Adventures in Bento’s

I have recently become somewhat familiar with bento boxes, mostly for packing lunches for the kids. They love them, they are cute, compact, and  you are able to get a surprising amount of food in them.

We packed our first bento lunches last night. Nothing spectacular, a couple hard boiled eggs, some baby carrots, a piece of banana bread and a granola bar each. While we were at it, we made a list of things they want in their lunches… I hit the grocery store today and got it all…  As we packed tomorrow’s lunches this evening, I took pictures.

My younger daughter, she eats slowly, so she can’t eat a large lunch in the 20 minutes that they have for lunch at school. Here was her choices for tomorrow.

lunch #1

top section is cheese and ham, cut into pieces to fit on crackers, included in the lid but not shown, middle section is grapes, and grape tomatoes,bottom section is cantaloupe.  When the whole thing is stacked and belted it looks like this

Lunch #1 stacked

My older daughter eats more, and she eats much faster, so she can take more to be eaten in her 20 minutes. She chose to take two 2-later boxes, and here they are.

lunch #2 box 1

Top section has grapes, grape tomatoes, and raw broccoli florets, middle (actually the bottom of the bento) is cantaloupe pieces, and on the bottom is the top of the box, it has her flatware and some wheat thins crackers.

Top section has cheese, ham and crackers, middle (again, actually the bottom of the bento) has salad, just prebagged salad, mixed with raw spinich,  and the top  has more ritz crackers for her ham and cheese.

Lunch #2 stacked

This is both containers stacked and belted.

My girls love the system, we put the containers in thermal bags, with reusable ice cubes, and cloth napkins (which we use around the house anyway) and they are happy.

I do want to note that yes, there are a lot of fruits and vegetables in my childrens’ lunches, no I don’t force this on them, these are what they CHOSE for their lunches, and yes, my 9 year old actually wanted salad in her lunch.

Another upside is they love helping to chose what goes into and helping to pack their lunches. So far, it has been fun.

Homework bombshell…

so, my third grader came home from school today. She tells me they are studying weather and she has to write a report about whirlpools. ok *gasp* a report in third grade. So I start her researching online, show her how to use google and word what she is searching for to find the results she wants. And she continues to tell me more about this assignment. She has a class of “27 or 28″ students, and only 3 have been given this “extra homework”, when I questioned her about if the teacher said why they got extra home work, she says the teacher said that they were the only three students in the class who were “above grade level” I am pleased! Last year we had a problem with her teacher not being willing to challange her, and this teacher has been great about it.. I still don’t like the principal, she comes across as condecending and superior, but this years teachers are great!

Fracking farking school!

today is mid term progress reports. I get my second grader’s progress report… and all I can say is I am floored. For reading they marked meets, (mind you, last October her previous school informed me she read at a 5th grade level) and added in the notes “If the Arizona State Standards set wider perimeters of grading, I would mark exceeding the standards.”
Ok, Logic SCREAMS at me here… if the perimeters of grading are so narrow, then obviously, 3 grade levels above the grade she in would exceed them, right?

Writing was marked exceeting,

and Mathmatics got the same thing as reading…

this is ALL they have on the progress report..

of course… science and history would be a waste of space since they don’t teach them, (which still blows me away, 6 months in!)

And I have to sign this and send it back showing that I have seen it. I am fighting hard to keep from adding comments that will only cause problems for my child, since it seems she will be stuck in this school next year. No matter how much they suck, or how miserable she is.

This also makes me wonder if the principal might not be lying her to teachers too (remember, I have caught her in 2 lies to me) and they are just following what they are told.

ARGH!!!

Blah

still not myself. Hubby keeps asking what is wrong and I keep telling him nothing, it is not worth the fight it would cause for me to tell him right now. He knows I am lying, but he isn’t willing to push it either..

Plus, 10 mins after he told me how worthless he thinks I am, he asked how I would feel if he took my truck for his Annual training, across the state, if we pick up a travel trailer between now and then, so he can take the trailer.. I told him i didn’t know… the whole time thinking.. “sure, leave me here with 3 kids, and a car I won’t get on the interstate with, cause it is not safe to have all 3 kids not in car seats on the interstate, for three fucking weeks, while you go party and drink beer with the assholes who treated you like shit for the year you were in Iraq with them. “

Then he proceeded to tell me how wonderful the gifted program is, won’t hear that a gifted program varies by school, and looking at this schools history I am not holding my breath about how wonderful a gifted program may be. All he will tell me is to look it up my self. I have, the school website is shit. You can’t even get the monthly menu till a week into the month. I did email the principal for more information, not that I am likely to trust any information she gives me, I have caught her in lies twice in just 6 months.

