Right before Christmas the family and I went to a large department store so I could buy 2 more of those blasted Webkinz to put in Will and Robby's stockings. I don't actually dislike the Webkinz, I think they are cute and the games are great, I dislike the $15 a pop price tag! But, I digress from the point of my story.
Hubs distracted the boys by dragging off to look at shoes with him, while I quietly slipped to the opposite side of the store where the Webkinz could be found. I looked over the rather sparse selections, picked 2 I thought they would like, and got in line to pay. There was 1 person in front of me, an average looking woman, and I thought to myself "Score! I'll be in and out before the boys even notice I'm missing!"
While we were waiting for the cashier to return from helping a customer on the floor the woman's tweenage daughter came out of the dressing room. She was wearing a white button up long sleeved blouse, a gray high waisted skirt with a skinny belt, and black flats. A conservative look for today's tweens, but still very cute and fashionable. The mother wrinkled her nose and said "Absolutely NOT, you look like a school teacher! Go take it off!" I know, no comment was required of me at this point, but the imp on my shoulder prompted me to say mildly "There's nothing wrong with being a school teacher." The woman whipped around, laughed, and said in a scornful tone "Well, I CERTAINLY hope she does more than THAT with her life!" Now, where I come from, them's fightin' words! I fixed her with my best teacher glare and said "Gee, THANKS!' She looked at me uncertainly, then with dawning dismay as I continued "I've only been a public school teacher for 13 years. Nice to know that my contribution to society is so valued!" The woman had the grace to blush and then stammered "Um.... well..... I mean..... it just isn't a job that pays very well, that's all I meant." Holding her in my icy stare I snapped "You don't do it for the PAY. You do it for the KIDS. I've taught over 150 children to read, what have you accomplished in your life?" Face absolutely scarlet, the woman whipped around to face the counter, completely disengaging from my confrontation. A moment later two cashiers came over and one waved me around to the other side of the counter. Where, as I completed my transaction, I have to admit I continued to glare at Mrs. Foot-in-Mouth on the opposite side, who was desperately looking anywhere but at me.
I related this story to Hubs as we went back out of the store and he was absolutely livid with me. He HATES it when I call people on their ignorance in public and tells me routinely that my mouth is going to get my ass kicked one of these days. My standard retort is that some people clearly don't understand exactly how offensive and narrow minded they sound and they need a wake up call.
So, the morale of today's story - never insult a profession unless you know who you are talking to!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
The Return of Toddler Girl
Due to a sudden blast of winter weather, we actually missed school on Monday and Tuesday this week. When we arrived on Wednesday the class was chomping at the bit to see Toddler Girl. Unfortunately, for unexplained reasons, she missed school that day. But Thursday morning she was shepherded into my room by our guidance counselor, wide eyed and stone faced - clearly overwhelmed by the squeals of joy to greeted her appearance in our doorway.
Luckily for her, I am very much a set-in-my-ways, dependable as clockwork, orderly sort of teacher so very little in our room or routine had changed in her month away from us. That first morning was spent in a state of shocked disbelief, but by lunchtime I noticed some signs of thawing and by afternoon it was almost like she had never been gone. She slipped right back into our classroom, filling that Toddler Girl sized hole we had in our midst. We were all delighted to have her back, even Thing One and Van Gogh.
Thursday afternoon the head of the SPED dept. came down to visit with me. She wanted to assure me that Toddler Girl's SPED paperwork was all signed and in order and to fill me in on a few comments Toddler Mom had made while they were going over the papers. In the interest of not totally violating her right to privacy, suffice it to say that there is good cause to believe many of Toddler Girl's issues are directly related to her home environment and the sort of care she got as a baby and toddler. It was heartbreaking to hear all that she has been through in her 5 short years and I have a whole new level of patience with her. I may be the only person in the world who actually gives a damn about her and her development, if everything Mom said to SPED Head is true! I thought I had finally developed that crusty shell that older teachers have, that allows you to love the kids without breaking your heart over them. Toddler Girl has found a crack in my crust and is quickly worming her way in next to my heart.
I can't wait to see what the new year brings for my little classroom family!
