School Visit #1

Jonah has informed us that he wants to see what other schools are like (besides homeschooling and Montessori), and I want to honor that, so we're working to schedule visits to the other area schools:  the local Christian school, the local (what I like to call) Ivy League Private School, the local charter school, and the local public elementary school.

Yesterday, we ventured out to the local Christian school.

I have been inside the school before because a friend of mine used to teach there and I have also attended several events in their facilities, but I had never observed the workings of a classroom, so yesterday, that's what we did.

We sat in with the kindergarten class for almost an hour and then visited the first grade room for a few minutes as well.

I was not impressed.

I love the idea of my son getting a Christ-centered education, but I felt the instruction was VERY rigid. 

I was upset that the poor little boy who raised his hand and asked to go to the bathroom was denied because they had just recently visited.  He asked again, and she allowed him to go - but I just don't see the point in that.  And I have taught in the public school system.  I never let kids go to the bathroom while someone else was already AT the bathroom, but if they had to pee, then I allowed them to go.  I also didn't allow train runs to the restroom - one kids asks and then another and then another and then another - when that happened, I would put a stop to it, but one child asking innocently to go to the restroom at the age of five - I just don't understand what the big deal could possibly be, especially since ten minutes later, she allowed it. 

She seemed nice enough, and the children were engaged, for the most part, in their lessons, but I just felt uncomfortable in the atmosphere.

Jonah had an okay time.  He got a little frustrated with the reading lesson because they are learning a completely different system than he is learning at Montessori. 

At Montessori they teach a "whole language" idea, and it just makes more sense to me. 

I learned the way they teach at the Christian school, but I am learning MORE and BETTER now through my son's instruction at Montessori in all subjects than I learned in the traditional classroom. 

One of the biggest reasons I had sought out the Christian school was because I'd really like to meet more parents who hold the same value systems that we have as a family and people with whom we fit in.  At Montessori a lot of the parents have a lot of money that we don't have, and I feel left out of the loop much of the time.  I don't know if it's really a money issue or if they just think we're weird or what, but I'm having trouble making friends with the other moms, who seem to already hang out together a lot.

The other day, I took the kids to the playground after school and all of the other boys' moms from his class were already there, sitting around a picnic table together and chatting while their kids played furiously on the playground behind them.

I wasn't sure what to do.  They looked up and recognized me, and one mom said hello, but I felt SO left out and out of the loop and just like a loser!

Jonah was excited to see his friends and ran to play with them.

Of course, eventually, he went to the "big kids" playground area and involved himself in an elaborate imaginative game that the other kids got bored with in about five minutes.  He opted to stay there, playing alone, instead of playing with the other kids.

Maybe that's why we aren't invited.

I don't know.

Today he has a birthday party at a girl's house from his class.

I'm hoping we can make a good impression or something.

I guess I missed that parenting class where they explain how these things work.

Maybe I should put an ad in the paper:

Non-traditional, Christian mom of G&T son with auditory and emotional sensitivity issues seeks other moms with like minds and situations and understandings of food allergies, adventure seeking, and the desire to live in an RV.

Either way, I consider the Christian school visit a bust.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

Our local library has family movie nights once a month or so.

We had never been before, so when I heard they were showing Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, I figured that would be a great time to attend.

I was really interested in the idea of the movie, had heard and seen good reviews and things from those around me, especially other moms, and so we went.

Maeryn made it about ten minutes.  I should've known better.  The only thing she sits through in its entirety are Elmo's World videos.  Michael took her into the library proper and they hung out reading books and playing on the computers and things.

Jonah sat through the entire movie.  He sort of "made it".

It wasn't a good experience though.

There is a point during the movie where a little boy is about to get demolished by a mountain of food.

Jonah looked up at me and said, "Mommy, I am so worried for that little boy..." and then he started to cry.  Loudly.

Luckily there were only two other families watching the movie, so it wasn't a huge deal, though we got a lot of stares.

He's five.  There are plenty of other five year olds who would've loved the movie.

My son has high emotional sensitivity. It's actually a diagnosis.  It goes with the gifted thing.  Hoorah.

So there were tears. Several times.

I asked him if he wanted to leave, but of course the answer was no because now that he'd invested himself emotionally in these characters he had to see how the story turned out in the end.  So we stayed, through sometimes shrieks of terror when the characters were met with any sort of peril.

Of course one of the characters HAD to have a severe peanut allergy and then end up cut by a piece of peanut brittle and blow up like a balloon and almost pass out and require an Epi-Pen.  For most children this might have been one of the more comical moments of peril.  Jonah, of course, has a severe peanut allergy that would require the use of an Epi-Pen in a similar situation.  So we had shrieks of terror again, until she was well.

Then, of course, there had to be that fabulous storyline where the hero seems to be dead but then shows up miraculously.  My son is not experienced enough with movie plots to know that the hero always comes out alright in the end, and believed that he was, in fact, dead.  More tears and terrified shrieks.

When it was over, he said, "Mommy, I don't want to do that anymore."  I assured him that we wouldn't.

Today, of course, he talked about the movie the majority of the day, got his thousand questions answered, and would probably now very much like to see it again.

I'm not sure, however, that I am ready.

I must say, in spite of all of this, that the plot is good, the message is wholesome, and all in all, the film is very well done.  I was amused and enjoyed the thing very much.  I do NOT recommend it for highly emotional five year olds, however.  Stick to movies they've already seen three hundred times - that way they won't be scared...  probably.