April 6, 2010
Does the big screen do public ed. justice?
The story from the San Francisco GateChronicle newspaper appears in full below. My apologies to the paper and reporter Lance Izumi for any copyright violations. I'm just trying to spread your word. Readers, please note Guggenheim's quote at the very end -- my sentiments EXACTLY:
The documentary "Waiting for Superman" by Oscar-winning director Davis Guggenheim, who previously directed Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," was a big hit at the recent Sundance Film Festival.
Voted best U.S. documentary by Sundance moviegoers, Guggenheim's film exposes the immense flaws in America's public school system and follows the lives of a handful of parents and their children who struggle to find alternative routes to a better education. Significantly, Guggenheim profiles both low-income and middle-class children.
The title of Guggenheim's latest film comes from an African American educator who recounts how, as a child, he would wait for his hero, Superman, to come and solve the problems around him. In too many of America's public schools, that wait continues. These schools are either dangerous, underperforming or both.
Half of students tested in California scored below proficient on the state English exam. Guggenheim points out that bad schools and bad schooling affect more than just poor kids.
"The revelation is that a lot of our schools, even our middle-class and our white schools, are suffering from the same dysfunction (as schools in low-income areas)," Guggenheim warns. The evidence bears him out.
A recent study by the Pacific Research Institute found hundreds of California public schools in middle-class and affluent neighborhoods where significant proportions of students failed to achieve grade-level proficiency in core subjects. Many parents at these schools don't realize how bad things are.
"My entire extended family has gone through (Terra Nova), and everyone has been extremely happy with it," says a parent at Terra Nova High School in Pacifica. In an area with a median home price around $530,000, Terra Nova has a white-majority student population with virtually no students not fluent in English and only about 2 in 10 who are disadvantaged.
Yet half of 11th-graders failed to achieve proficiency on the state English exam, and a shocking 83 percent of juniors scored "not ready for college English" on the California State University's college-readiness exam. In math, 54 percent of students taking the state's summative math exam for accelerated students failed to achieve proficiency, while 80 percent of those taking the algebra 2 exam failed to reach proficiency.
While some middle-class parents are unaware of the deficiencies at their children's public schools, others know too well their neighborhood school's shortcomings. Actress Laraine Newman, of "Saturday Night Live" fame, recently wrote on the Huffington Post that she and her husband "could no longer afford to pay for private school and expect to pay for a college education" for her children. However, at her neighborhood public school, University High in Los Angeles, about 70 percent of 11th-graders failed to hit proficiency on the state English exam, and a staggering 95 percent of students taking the geometry and algebra 2 exams scored below proficient. "(F)rankly, the school was low performing," Newman wrote.
Luckily for her, Newman qualified for a special permit to send her daughter to a high school in ultra-wealthy Beverly Hills. Most other middle-class parents aren't so fortunate, which is why Sweden's universal school-choice voucher program is so appealing. Funding is attached to every Swedish child and may be used at the public or private independent school of the parents choosing.
"Choice is for everyone, whatever income level you have," says Per Unckel, governor of Stockholm County and a former education minister. Further, he observes, "It is not only a school-choice program which opens up choice for kids, it's also a choice program that opens up competition between schools for the benefit of quality."
Davis Guggenheim comments: "Every morning I drive my kids past four public schools on the way to a private school, and when I drive past those schools it haunts me, the fact that there aren't good schools for my kids." If this reality haunts the Sundance documentary winner, it's surely like a horror movie for those who can't escape from those bad public schools.
Lance T. Izumi is Koret senior fellow and senior director of education studies at the Pacific Research Institute ( www.pacificresearch.org). He is the co-author of the recent PRI study "Still Not as Good as You Think: 2009 Update on Why the Middle Class Needs School Choice." Send your feedback to us through our online form at SFGate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1.
This article appeared on page F - 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle
When does it cease to be an anomaly?
Here are unedited (by me) excerpts of news stories from various sources as they were reported within the past two weeks. Note that the suicide of Phoebe Prince following repeated torment by her classmates and the senior prom saga of Constance McMillen have been assigned their own separate 'blog entries:
From the Philadelphia Daily News --
The English teacher at Cherry Hill High School West reportedly instructed his honors students to nickname a student "Handy Mandy" - in reference to her alleged sexual activity - prompting her outraged mother to file a federal civil-rights lawsuit earlier this month against DiPatri, the school board, the township and several unnamed students.
Melanie Singer alleges that her daughter, who also isn't named in the March 18 lawsuit, learned that DiPatri originated the nickname when she complained to her guidance counselor in January that students relentlessly called her "Handy Mandy," "slut," "whore" and other sexually derogatory slurs. "Handy Manny" is a Disney cartoon featuring a bilingual Latino handyman named Manny Garcia and his talking tools.
