9 Months

Jules is now 9 months old!  She finally got 1 tooth at 8.5 mos. and another is about to pop through.  She claps her hands some.  She stood up on her own yesterday!  Yay!  She crawls everywhere and is not afraid to tell you about anything she doesn't like!  She hates getting dressed or having her diaper changed.  She sits back and observes most of the time, and she's always hungry!  It's still the most adorable thing to see her talking with Laeah! 

School, School, Horrible School

I told my mom the other day that she was so lucky that we lived in a good school district so she didn't have to make any decisions about switching and there were experienced, good teachers who cared and taught accurately.  I said, "It affected the rest of my life." And that hit me.  It was true; elementary school was the important to me, so if I have a daughter begging to leave her current school, I should pay attention. 

Honestly, I didn't like school because I was so shy and never had any friends in my class.  However, I loved learning!  Obviously--I was in school forever and have my master's degree after all!  I don't want my children hating school, and I don't want them falling behind in academics.  Yet, my 4th grader has been begging to get out of that school from day one of this year.  I said we'd give it till Christmas.  Well, now I decided I want my money back!  Just some of the issues:

• Tests have inaccuracies/mistakes on them.
• Teacher does not explain and tells Lovely to do it herself--no more questions.
• Teacher yells--all.the.time.  Lovely said she's told students, "Duh," and similar things. 
• Test, test, test.  Pre-test.  Post-test.  Practice ISTEP test.  Practice NWEA test.  Too many tests!! 
• Math stinks.  Horrid, horrid curriculum.  
• Blanket punishments.  10 out of 20 kids were talking out of turn during class?  Let's make them all write 50 sentences!  

These are just a few of my issues.  I actually have a ton more.  Lovely was blamed for making a mess in the bathroom the other day when she had no part of it.  She was in tears when I picked her up, so I marched in and talked to the principal. Never did I get an apology--just a denial that any yelling took place, despite her sounding like she was almost yelling when talking to me.

So, I'm either homeschooling or sending the girls to a small private Christian school.  I really liked the principal at the new school--no one was intimidating, and the children all had smiles when they saw the administration!  It's a drive and costs a bit each month, but the Lord will provide if we are to do that.  I must make my decision during the upcoming week, however.