Posts Tagged ‘everything’
The Preschool Screening
My public school drives my absolutely bananas. I wanted to get Madison’s hearing screened just to make sure that there were no problems. We thought maybe some of Madison’s attention issues were due to her not hearing. However, my school being the pain in butt that they are wouldn’t do it unless we scheduled her to be prescreened for preschool through the school (which is a joke but I’ll tell you about that later). Obviously, there is some sort of federal funding they get for this, because I wanted a five minute screening and got stuck with an hour long screening. I sucked it up and took her.
I swear that they expect these kids to have a flash memory drive in their heads. I could hear some of the things they were testing her on, and from what I could tell, she was doing well. When they called me up after the testing was over, I was right. Except for cutting and catching, she scored everything else in the 6 year old range. Madison is only 4. I am seriously wondering if some of the attention issues we are having with her at preschool are due to her being bored. That was the good news.
The bad new was that we failed her hearing screening. I asked what the school would do for that. The answer: nothing. We would have to pay for additional testing elsewhere. The other thing that ticked me off to no end was that she couldn’t even get into the school preschool if I wanted to send her. The only kids who get in are those who are considered “at risk” (which Madison is obviously not) and if we made less than $80,000 a year. Umm, yeah. We make more than that. In Chicago, I am not sure if you can even own a decent house making less than $80,000 a year. Basically, the only kids who get in are those who don’t speak English (because there were several kids like that there) and low income people. I guess my question is what about the middle class? Why do we always get screwed?
Amazon Frustration Free Packaging
Amazon, if I could, I would seriously make out with you right now. Yes, I said it. Whoever came up with frustration free packaging is a genius. They deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. I also have to give a shout out to 37 Signals and Remarkable Parents for letting me know about this.
Now, you can see from this picture how the packaging is different. The one of the right is what it looks like now. The one on the left is the new packaging. I find it weird that a lot of bloggers find this wrong. However, as a mother of a 4 year old and a 1 year old I find this genius. I remember when Madison turned one. It took 6, yes I said 6, adults over an hour to open her toys. Now, that is crazy. I remember my fingers hurting from the twisty tie things and just the waste and the mess. How would you like to get just a brown box, and all you have to do is open it? Sounds much better, doesn’t it? How many of you have had kids whining “do you have it out yet??!!??”? I know I have that here. They don’t have the attention span while you find a screwdriver and everything else you need to get some of these toys out of their packaging. Heck, I remember cutting my arms on the clamshell packaging when you are trying not to saw the entire top of the packaging off. Plus, this new packaging is so much better for the enviroment. I would love to be able to recycle that box (where I live, the more the community recycles the less we pay for our garbage to get picked up). Now, this packaging is done right at the factory too, and only effects Amazon. You will still find normal packaging at your favorite brick and mortar store.
The main argument against this is that the kids can’t see what they are getting. My response to that is what is worse — they have to actually open the box or have the toy stuck in packaging so the kids can see it but can’t play with it because it will take me 20 minutes to get it out?
I am interested — what are your thoughts on this? If you can’t tell, I give Amazon two thumbs up on this move!
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Big Decisions To Be Made
We decided to join a new church here. We haven’t 100% decided to send Madison to private school yet (we have a school referendum on Nov. 4th. If that passes, it solves all of my issues with the public school. However, after watching the debates of Friday night, that may not hold true either. If McSame, I mean McCain, wins he proposed a spending freeze. In theory, that sounds great. However, the schools don’t have enough money for No Child Left Behind as is. If they keep the amount frozen, that means even less money going towards the kids.) The church we joined is a part of hte private school we are looking at. It is a very cool looking church, and we have been there before. Bill’s friend got married there and his daughter will be baptized there this weekend. We also started working on her tuition. They have a program called VOICE. That has you buy gift certificates from them for stores like Speedway, Kohls, Jiffy Lube, Walgreens, etc. to name a few. A percentage of the purchase amount goes towards the school. Madison has to raise $150 with that. With the certificates I bought on Sunday, we are up $17. Woohoo! The cool thing is that everything we earn over the $150 gets taken off her tuition. If we don’t end up sending her there, I just figure that money will go towards another family who can use it. I just think that is super cool that we can start earning towards this now already! So, if anyone needs gift certificates come Christmas time, let me know!
I’ll be honest, this school decision makes me sick. I get a stomach ache every time I have to think about it. I would rather have to use a colon cleanser than have to make this decision. Public schools are suppose to be good. I shouldn’t have to worry about the class sizes or if subjects like music and art are being taught. I just always assumed that my kids would be able to have the same education I have.
**okay, whine over. I think** 
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6 Days Left 