Luckily for her, I am very much a set-in-my-ways, dependable as clockwork, orderly sort of teacher so very little in our room or routine had changed in her month away from us. That first morning was spent in a state of shocked disbelief, but by lunchtime I noticed some signs of thawing and by afternoon it was almost like she had never been gone. She slipped right back into our classroom, filling that Toddler Girl sized hole we had in our midst. We were all delighted to have her back, even Thing One and Van Gogh.
Thursday afternoon the head of the SPED dept. came down to visit with me. She wanted to assure me that Toddler Girl's SPED paperwork was all signed and in order and to fill me in on a few comments Toddler Mom had made while they were going over the papers. In the interest of not totally violating her right to privacy, suffice it to say that there is good cause to believe many of Toddler Girl's issues are directly related to her home environment and the sort of care she got as a baby and toddler. It was heartbreaking to hear all that she has been through in her 5 short years and I have a whole new level of patience with her. I may be the only person in the world who actually gives a damn about her and her development, if everything Mom said to SPED Head is true! I thought I had finally developed that crusty shell that older teachers have, that allows you to love the kids without breaking your heart over them. Toddler Girl has found a crack in my crust and is quickly worming her way in next to my heart.
I can't wait to see what the new year brings for my little classroom family!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
And the cycle spins
I haven't felt like writing recently. There has been a lot of stress in my life the last couple of weeks, most of it related to a huge financial snafu that totally wasn't my fault. Without going into the entire story, suffice it to say Discover SUCKS and their customer service line couldn't be less interested in helping when the huge whopping mistake is undeniably THEIR FAULT! *deep cleansing breath*
Anyway, on Friday, as I was helping my kiddos do a really fun measuring worksheet that involves running madly around the classroom and measuring various objects with your hands or feet - what? I have to teach nonstandard measurement, I might was well make it fun! - one of the speech pathologists slipped quietly into my room. She walked over and whispered in my ear "Guess who is up in the office RIGHT NOW?" I thought for a second, then a bubble of glee spread through me as I breathed "Toddler Girl?" with great hope. The speech path nodded and grinned and I burst into a spontaneous ear to ear smile of utter delight. I know, I complained about her when she was here before, but I have worried and thought about her every day that she was gone and honestly, I am tickled pink to have her back. It was nearly lunchtime, so I hustled my class through tidying up and getting hands washed, in the hopes I would be able to catch Toddler Girl in the office while Toddler Mom was still filling out paperwork and give her a welcome back hug. No luck, I missed them by minutes. But the secretary assured me that Toddler Girl will be rejoining my class on Monday!
I tracked down Mrs. SPED to let her know that Toddler Girl was back, and unfortunately she wasn't nearly as thrilled by that news as I was. Her response was an eye roll, a huge sigh, and "GREAT!" in a sarcastic tone. She cheered up a bit when we discovered that the other school had indeed succeeded in getting Toddler Mom to sign the SPED paperwork, so Toddler Girl is ready to start SPED after winter break. Yes, I agreed to keep her in the regular classroom for this last week before winter break - we aren't doing anything THAT academic that she will be too much of a pain in the neck and the kids will be so thrilled to see her that I don't want to take her away from them immediately. I told the class right before we left on Friday that Toddler Girl would be back on Monday and the overwhelming reaction was joy, which was heart warming to say the least. I worked so hard to get them to love and accept her for who she was and what she could do and the fact that they greeted the news of her return with clapping and yells of happiness made me feel like I had succeeded.
So my little classroom family will be complete again. This has been an unusually stable year - Toddler Girl is the only one who has moved out and she is back, we've only had 1 other student move in (Southern Belle) and she has been with us long enough that she no longer feels like "the new girl". I love stable years, they really let the class build tight bonds of friendship and give me a chance to utterly fall in love with my kids!
