School Starts

So this year for some insane reason that is beyond my understanding, the school board and superintendent decided that to get out of school the last week of May, which is 1 week earlier then normal, we should start school August 12th! 2 weeks earlier then normal!! AHHHHH! Lets see if we can screw up parents plans and summer plans anymore than normal, for the sake of a week! I guess my biggest problem is that school starts in the middle of State Fair. Which I'm sure most of you have heard my rant, but here it goes again... What the hell are they going to do for the kids that are required to be at the fair for 4-H to care for their animals and muck the stalls and all that? What are they going to do for the parents who now have to go tend to the animals and miss work because the school board decided that it was more convenient for them???? Its just not fair. Plus you start the kids 2 weeks early to get out 1 week early? Why? We now have a 'fall break' built in but personally I would rather have my summer with my kids! Ok I'm done now....

the only good news to come out of this is that I am subbing again and so we are not near as broke, but the first check is a week out still. Oh well.

Izzy has the same teacher as last year, Karen Helms. Mrs Helms loved her kids so much that she is now a second grade teacher and has many of the same students she did last year. Kinda cool. Izzy is in heaven, she loves Mrs. Helms! So we are happy. Her room is a 2nd 3rd grade split and so there are both grades in the room, but each works on its own curriculum. Pretty neat. Izzy goes to Speech twice a week at school and for math and reading goes to Mrs. Evans room. School has fit back into her routine, but she still doesn't want to get up in the morning... wonder who she belongs to...

Xander is attending kindergarten at Summit Elementary. (The newest of the MCCSC Schools, located off Tapp Road)Over the summer they announced that all community based classrooms, like the one Xan was going to be in, were being moved and revamped. Needless to say I was not happy. We live in Grandview district and I wanted him to be there! We bought a house in Grandview for that specific purpose. (Yes I know I am bitchy today) Well they had a parent meeting to talk about a new curriculum that was going to be used in the community based rooms, which is called the STAR program. This program is based on ABA, Applied Behavioral Analysis, and works to tailor each lesson to each child. Areas of receptive language, expressive language, spontaneous language, functional routines, academics, and play & social skills are all addressed and it is a phenomenal program. So this is how we were convinced. Plus his room is limited to 6 children and has 1 main teacher and 3 paraeducators! So 4 teachers for 6 kids!!!! How amazing is that? Melinda Bunger is his teachers name, I can't remember the para's names right now, but they are all very nice. We went and met them at the summer academy this year and he works very well with them. We've only had 2 outbursts and that was both over food, imagine that. They have been very good at letting us know each day what is going on and how things went for the day. Xan seems happy. Which is the most important thing.

Poor Dimon, doesn't know what to do when Izzy and Xan get on the buses. The first day we took Izzy to school because of course Xan's bus comes at the same time Izzy's does and they have 2 different places to pick up. (Xan's at our drive and Izzy's 2 blocks up on the main drag through the neighborhood.) So we drove izzy to school and as we were leaving, he very quietly laid down in the hallway and looked up with his little lip sticking out and said, "I want Eze". So sad.... Took me 5 minutes to convince him we had to let Izzy go to school, then when we got to the car, he sticks it out farther and says "Yan-Yan gone. I want Yan!" and burst into tears. It was so sad. After a few days he is more used to it now, but he is still not happy when they leave, however he does like all the attention he gets when he is the only child. I think he forgot over the summer...