Crazies are out in force.

So the high school got a shooting threat today. The high school will be on lock down all day tomorrow. There will be police paroling the grounds at the elementary that my children attend. I am assuming they will be at the other elementary and the middle as well. My middle schooler does not care if he goes to the whole 15 minutes they have school tomorrow so he will be staying home. My two elementary age boys will be attending their parties....but my husband and I are going with them. That way they can go and enjoy their selves and we can be there to keep them safe. The world has gone crazy.

So......yeah.

So I pissed off an assistant principle today. I also let him know in no uncertain terms that I will not put up with his crap.

He called to tell me that he was giving Crash a full day of detention over yesterdays issue. I asked him to call the teacher and get his schoolwork for the day because I was taking him home. He thought that was a bad idea, (shocker, right?) and asked if we could sit down and talk about this situation. I told him that would be a good idea but I couldn't do it today because Hubby would want to be there and he had just gotten home from a night shift.

I went to the school to pick up Crash. The assistant principle never even came out of his office. I was standing three feet away from his open door when I asked if I needed to sign my son out. I even said Crash's name (which is almost as distinctive as his nickname) so he would know I was there.

When I got out to the car my son told me that he had said to him "Wow, your mom is cranky!"

I called the school and asked to speak to Mr so and so. He wanted cranky, he got cranky. I asked him if he seriously just said that in front of my son. He backpedaled saying "No, ma'am, I did not!" Now I don't know what was said, I wasn't there. All I know is that the word cranky is not one my son usually uses. He could have made it up to get back at the guy, or he could have actually heard it. No matter, I wanted the guy to know I wasn't going to roll over on this.

We have a meeting tomorrow afternoon to make sure we are "all on the same page".

Now, I don't have any problem with my kids getting punished for something they did wrong. But in this case, he did nothing wrong other than forget that his teacher had asked him not to do something. I am not going to let ANYONE walk on my kids like that. Not going to happen.

He got in trouble for WHAT!?

So after a long crazy day involving a (mock) disaster complete with helicopters, ambulances and fire trucks, and a rogue mountain lion (for real), I went to pick my sons up from school. I was also picking up a neighbor kid because his mother didn't want him walking home with a mountain lion on the loose. I went into the office at school to inform them about the cat so they could inform the bus drivers when I saw a pair of feet that looked.....familiar. I leaned around the parent in front of me and was met with the sheepish grin of my middle son.

Me: "What the heck are you doing in here?"

Crash: "I got into trouble."

Me: "AGAIN?"

Crash: nods

I had to go find the neighbor kid before he got on the bus so I told Crash he was in big trouble and went down the hall to find Spike and the neighbor boy. (He needs a nickname too as he is over all the time).

When I got back to the principles office, Crash and I went in and sat down. Here's where the story gets ridiculous.

The principle proceeds to tell me how my son had formed a gun with his thumb and finger and (gasp!) used it like a gun! His teacher asked him to stop and he did. A few hours later, he did it again this time using the desk for cover. He informed me that Crash had insisted that over the course of a few hours he had forgotten. (So.....?) The principle didn't believe that he could have forgotten in just a few short hours.

I just stared. I didn't know what to say. For one, IT WAS HIS FINGERS! That is almost the first toy a little boy ever comes up with. Seriously!? Two, my son can't remember what he was told to do five minutes ago and he was surprised that he didn't remember after three hours?

I asked if he was disrupting the class and was given the run around and told the same story. How he shot, stopped, forgot and shot again. The principle will call me tomorrow to let me know his punishment. If he gives Crash detention, I swear I am going to go get him. I don't think he should be punished for something all kids do, especially boys, as long as it wasn't disrupting the class. I just think this is stupid. Am I over reacting? I honestly don't think I am but then again, I tend to go Mother Bear when someone is picking on my kids.

First day of school!

My sweet Bug and the teenagers started school today. Niece is a junior and may even try to graduate early. She hasn't really decided. Nephew is in 8th grade. Last year of middle school. Some days he seems so much older and others so young but that is often the case with boys his age on the cusp of manhood. Bug is entering 4th grade. She is now in the upper echelon of school. Those years feel sweet and I want her to enjoy and savor them. The picture is her being silly. I am so proud of her and the young lady she is. All of them are pretty great.

Poor Monkey was pretty sad to see all the kids leave today. She wanted to follow Nephew out the door and cried when we dropped Bug off. Being back to hanging out with just me is not her favorite thing. I am a little sad too. They finally seem to get that this is their home and so all of them have been really great lately.

Well here is hoping the year is great and we can have lots of good grades and happy days.

Obama's speech to the children

What do you think? Did your kids watch it? My kids watched it. I wasn't too worried about them being brainwashed in a mere 30 minutes. My kids don't listen to anything anyone has to say anyway! I read some of the speech online and didn't see anything out of line. The basic message was "Stay in school, get good grades and make your dreams come true" Hrmmm, yeah that one is really frightning, isn't it? I talk to my kids about doing well in school on a daily basis. I asked my boys when they got home if they had watched it. Butch and Spike say they didn't see it. Bruiser watched it but couldn't remember what it was about. See, no worries, they pay just as much atttention to a boring presidential speech as we always did when we were kids. No big deal, no brainwashing, nothing out of line at all. I guess I just don't see what all the hubbub was all about.

Year round vrs 9-month schools!

So I am thinking I found a house, though so much remains in the air. Gorgeous with a great layout for us and the kiddos. Nice location. So I decided to look at the schools whose boundaries we would fall into. One is a dual language program. They teach all grades in Spanish and English. The other is a normal program with values I really like. Both are year round. Where we currently are is a 9-month calendar. On one hand I like the thought of year round especially because my eldest is struggling a little with her reading so it would not give her a chance to forget everything. On the other I am worried she will feel overwhelmed with no major time off. I just don't know. I mean most schools are on this year program so we will have to do it and the schools we are closest too are some of the top rated in the state so that's a great thing. I just hope that it works for us. Any dear readers have experience with year round schools? Let me know what you thought about it.