Anyway, on Friday, as I was helping my kiddos do a really fun measuring worksheet that involves running madly around the classroom and measuring various objects with your hands or feet - what? I have to teach nonstandard measurement, I might was well make it fun! - one of the speech pathologists slipped quietly into my room. She walked over and whispered in my ear "Guess who is up in the office RIGHT NOW?" I thought for a second, then a bubble of glee spread through me as I breathed "Toddler Girl?" with great hope. The speech path nodded and grinned and I burst into a spontaneous ear to ear smile of utter delight. I know, I complained about her when she was here before, but I have worried and thought about her every day that she was gone and honestly, I am tickled pink to have her back. It was nearly lunchtime, so I hustled my class through tidying up and getting hands washed, in the hopes I would be able to catch Toddler Girl in the office while Toddler Mom was still filling out paperwork and give her a welcome back hug. No luck, I missed them by minutes. But the secretary assured me that Toddler Girl will be rejoining my class on Monday!
I tracked down Mrs. SPED to let her know that Toddler Girl was back, and unfortunately she wasn't nearly as thrilled by that news as I was. Her response was an eye roll, a huge sigh, and "GREAT!" in a sarcastic tone. She cheered up a bit when we discovered that the other school had indeed succeeded in getting Toddler Mom to sign the SPED paperwork, so Toddler Girl is ready to start SPED after winter break. Yes, I agreed to keep her in the regular classroom for this last week before winter break - we aren't doing anything THAT academic that she will be too much of a pain in the neck and the kids will be so thrilled to see her that I don't want to take her away from them immediately. I told the class right before we left on Friday that Toddler Girl would be back on Monday and the overwhelming reaction was joy, which was heart warming to say the least. I worked so hard to get them to love and accept her for who she was and what she could do and the fact that they greeted the news of her return with clapping and yells of happiness made me feel like I had succeeded.
So my little classroom family will be complete again. This has been an unusually stable year - Toddler Girl is the only one who has moved out and she is back, we've only had 1 other student move in (Southern Belle) and she has been with us long enough that she no longer feels like "the new girl". I love stable years, they really let the class build tight bonds of friendship and give me a chance to utterly fall in love with my kids!
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Thankfulness
Rather than focusing on an individual friend this week, I am going to adopt what my friend C. calls the attitude of gratitude and think/write about those school-related things for which I am thankful.
1. I am thankful to have a job I love. The stories I tell here are mostly the horror show ones, because let's face it - they are the most entertaining to retell. What I don't write about are the moments of joy, like when Thing One wraps his arms around me, bats those navy-blue peepers, and says adoringly "I looooooovvvveeee you Mrs. Kindergarten!" Or the stunned happiness on the face of Southern Belle when she realizes she just read that word by herself and she is quickly becoming a reader, just like her adored and idolized big cousin. I know that in our country there are millions of people who get up each day and drag themselves to jobs they detest, just to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. I am so lucky to have a job I practically skip to each morning.
2. I am thankful that we are in the part of the year where the kids know the rules, the routines, the procedures, the daily schedule and I can relax a little and be sure if I steal 5 minutes of centers time to clear some papers off my desk they will continue to (for the most part) play nicely even though I am not hovering right there.
3. I am thankful that I work in a school where we don't have a lot of drugs or violence. My school feels safe, for both students and teachers.
4. I am thankful that my grade level team gets along relatively well and we have very little infighting and absolutely no tattling on each other to the principal. There have been big personality issues in some of the upper grades in the last few years, and big dramatic blow outs between teachers that echoed down to the lower halls. The kindergarten teachers might get impatient with each other occasionally and disagree over this or that, but for the most part we work really hard to keep it pleasant and cooperative within our team.
5. I am thankful for one particular team member, who always sits next to me at staff meetings so we can trade whispered snarky comments about the administration and the utter farce that is NCLB. On the surface we have absolutely nothing in common - she's almost 10 yrs younger than me, single, childless, very dedicated to her church, very outgoing where I tend to be somewhat shy and reserved. But we have a very similar sarcastic sense of humor and we just click somehow. To the point that if the team has to break down into smaller groups to work on a project she and I always latch onto each other. We aren't BFF, but you might think that if you saw us at school!
