4 Year Old Preschool!

Emerson was soooo excited to go back to school this year. At first she was upset that she had different teachers, but she is now in love with Mrs. Newman and Mrs. Kessler. Side note... When we picked her preschool I had a couple of reasons for it. First, it has a Methodist affiliation. Secondly, it is completely old school. No computers in class; the kids actually play with toys. It has structure and it is just a preschool, not a daycare. And lastly, because of Mrs. Newman. When I was in high school I was good friends with her daughter Liz and I remember going over to there house and how she was soooo sweet and sooo put together. Both of her children are outrageously brilliant in their own right and I felt as if that speaks volumes for her.

Emerson decided she wanted to wear the same dress she wore for the last day of 3 year old preschool... which made me laugh. She is excited that Hanna and Olivia are in her class, but misses all of her other friends. The class is very boy heavy and she is still meeting all of them! I have been filling her in on some, knowing their parents, but she has taken to another Alex, since his name is Alex (her boyfriend from last year was another Alex).

Here is to a year filled with fun... learning how to zip the coat, write the last name, counting to 100 and everything else!

Dance, Dance Baby!

Since she was two, Emerson has been wanting to take dance. After her arts camp, I knew it was time. She is enrolled in ballet/ tap for the year. Every saturday morning, for an hour, her and around ten other little girls file into Ms. Hannah's dance studio. It is awesome to watch. All that pink and black.

After the first class Emerson proclaimed that it was wonderful. Though as she came out, and all the other girls' tap shoes were clicking, she was still in her ballet shoes. I asked her why she didn't put on her taps and she looked at me with a seriously angry face and told me it was because I didn't put them in the bag. I unzipped the bottom of the bag and showed her where they were and she laughed. Everyday for the next week she let me know that she would remember that they were in the bottom.

I would like to state that I did not tell her to pose like this. In fact, it makes me laugh. This was right before her we left for her first class and I grabbed the camera to document the brand new Capezio leo and tights.

Back to School and Daddy Daycare...

Reluctantly, I went back to school this year. I know that part of me missed it, but I also felt a commitment to go back. (As time passes now I think I have adopted the concept of thinking up ways to get fired... that aren't illegal.) I like a lot of it, but I hate the politics, waste and misuse of education.

I have a hard time telling people to vote for a levy that many cannot afford to pay for. School funding sucks and I don't think it should fall completely onto the shoulders of the district residents. I get the whole "free and blah blah education" that was started so many years ago... but as time moves, so should the faulty traditions we hold onto.

I know that the educational system is a waste hole for money. Even districts that are thin to begin with need to revamp how they handle things in order to cut spending. Why, in this day and age, would we still mail home report cards? Why do we continue to purchase books when many schools make the student purchase the paperback books from the store? And why do people think if your only saving a hundred dollars here or a thousand dollars there that it isn't enough to justify the change.

As to the misuse... there are plenty of teachers who are space wasters. They are taking up a space on the payroll and not delivering as they should to the kids. They are the ones who are more worried about their salaries and the levy passing then trying to find a way to get to the kids in their classroom. If you are a selfish individual, teaching is not for you. Get up and get out and find someone fresh outta college, or wanting to return to the classroom or wanting to make the classroom their new home.

I digress.

So since Eric will not let Bryce go to Ridgepointe and I will not let someone other than our family watch him in our home... Eric is playing Daddy Daycare during the day and then I pick up after school and take the weekends. It is good in some ways, but to be honest it sucks.

Every year someone asks me why I don't have my masters yet (I am in a very small minority with this). My answer has always been I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up... so I haven't taken the time. I think I now need to find out what I am going to do when I grow up...