I have decided I am not fit company for the general human population, so I am taking a short break from The Board, in hopes of getting a better attitude… Not holding my breath on that one, but at least I won’t be spreading my malaise.

upset,

I am feeling depressed, hurt that my husband feels I am such a worthless mother, and not to be trusted with my children, And that he is satisfied with the piss-poor standard of education in this hellhole. even more miserable about being trapped here.
Afraid that the local idea of gifted will be as much of a joke as their kindergarten. And that Angel will be required to stay late for it, and will feel it is punishment, and come to resent it.
Unsure what I should do next get a job, put two kids in daycare for someone else to raise, not to my standards of behavior. So that my children can be as rude and unmannered as the rest of the nation. Let sub-par schools give my children sub-par educations, and give up on doing more?
Right now I just want to hide and cry, I feel ashamed that I married a person who thinks so badly of me.

Guess I won’t be keeping my oldest home and teaching her here.. I am  just not to be trusted to see that she does the preplanned work that is laid out for her.

Progress

I have spent most of my morning researching home school groups in my area. Partly to help convince my hubby that I can pull my kids out of school next year and they will still have social interaction and other things that would benifit them. I found one today that  does a twice a month PE day at a local park, with a  trainer, as well as things like spelling bees, science fairs, talent shows. He seems to be moving closer and closer towards allowing me to do this. I also told him, that legally, what I want to do is not considered home schooling, it is a public school, through the state, and is no more ‘home schooling’ than his online college courses. If we were to continue through high school, the kids would get a high school diploma through the state, fully accredited. (But I also wouldn’t be opposed to letting them go back to school, if we move to an area with decent schools that would challenge them.)

I think I am going to spend the next several months working on convincing him, and hopefully, by the time school lets out here, in just over two months, I can just pick up the withdrawal paperwork then, and enroll them for next fall in the virtual academy. In the mean time, I will continue to provide material and education for them, since the school system here won’t.

First day back

I was able to enjoy a bit of peace, and get a couple things done. But after talking to the kids after they came home, one did average stuff, but the oldest, they spent all day taking practice tests so that they will be ready to take the real achievement tests at the end of the week. She got a note sent home with her saying they will be preparing for these tests all week… Um… Why cram for the test for the 3 days right before??? Why not just teach it all to them all year long! Yet another reason to detest this school system. What did she learn in school today?? Nothing, all they did was practice tests.. Can you say waste of time?

Spring Break

comes to an end. We all survived, we all still have our sanity… barely. And now we have to start getting up and out the door for school again. *cringe* I hate mornings, but at least hubby will get up and walk the oldest to school, since she is the only one in full time classes right now. I will walk middle child just before noon, when it is time for her to go, then I will take the baby and go back when school lets out to pick them up… this does mean I will be walking more… the two trips a day means two miles a day… I need it. I also need the quite time to perform surgery on my treadmill and get that working again so I can use it more…. MUST PERFORM SURGERY.  *sigh* This also means I need to get to bed at a decent hour so I can function when I get up in the morning.

I am having

Kinda a blah morning. I am feeling cranky and lazy, I just don’t wanna do anything but sit and listen to podcasts. Maybe knit.  I have to get some housework done. Hubby will home from drill tonight, and the older kids go back to school tomorrow (we have had two weeks of spring break.) Usually my kids are excited about going back to school, but here, the schools are just so not up to standard, that they are kinda dreading it. My second grader is BEGGING to be home schooled next year, she wants to learn that bad, and they just aren’t teaching her here.

I did manage to finish my baby blanket last night. *sigh* that is a weight off my shoulders, now I can move on to doing something I want to knit… back to working on my bag.. I really want to finish it, I want to see what it will look like once it is felted, and I can’t wait till I cant felt it, then use it.  And my hands are kinda itching for a lace project, but I am not sure what it will be yet… still leaning towards a clapotis.

I also want to just sit and read… I am in the middle of two, one paper book, and one ebook, for sitting and knitting. One is J. D. Robb’s Strangers in Death, the other is Angie Sage’s Physik, I am enjoying them both, and I am just not making enough progress to suit me.

Farking Teacher!

First, we have parent-teacher conferences this week, so short days of school… local idea of short day of school… letting out at 11:40.. and afternoon kindergarten comes in at 10:15 to be let out at 11:40… what a fucking waste of time!

Second, 2nd grade teacher schedules meeting, sends home note with meeting time. I show up for  said meeting, and it is not on her schedule… her schedule is blank for the time I am supposed to be there, but she can’t meet with me, I have to reschedule again tomorrow, because this teacher can’t keep track of what she is supposed to be doing. And can’t deal when she screws up… plus, I have a feeling that she really doesn’t want to meet with me, because I am sure she knows I am unhappy with her teaching. Now I have to drag the kids back over there again tomorrow.