6. I am thankful for a support staff - lunch ladies, custodians, secretaries - that do an awesome job keeping our school running day in and day out. The custodian on our hall is an older black man with a James Earl Jones voice and shoulder length dreads. He stands out just a bit in our white-bread midwestern town! I'm going to call him Edgar - obviously not his real name, but close enough. My younger son, Robby, ADORES him and follows him around every afternoon "helping". Edgar is so tolerant of this - surprisingly tolerant for a man who has no children and told me once he always knew he didn't want kids - and "pays" Robby in mini Hershey's bars for turning the vacuum on and off and putting the trash cans back after Edgar has emptied them. Robby thinks he wants to be Mr. Edgar when he grows up!
7. I am thankful for the wonderful teachers who have my sons in their classes this year. Will, my eternal pessimist, has always hated anyplace he had to go that wasn't home. Hated going to his grandma's house when she babysat him, hated going to the daycare after grandma got too sick to babysit any longer, hated preschool, hated kindergarten.... see a pattern? However he L-O-V-E-S first grade and I lay most of the change of heart squarely at the feet of his energetic, funny, wonderful teacher. They have just clicked, in a way he never has with any teacher/caregiver before, and he is having a stellar year. I am so grateful for Mrs. First Grade and the bubbly way she interacts with my Eyore boy! As for Robby, the eternal Mr. Sunshine in our family, I knew he would have a good year. His preschool teacher is a friend of mine, a very loving, organized, cheerleader of a teacher and Robby has taken to her like a duck to water. He also loves school and I think he has a little crush on Mrs. Preschool as well!
So that's the short list of things I am thankful for at school. Of course, I have to admit, I'm also thankful for the long holiday weekend coming up!
1. I am thankful to have a job I love. The stories I tell here are mostly the horror show ones, because let's face it - they are the most entertaining to retell. What I don't write about are the moments of joy, like when Thing One wraps his arms around me, bats those navy-blue peepers, and says adoringly "I looooooovvvveeee you Mrs. Kindergarten!" Or the stunned happiness on the face of Southern Belle when she realizes she just read that word by herself and she is quickly becoming a reader, just like her adored and idolized big cousin. I know that in our country there are millions of people who get up each day and drag themselves to jobs they detest, just to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. I am so lucky to have a job I practically skip to each morning.
2. I am thankful that we are in the part of the year where the kids know the rules, the routines, the procedures, the daily schedule and I can relax a little and be sure if I steal 5 minutes of centers time to clear some papers off my desk they will continue to (for the most part) play nicely even though I am not hovering right there.
3. I am thankful that I work in a school where we don't have a lot of drugs or violence. My school feels safe, for both students and teachers.
4. I am thankful that my grade level team gets along relatively well and we have very little infighting and absolutely no tattling on each other to the principal. There have been big personality issues in some of the upper grades in the last few years, and big dramatic blow outs between teachers that echoed down to the lower halls. The kindergarten teachers might get impatient with each other occasionally and disagree over this or that, but for the most part we work really hard to keep it pleasant and cooperative within our team.
5. I am thankful for one particular team member, who always sits next to me at staff meetings so we can trade whispered snarky comments about the administration and the utter farce that is NCLB. On the surface we have absolutely nothing in common - she's almost 10 yrs younger than me, single, childless, very dedicated to her church, very outgoing where I tend to be somewhat shy and reserved. But we have a very similar sarcastic sense of humor and we just click somehow. To the point that if the team has to break down into smaller groups to work on a project she and I always latch onto each other. We aren't BFF, but you might think that if you saw us at school!
6. I am thankful for a support staff - lunch ladies, custodians, secretaries - that do an awesome job keeping our school running day in and day out. The custodian on our hall is an older black man with a James Earl Jones voice and shoulder length dreads. He stands out just a bit in our white-bread midwestern town! I'm going to call him Edgar - obviously not his real name, but close enough. My younger son, Robby, ADORES him and follows him around every afternoon "helping". Edgar is so tolerant of this - surprisingly tolerant for a man who has no children and told me once he always knew he didn't want kids - and "pays" Robby in mini Hershey's bars for turning the vacuum on and off and putting the trash cans back after Edgar has emptied them. Robby thinks he wants to be Mr. Edgar when he grows up!
