Teacher Conferences

Yesterday afternoon was the dreaded teacher conferences. No it wasn't really dreaded. Our kids are great kids and do well in school and have never been in trouble. So for that am SO THANKFUL! I met with Jaron's teacher first. She is an interesting person. I will lave it at that! Although I know she is a good teacher and Jaron is enjoying the class she is different. It was good to know that Jaron is doing well. His teacher stressed what a positive influence he is on his peers and how well behaved he is in class. That makes a Momma's heart soar with pride!

Then it was off to talk with Kristofer's teacher and special ed teacher. Honestly I talk with them so much that last night was a recap basically. But I did learn some things that really encouraged me! The biggest question I had was, "how much work is Kris doing in the classroom compared to the resource room?" YAY! Kris is doing 98% of his work in the classroom! This is HUGE! It means that once or twice a week other than tests, he may take a worksheet to finish with the special ed teacher. Otherwise when he spends time with her he is actually doing other things to increase his reading skills. Which he is very low on but they are seeing improvements and that is very encouraging too!

Oh Something I wanted to let my readers know...I have a new blog. It's called Broken Potterie. When I first started this blog my intentions were to use it to update our extended family on the goings on of our family. This way family members from Florida to NY to Colorado could keep up to date and feel a part of our lives from afar. Since starting it I have realized I have a desire to write more about spiritual things, devotions that truly touch my heart, a journal so to speak. An honest open discussion of the struggles and valleys an the mountain top experiences. So I have started a new blog. I hope to write daily there but I can't promise that. I have been writing on another site under the same title but decided to bring it here close the other site and let my faithful readers know about it. On the other site I kept it private but that doesn't encourage anyone and I want Broken Potterie to do just that, encourage others to know;

1. You are not alone in your struggles!

2. Even Pastors and Pastor's wives struggle!

3. There is hope when you trust in Jesus!

4. We are all human and have flaws!

There is a link to Broken Potterie on the right under the blogs I follow. Come by check it out and let me know what you think!

School Supply Rant

OK Can I just rant for a few minutes! What are schools for? To educate our kids right! Now my understanding to the constitution, country and state laws are that all children are entitled to a free education....right?! Which my understanding is that it is funded through our tax dollars.
So why in the world do the schools charge a book rental fee? It costs us $18 a child per year! What are our tax dollars paying for??? Not only are parents suppose to supply all the supplies such as crayons, markers, scissors, pencils, pens, backpacks, but some of the lists I have seen have asked for not one or two packs of crayons but 4 or 6 packs. One list I saw asked for a coloring book, huh? Who am I supplying all these extra crayons for?? Not only do we supply for our kids, but the teacher asks for things for themselves, ok I know they themselves have limited funding for supplies, I get that, so I don't mind supplying maybe one package of black sharpie pens but 3 packs...I don't think so!
On top of that the kids have to have a second pair of shoes for gym. They don't want dirt in the gym...ok, but then why take the kids through the gym to play outside for recess and walk them back through the gym with dirt on their shoes? Make sense yet??? Not to me! (Thank you Mom for helping with the shoes!)
Now thankfully stores like Wal-Mart offer great prices on things such as 12 cent crayons and everything is marked down real cheap. I love it at this time cause you can get a bunch of things really cheap. I like to get as much as I can afford to stock away and use as stocking stuffers for the kids. But this year I have 4 kids to buy for and the lists are completely different for the boys and the twins.
Guess there is really nothing to do but get the supplies, bite the bullet and pay the fees...but I will not buy more than one pack of anything for the teachers right now. It really starts to add up when there are 4 kids. The teachers will just have to wait for their endless supply of things from this family.
I have friends that are teachers and I truely respect what they do, they shape the future of our nation! But you too have to wait and be appreciative of those families that just don't have all the money in the world to buy 3-4 packs of dry erase pens per child!
Thank you for letting me rant...I feel better now!

God bless the teachers with courage to teach the truth and for the Christian teachers out there, remember to pray for your students they all need your prayers! We pray for our kids teachers and school every day.