I can’t believe that it is almost the end of October already. Good golly! October 27th. Amazing. I’ve done one of my collabs this month. Just one! I better get my hinder moving.
This week went by without few surprises. Except for my visit to the dentist, things have been uneventful. Believe me, I’m grateful for this fact.
Thursday was my next lesson for the quilting that I am learning. The school secretary and I were the only two who showed up. I had purchased my fabric and laundered it, so I was ready to start cutting strips. When we started cutting, I realized that I had forgotten the quilt book at home. Argh! After all that, I wasn’t able to do much that night anyway. Shame on me. However, Ann did get me started, and I think that I’ll be able to get some things done by this next Thursday. I’ll have to use Patsy’s sewing machine, but hey, it’ll get done.
After the quilting lesson/meeting, I had another meeting. It’s a math-training seminar for the CAHSEE (California High School Exit Exam). Why am I participating in this, you might ask. Well, the number one reason is because I get paid to attend. Another reason, and far less important, is because they are trying to connect all the grade levels. The idea is that what is taught in kindergarten is somewhat related to what is taught in high school. There’s kind of a dominoes effect, so to speak. What is learned in one grade is the foundation for the next, which extends into the next. So on and so forth. So, yes, it does make sense that there would be various levels represented at these seminars.
Each of the seminars consists mainly of taking one or two of the exit exam questions and breaking it down, deciding the best ways to teach the concepts at each of our grade levels. It’s actually quite interesting. At this last meeting we watched a video from 1963 that followed two kindergarten classes. (Interestingly, one was a “white” class and the other was a “black” class. Obviously there was still segregation at the time of the filming.) The things that these kids were doing were simply amazing. The main reason for the video was that the kids were being taught positive and negative numbers. At age five! Amazing! It just goes to show you that if you raise the bar a little, the kids will reach for it!
This meeting went to 8:30, which unfortunately meant that I couldn’t go down below to Palm Desert to go to the singles meeting that I had wanted to try out. On Sunday I had attended a new church because I had found out that it had a singles ministry. I know that might sound weird to some, but good grief! I am thirty-three years old, and I have few ways of meeting people. I’ve met a few men and have dated them, but I haven’t found one with whom I’d really like to explore a committed relationship. It couldn’t be all bad to meet some people my age at a church, right? Well, I guess I’ll just have to wait until next week. ;-)
I spent all of Friday night working on my new class site. I've created what I hope will be a very useful communication tool for the parents and students. I'm including a monthly calendar (which I had to create by hand using a table), the homework sheet, and weekly events. I have a nice-sized handful of parents that are avid computer users, so my goal is to provide something that they can use on a regular basis. Anyway, I spent all night on that bugger!
Saturday I went up to Patsy's cabin in Big Bear. We both just wanted a weekend of doing nothing that we didn't want to do. Her cabin is a wonderful retreat from life. There's a wood-burning stove, and the beds all have flannel covered down comforters and sheets. Oh my! How comfy cozy is that? I just didn't want to get out of bed this morning. But I had to. Darn it! We went shopping in town. Big Bear is a quaint little place the draws a lot of skiers and people getting away from L.A. It's interesting.
One of the stores there, a leather store, has the coolest earrings! The last time I had been in there I bought a pair that quickly became my favorite pair. They are dangling earrings. I love danglies! So, we went in there again and I spent $40 on three new pair. One pair is a yellow cats eye pair which will match the bracelet and necklace I bought in Santa Fe this summer. Yay! I've been looking for some! Another pair will be set aside for the holidays. They are delicate silver and gold glittered pearls. They are very subtle and very unusual. Now I just have to buy an outfit to go with them. Heh.
While I was at the cabin with Patsy, I had an opportunity to really talk about some of the issues that I'm having with the PFH (Parents from Hell), the distractions in class, and so on and so forth. It was nice to talk about these things in a relaxed situation. It allowed for more of a reflective and productive discussion. I am grateful for that, as well.
All in all, it was a good week. Now we will be starting the last week of our first quarter. That's a bit freaky. It means, too, that report cards will be due in a week or so! Holy cow!
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