollection of why he chose that name, but it didn't really matter because when my dad gives a nickname it doesn't often stay the same..... it inevitably morphs into something else. Soon, I was "Scoot." Scoot actually stuck for a while, but of course after awhile it became "Scoop." So, there you have it. The origin of my blog's name.

Are you THRILLED?!? I doubt it!

But what I find the most interesting is that this is one of the (dare I say, many) ways I am similar to my dad. Everyone in our family adores Pepper, our little doxie, and we all have numerous nicknames for him. But mine seem to morph into weirdness on a regular basis. I started out with Pep and Pepperoni and Baby, then Sweetie, then Tweetie, and now usually when I come home from work, the first words out of my mouth are, "Hi Tweeter, how was your day?" while I pet Pepper hello. Mason heard me say that last week and said, "Where in the world did that name come from?" Well, Mason, I wish I knew but I guess it's just part of the weird-ness that is ME!

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Teenagers


It hits me at strange times... this realization that my children are teenagers. (OK, so if you know me, you know that Kyla is still only 12, but her behaviors are soooooooo teenage, she really has to, HAS TO, qualify!!) Tonight was one of those nights that it hit me.....

After 2 hours of errands after work, I came home to Kyla receiving calls every 5 minutes from a variety of girls. A half of an hour later she has broken down in tears... not whimpering... not whining..... full blown (dare I say hormonal) sobbing tears!! It took a while to get to the bottom of it, but finally I found that tomorrow is twin day. The goal is for everyone to pair up with someone else and dress alike. She had a plan to dress up with 3 other friends, but alas, it fell through.... and she will be a solo while the others will be triplets. I tried to talk her into calling some different friends or being a twin with her boyfriend (she has a boyfriend? you ask... I know, I know, I say while shaking my head, but that is another topic) or even being a twin with one of her American Girl dolls. But, of course, none of these ideas stopped or even slowed down the sobbing. She didn't even want a hug!!

I am at a loss. I talked to her about how it is common for girls to do these kinds of things to each other. I tried to relate to her by passing on my sage wisdom about how I had been crushed to this extreme on several occasions.... I omitted to tell her that there were many times where I was crushed to an even worse pulp by one or another heartbreaking incident! I really wish there were some way I could help her, but as a Mom of teenagers, I am realizing that I can't fix all of their hurts the way I did when they were two. The process of letting them go has begun....

And each time they grow up a little more... it makes my heart ache with the knowledge that in a few years they will be out on their own..... adults....

And that freaks me out even more than being the current mother of teenagers.