7. I am thankful for the wonderful teachers who have my sons in their classes this year. Will, my eternal pessimist, has always hated anyplace he had to go that wasn't home. Hated going to his grandma's house when she babysat him, hated going to the daycare after grandma got too sick to babysit any longer, hated preschool, hated kindergarten.... see a pattern? However he L-O-V-E-S first grade and I lay most of the change of heart squarely at the feet of his energetic, funny, wonderful teacher. They have just clicked, in a way he never has with any teacher/caregiver before, and he is having a stellar year. I am so grateful for Mrs. First Grade and the bubbly way she interacts with my Eyore boy! As for Robby, the eternal Mr. Sunshine in our family, I knew he would have a good year. His preschool teacher is a friend of mine, a very loving, organized, cheerleader of a teacher and Robby has taken to her like a duck to water. He also loves school and I think he has a little crush on Mrs. Preschool as well!
So that's the short list of things I am thankful for at school. Of course, I have to admit, I'm also thankful for the long holiday weekend coming up!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Update Time
I had planned to introduce a new friend this week, either Pukey or Tattlin' Queen, but have decided instead to update on a few previously introduced friends and keep mulling over which girl to write about next. Or I might introduce Farm Boy..... decisions, decisions!
Toddler Girl - on Friday, slightly more than a week after she left, we finally got a records request from a school in a neighboring state. Which is a huge relief, because now I know she's back on some body's radar. Crossing fingers that this school will be more successful at getting her mother to sign that very necessary SPED paperwork than we were. The kids miss Toddler Girl way more than I would have anticipated. Southern Belle, who sat next to her at the table, has cried for her several times since she left and Tattlin' Queen has written several mournful entries in her journal wondering where Toddler Girl is and if she is ever coming back. Even Thing One has told me "I miss Toddler Girl, why did she have to leave?" on more than one occasion.
Van Gogh - ARGH! Just when I think we are making progress he has a serious backslide into tantrum-ville. This week was hard, on both of us. Wednesday AND Thursday I banished him to other classrooms for a time out to allow both of us to cool down, because I knew I was losing my grip and was afraid I was going to wind up being mean if I had to listen to one more whining crying tantrum over something insignificant to the rest of the world. On Thursday I sent a note home with him, rather vaguely stating he had a rough week and asking his adults to talk to him about better ways to express his frustrations. When I said "be sure you show this to your mom and dad" he glared at me and shrieked "I CAN'T show it to my dad, he's in JAIL right now, SHEESH!" Big light bulb moment, suddenly I understand why he has been a little ball of exposed nerve endings all week! So I scheduled him for some one-on-one time with our counselor the next day and made arrangements for him to check in with her every afternoon for a while, hopefully to help keep him in check.
Princess - Princess' daddy is supposed to be home from his deployment before Christmas and she is just glowing with excitement. I pray every night for his safety and that they will have a magical family Christmas this year.
Thing One - This kiddo is such a oxymoron to me! He's shaping up to be one of my top readers for the year, picking up those letter sounds and blending three letter words like a champ. But he's also one of the most immature 6 yr olds I have ever met. It's all about him, all the time. On Friday I sent another boy to the office with a praise note, because he had spontaneously cleaned up someone else's snack mess (instead of tattling to me that the other child left the mess, or making the mess worse!). Thing One turned emerald green with jealousy and started a lengthy whined out list of all the times HE had been helpful and why, oh why, WHY hadn't HE gotten a praise note? He absolutely cannot stand for someone else to have something good happen to them. And it's not the normal Kinder-Kid jealousy, it's an extreme version of ego-centric me-me-me.
Southern Belle - as I feared, our midwestern falls are too harsh for this little delicate flower. She spends much of the afternoon in her coat, shivering dramatically and telling me approximately eleventy-billion times that she is "cawld". What she is going to do when the snow starts to fall I can't imagine! And honestly, it hasn't been that cold yet! Just wait for the really chilly days of late Dec. into late Feb.! I love this kid, she's smart, well mannered, and so kind to everyone, but the oh-poor-me Sarah Bernhart bit does wear on me after a while.
