A Public Service Announcement

This was sent to my e-mail today. Good thing we homeschool!  *grin*


Subject: Educational Testing

The Texas State Public Education Department cannot seem to adopt a
 statewide test for more than 5 years. School districts  state wide have
used the tests (TABS, TEAMS, TAAS, and now TAKS).

Therefore, San Antonio school districts have adopted a test 
that better fits the public education in their city. The new instrument 
will be the Texas Assessment of Cognitive Operations (TACO). It will have a 
remedial version (Soft TACO), a regular version (Hard TACO), and an 
advanced version with many more pages (the Gordita). It will be graded 
on the  standard bell curve (the TACO Bell ).

Districts receiving the lowest scores will be put on probation 
with a Basic Educational Appraisal-Not Satisfactory (BEANS). A second low
rating earns the dreaded supplemental Remediation Factor for
Individualized Education Deficits (REFRIED BEANS).

This rating system is expected to cause a lot of hot air at campus
faculty meetings.

What We Won't Do...

Baylee's in Awana, which is great...except for one thing.  In order to complete the "Sparky" book she's working her way through she has to bring a friend one night to the club.  No problem if we were still in Michigan, but we're here in Washington where she hasn't made a lot of friends yet outside of church.  So we had to import one!  Not from Michigan, but from the other side of the Puget Sound.  On Tuesday we made the three hour round trip to pick up Baylee's 2nd cousin and best friend, Genna.  The two girls had a wonderful time together coloring, baking, playing, dancing, and doing all the things little girls do.  Then today we made the trip again to bring Genna back home. Whew!  I don't know if it was worth the tiny green plastic jewel that Baylee now sports on her Awana vest, but it was sure worth the fun she had with her cousin for the last two days.

 
 
 

Miscellaneous Recent Pics

Baylee and Drew decided to make a "mannequin" one day.  Isn't it creepy?  The worst part was that they did it early one morning before I was up, and then snuck it into my room.  I woke up with this thing staring down at me.

Aww...

Watching Shrek 3D one night.  Snicker.

The boys got their main Christmas present early this year.  It's a X-Box 360.  I had them absolutely convinced that Daddy was coming home with "a lot of really nice clothes for you boys" so when he walked in with that game system they were REALLY, REALLY excited.  LOL  I wish I would've video taped it. 

A couple weeks ago Keianna and her mom came for a visit.  Keianna's getting so big!  She can sit up by herself now.

And last but not least, a tea party with the whole gang.

Thanksgiving

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with Mike's boss, his wife Jen, and their family.  They were so gracious to open their home to us, and it turned out to be one of the nicest Thanksgivings I've ever had.

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Zonked Out

Drew just got his first watch recently so that when he goes with his buddies to play at the park we can tell him when to be home.  It's just a little something that sets my heart at ease at bit.  Anyway, on Sunday Drew wanted to go with a couple boys over to the park's field to play football, so Mike gave him permission and told him to come home at five.  Then just to make extra sure, Mike set the alarm feature on Drew's watch.  Later Drew reported that the alarm never went off.  I thought that was kind of strange, but I just chalked it up to it being a cheap watch.  Anyway, it didn't matter since the boys were very responsible and were home on time.

This morning when I got up there was Drew.  He said his alarm went off...at 5:00 AM.  The poor kid got up, made himself breakfast, and sat quietly watching TV for two and a half hours before another soul stumbled out of bed.  By eight o'clock this evening the kid was completely zonked out on the couch. 

He was a good sport about it, but what do you bet he sets his own watch alarm from now on? "No thanks, Dad.  I got it under control.  No really..."

Sue

More Halloween Fun

Yesterday grandma came to spend the night and accompany Miss Baylee and Mike to the church Harvest Festival.  They had a great time and even won a cake in the cake walk!   I, on the other hand, took the boys around the neighborhood trick-or-treating, as they weren't quite prepared to give up that tradition.

Speaking of which, the boys and I discovered a weird cultural difference.  Here in Washington it's considered bad manners to stand at someone's door and call "Trick or treat!"   No, instead you're supposed to ring the doorbell, then when the person answers you're to politely and quietly say, "Trick or treat."   This is evidenced by the fact that the lady at the very first house the boys went to said, "Haven't you ever heard of doorbells?!" At first we thought perhaps she was just the crotchety sort, but then we started noticing that it was really quiet outside.  Finally Drew and Zach briefly found themselves in a group of other kids and we studied how they did it.  Go figure that trick-or-treating is different in different parts of the country!   Shoot, in Michigan it would be considered the poorest of etiquette to buzz on people's doorbells all night.  Oh well.  Once the boys caught on they had a fun and candy-filled evening.

Here are a few pics:

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