Tag: Education

Really? Totally unfocused rant

Warning, this post is following my line of thought right now which is extremely unfocused, angry and just plan all over the board.

I thought of posting a huge political rant expressing my pure disgust with the attack on our sovereign land carried out in both Egypt and Lybia.  My disgust over the initial apology issued by our embassy in Egypt to those who attacked us.  My disgust over the fact that we have no time for our allies but continue to bend over to appease those who would seek to destroy us.  The President has walked the statement back since but what does it say that the embassy felt comfortable to issue the statement in the first place?

Then I looked at Facebook and saw a post saying to put away the pink ribbons until October because this is Pediatric cancer month.  Really? So, unless it is the actual month put aside for it, we should not recognize an issue.  It seems that September is also National Preparedness Month so please get ready for any disasters before the end of the month because once October hit..no more!   It is also notional yoga month, national chicken month, guide dog month, honey month and National Hispanic Heritage Month from mid sept to mid Oct.

I had to look that up and was shocked that September was so important..there is a list for every month.  So, if I follow the direction I saw on FB this morning, does it mean I can only openly consume Chicken in September?

Really?  How about we just live.  How about an overall recognition of “Cancer” of all forms. I mean it is the second largest leading cause of death second only to Heart Disease.  Is there a person out there whose family has not been affected by it in one way or another?  Now we will fight over whose month it is?

So after the super market I put on the news for a minute before my little one got home from school.  How should I feel about a teachers union who finds it appropriate to put 350K student on the streets?  The average salary for Chicago teachers is 71K in a city that when compared to the 10 largest American cities has the shortest school day and year.  A district that only graduates 6 out of 10 students in high school.  They chant “who’s school’s, our school’s”.  Interesting.  What about the children?

NOW.. I know someone has already had a thought that I am anti teacher.  I am far from it!  I believe that like any other business, workers should be rewarded for good work.  I would have no issue with teacher making six figures if students were excelling.  I believe in reform!  Pay teachers more but there has to be a standard to which performance is measured like all other industry.  Failing school district should not be offered 16% pay raises.

Still reading?  Well thank you for sticking with my thoughts.  As a parent, I fear for the safety of my young children who have to grow up in the world that we leave them.  What do we as a nation stand for, if anything anymore?  We fight over everything, adults stooping to name calling.  I teach my children that this is bad behavior yet every where you turn this politician calls that one some offensive things.  Everyday people do it with out thought and then we wonder why the bullies are running wild in our schools.

I wish it was as simple as turning off the news but we all know it is far from it!

Me, the early years

When we were young, my mother wanted us to get the best possible education.  She wanted us to do better than she did in life. The public schools in our area at the time were not very good.  She went to our church  parish and asked for tuition help.  My mother was a Catholic born and raised.  We went to church every Sunday.  I never fully understood her belief since they felt she was a bad Catholic because of her divorce, but week after week we went. For the help with tuition,  we all worked.  I raked leaves at the convent, cleaned desks in the school over the summer and moved things between classrooms.

It taught me all an important lesson in life, nothing in the world is free!  If you are to succeed, the road is not easy.  If you are not willing to put your back into it, work hard, success does not come.  This is a lesson my husband and I are trying to instill in our girls.  It is tough these days with the media generation and immediate gratification.  We are able to give our girls many of the things neither of us had as children.  We often battle with the “what is too much” line.

In 5th grade they were a bit worried about me. I was a latch key kid.  Back then leaving young kids alone was not as frowned upon as it is today. I had a strong imagination. Idle time and I were not the best of friends. I had a wonderful teacher by the name of Helene Kunicki who kept me after school many days.  I would help her do whatever, clean out closets, move desks.  Spending time with her helped close the gap before my mother would get home from work.  She was a wonderful woman who through a simple act of kindness probably helped change the course of my life by keeping me out of trouble.

My mother ruled with an iron fist.  There was none of this “mommy friend” thing we see so much of today.  She was the boss. In hindsight it is easy to judge her but I saw a woman left to raise 3 children alone.  A woman limited professionally due to her own background and single motherhood.  A woman who battled cancer for 10 years.  It is always easy to judge when you do not have to walk in that persons shoes.

The rules in our house were clear!  If your grades were down there was nothing else, period.  By high school I had begun to excel and when I graduated college I did so on the dean’s list.

As I look back at how we were raised, I wish many things would have been different.  But such is life.  She was far from perfect but I am glad for many of the life lessons I learned . Those early years leave an impression of course but as time goes on each person must make a decision.  What type of person do I want to be?  What will I hold on to and what must be left behind? Will I allow the not so pleasant moments to be baggage or fuel to do better?

Life is all about decisions.

Doctor’s and Kindergarten

SO I had my follow-up this morning.  Pretty uneventful visit actually.  He agreed that one boob was looking more north than the other but says it could take up to 3 months for healing and that they should align properly.  He also feels the nipples will shrink down to a normal size.  At the moment I feel like they arrive in a room at least a minute before I do.  He told me to make another follow-up in 6 weeks.  At that point if they are still uneven then he can make a small incision to lift the left boob.  He can also reduce the size of the questionable nipple.  I wanted more detail on what this would look like, in office?  Hospital?  He did not want to discuss it.  Says we need to give it time to heal and let my body do it’s thing.  If all works out we will not need to do anything.  We shall see.

I was cleared to shower…YEAH!  So much easier than washing my hair in the sink.  I am also allowed to start wearing a bra, no under wire.  We will discuss the bra on another post.

After the doctor I came home and picked up Madison for a big day!  Meet the teacher at the Kindergarten.  I was so proud of her!  She did great!  As we walked toward her building she told me to follow her.  She showed me how to follow the red foot prints to get to the right building.  They had a bus parked in the lot so the kids could go on and practice with the seat belts.  Then we went into her classroom.  She looked around and found her seat and sat so confidently.  My baby, what a big girl!  They had an opportunity to explore, listened to a story read by the teacher and met some other kids from the class.

I love that our district does this.  Really allows the kids to get comfortable with the process.  She told me that she wanted to be in bed early so she could be ready for school.  She was asleep by 8pm…love it!  I am the mother of a 3rd grader and a Kindergartener, where does the time go?