So that's the latest. We are about to descend into the holiday frenzy that grips us for the 3 weeks between T-giving and Christmas. I'm considering doubling up on my anxiety meds to get me through those days!
Toddler Girl - on Friday, slightly more than a week after she left, we finally got a records request from a school in a neighboring state. Which is a huge relief, because now I know she's back on some body's radar. Crossing fingers that this school will be more successful at getting her mother to sign that very necessary SPED paperwork than we were. The kids miss Toddler Girl way more than I would have anticipated. Southern Belle, who sat next to her at the table, has cried for her several times since she left and Tattlin' Queen has written several mournful entries in her journal wondering where Toddler Girl is and if she is ever coming back. Even Thing One has told me "I miss Toddler Girl, why did she have to leave?" on more than one occasion.
Van Gogh - ARGH! Just when I think we are making progress he has a serious backslide into tantrum-ville. This week was hard, on both of us. Wednesday AND Thursday I banished him to other classrooms for a time out to allow both of us to cool down, because I knew I was losing my grip and was afraid I was going to wind up being mean if I had to listen to one more whining crying tantrum over something insignificant to the rest of the world. On Thursday I sent a note home with him, rather vaguely stating he had a rough week and asking his adults to talk to him about better ways to express his frustrations. When I said "be sure you show this to your mom and dad" he glared at me and shrieked "I CAN'T show it to my dad, he's in JAIL right now, SHEESH!" Big light bulb moment, suddenly I understand why he has been a little ball of exposed nerve endings all week! So I scheduled him for some one-on-one time with our counselor the next day and made arrangements for him to check in with her every afternoon for a while, hopefully to help keep him in check.
Princess - Princess' daddy is supposed to be home from his deployment before Christmas and she is just glowing with excitement. I pray every night for his safety and that they will have a magical family Christmas this year.
Thing One - This kiddo is such a oxymoron to me! He's shaping up to be one of my top readers for the year, picking up those letter sounds and blending three letter words like a champ. But he's also one of the most immature 6 yr olds I have ever met. It's all about him, all the time. On Friday I sent another boy to the office with a praise note, because he had spontaneously cleaned up someone else's snack mess (instead of tattling to me that the other child left the mess, or making the mess worse!). Thing One turned emerald green with jealousy and started a lengthy whined out list of all the times HE had been helpful and why, oh why, WHY hadn't HE gotten a praise note? He absolutely cannot stand for someone else to have something good happen to them. And it's not the normal Kinder-Kid jealousy, it's an extreme version of ego-centric me-me-me.
Southern Belle - as I feared, our midwestern falls are too harsh for this little delicate flower. She spends much of the afternoon in her coat, shivering dramatically and telling me approximately eleventy-billion times that she is "cawld". What she is going to do when the snow starts to fall I can't imagine! And honestly, it hasn't been that cold yet! Just wait for the really chilly days of late Dec. into late Feb.! I love this kid, she's smart, well mannered, and so kind to everyone, but the oh-poor-me Sarah Bernhart bit does wear on me after a while.
So that's the latest. We are about to descend into the holiday frenzy that grips us for the 3 weeks between T-giving and Christmas. I'm considering doubling up on my anxiety meds to get me through those days!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
A Short Break
It's been a rough week and a half, emotionally. Both of my kids are sick, with different illnesses. Hubs has been going through some rather dramatic issues with his bio family. I am mourning the loss of Toddler Girl and worried to death because we still haven't gotten a record request so we have no idea where she is. One of our cats died. It's been a rough week and and a half, emotionally. I'll be back when I can pull it together.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Banging My Head
Pardon me, do you have a brick wall handy I can use to bang my head against for a few minutes? Just until I can actually accept the reality of what happened this afternoon? Thanks!
The SPED teacher finally tricked Toddler Girl's mom into answering her phone. Tricked? Well, after many failed attempts to get her to pick up by calling her home number using the school phones, the crafty SPED teacher called Toddler Mom on her cell number using the SPED teacher's cell phone and lo and behold, she picked right up! Unfortunately, that is the only good news in this report.
Toddler Mom utterly refused to come sign the IEP paperwork to place Toddler Girl in SPED. Why? Because she is pulling Toddler Girl out of our school as of tomorrow. When the shocked and dismayed SPED teacher inquired about this sudden move she got a half mumbled vague excuse about Toddler Mom leaving Toddler Dad, so they will be moving to a new house, but she doesn't know where or when or what school district Toddler Girl will wind up attending. Matter of fact, she might just home school Toddler Girl for a while and see if she can't get her caught up, since we clearly aren't teaching her anything at school! She is not convinced that our tests are accurate, after all Toddler Girl is the youngest of her 7 children and she hasn't really noticed that she's any slower than the others.
GIVE ME A FREAKING BREAK! This sweet lost little lamb tested out with a full scale IQ of 58! Are you f'ing kidding me? She functions on a 2 yr 7 month level! HOW can you not have noticed she is slower than the other children? Unless ALL 7 of your kids are MR? I guess that's possible...
So I'm unclear on whether today was Toddler Girl's last day with us, or if it will be tomorrow. My heart is cracked at the thought of her adjusting to a new school, new teacher, new class, new world. She really is a sweet loving little thing and the world is so confusing for her. Even worse is the thought of Mom "homeschooling" her to keep her out of SPED. That is NOT me knocking homeschoolers - I know some kick-ass homeschoolers right here in my little town and think it can be a great choice for some kids and some families. But not this kid and this family.
I guess the silver lining in this cloud of frustration is that Toddler Mom waited a little too long to make her move. We have finished all of our testing, all of the professionals at school have signed off on it, we only needed Mom's signature to make it official. So.... when and if we get a records request from a new school we can send them all of Toddler Girl's test results and hopefully THEY can get her into SPED. Or Mom will pull her again and keep pulling her until she finds a school that suits her twisted view of her daughter's abilities.
So frustrated by this. Poor Toddler Girl.
The SPED teacher finally tricked Toddler Girl's mom into answering her phone. Tricked? Well, after many failed attempts to get her to pick up by calling her home number using the school phones, the crafty SPED teacher called Toddler Mom on her cell number using the SPED teacher's cell phone and lo and behold, she picked right up! Unfortunately, that is the only good news in this report.
Toddler Mom utterly refused to come sign the IEP paperwork to place Toddler Girl in SPED. Why? Because she is pulling Toddler Girl out of our school as of tomorrow. When the shocked and dismayed SPED teacher inquired about this sudden move she got a half mumbled vague excuse about Toddler Mom leaving Toddler Dad, so they will be moving to a new house, but she doesn't know where or when or what school district Toddler Girl will wind up attending. Matter of fact, she might just home school Toddler Girl for a while and see if she can't get her caught up, since we clearly aren't teaching her anything at school! She is not convinced that our tests are accurate, after all Toddler Girl is the youngest of her 7 children and she hasn't really noticed that she's any slower than the others.
GIVE ME A FREAKING BREAK! This sweet lost little lamb tested out with a full scale IQ of 58! Are you f'ing kidding me? She functions on a 2 yr 7 month level! HOW can you not have noticed she is slower than the other children? Unless ALL 7 of your kids are MR? I guess that's possible...
So I'm unclear on whether today was Toddler Girl's last day with us, or if it will be tomorrow. My heart is cracked at the thought of her adjusting to a new school, new teacher, new class, new world. She really is a sweet loving little thing and the world is so confusing for her. Even worse is the thought of Mom "homeschooling" her to keep her out of SPED. That is NOT me knocking homeschoolers - I know some kick-ass homeschoolers right here in my little town and think it can be a great choice for some kids and some families. But not this kid and this family.
I guess the silver lining in this cloud of frustration is that Toddler Mom waited a little too long to make her move. We have finished all of our testing, all of the professionals at school have signed off on it, we only needed Mom's signature to make it official. So.... when and if we get a records request from a new school we can send them all of Toddler Girl's test results and hopefully THEY can get her into SPED. Or Mom will pull her again and keep pulling her until she finds a school that suits her twisted view of her daughter's abilities.
So frustrated by this. Poor Toddler Girl.
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