School staff told her to ignore the harassment, according to the lawsuit. The principal briefly suspended DiPatri for the name-calling but did not apologize or acknowledge the misconduct to the girl and her family, Singer contends in her lawsuit.
The torment worsened after DiPatri's suspension and "became so unbearable, that she was forced to leave school and receive home instruction per her pediatrician's advice," according to the lawsuit.
From the Seattle Times --
STAGNANT reading scores of Washington's fourth- and eighth-grade students, highlighted by a national assessment, are troubling.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) offers a reliable yardstick of student achievement nationwide. Current measurements show many students are not on track for high school graduation and success in college or employment.
Washington is not an anomaly. Out of 50 states, seven showed change and that included sharp declines for four.
From the Anniston (AL) Star --
Erica Deramous was not trying to make a statement, disobey school policy or flaunt herself. She just wanted to enjoy her senior prom.She was suspended all the same.
“I feel it’s stupid because I got suspended for nothing,” Deramous said.
Deramous was one of about 25 Oxford High students who were disciplined for violating the dress code at her school’s prom Saturday. The students in violation were allowed to stay at the prom, but the following week, each was given the option of receiving corporal punishment or accepting a three-day suspension from school, Oxford principal Trey Holladay said.
From the Atlanta Journal Constitution --
A former Southwest DeKalb High School teacher did not commit a crime when his students stripped and simulated sex acts in his class, a jury ruled Wednesday.
Former chorus teacher Nathan Grigsby was found not guilty of five counts of contributing to the deprivation of a minor.The video, which was posted on Facebook, showed three male students remove their shirts and dance provocatively while girls screamed. One of the boys dropped his pants. The boys dropped to the floor, gyrated and grabbed female students while simulating various sex acts.
In the back of the video, Grigsby can be spotted briefly watching. Prosecutors argued he was smiling while watching the "Chippendales-style revue." However, Grigsby said the video captured his look of shock when he saw what was going on.
Grigsby told jurors he was helping another student for the bulk of the performance and had his back to the dancers. He wore headphones and claimed he didn't hear the screams or the lewd lyrics.
“As I turned and saw what they were doing, I stopped it,” Grigsby said after the verdict. “I was in the room, but you do have to understand the atmosphere. As a teacher, you can not see everything the whole time.”
From The Palm Beach Post News --
Beating victim Josie Lou Ratley showed a sign of progress on Easter Sunday, her family's lawyer said.
The 15-year-old Deerfield Beach girl is starting to move "slightly" in her bed at Broward General Medical Center, Rick Freedman said in a news release. Also, doctors are trying to get Ratley to breathe on her own, though still with the aid of a ventilator.
Her mother, Hilda Gotay Ratley, was at her bedside with an Easter basket holding favorite things — a large stuffed bunny, art supplies, bling jewelry, a princess crown and chocolate.
Ratley has been in a medically induced coma for 18 days since she was attacked on the campus of Deerfield Beach Middle School.
Wayne Treacy, 15, is charged with attempted murder in the March 17 incident. He is accused of stomping on Ratley's head with steel-toed boots.
From MyFoxBoston.com --
A 6-year-old first-grader in Middleton’s Fuller Meadow Elementary School is accused of molesting at least 10 fellow classmates. In his 40 years in education, Superintendent Bernard Creeden says he's never seen a case like this one.The first grader has been removed from the elementary school after students claim they've been victims of sexually inappropriate behavior. The alleged victims are all boys.
There are reports that the boy was pulling kids' pants down and then threatening to beat them up if they said anything.
And these are headlines from only the past couple of weeks. . . I won't bother to include the one about the Florida teacher who gave her elem. students pretend bottles of Xanax pills (candy mints) to help them de-stress before standardized testing, or the one about the teacher who has reportedly fathered a child by a special ed. student, or my personal favorite -- the one about a Utah school district website that linked to an article claiming that Jesus was one in a long line of historic vampires. (I am not kidding.)
April 5, 2010
The prom attended by less than 10
At least it was until it ignited a firestorm.
High school senior Constance McMillen, 18, fired the initial salvo when she announced she'd be bringing another girl as her date to the prom. McMillen says she's a lesbian and planned to wear a tuxedo.
Itawamba Agricultural High School officials said no.
When McMillen pressed the issue and then got the ACLU involved, a local court ordered the school district to allow the girl to attend the dance with her female companion.
School officials said no and cancelled the prom.
Parents of the other students stepped up and said they'd organize a prom instead. McMillen assumed that she'd be invited to that event.
Apparently, those folks said no, too. Only this time they did it under their breaths and in the cruelest way imaginable.
Reportedly, two proms were planned -- one publicly announced and the other privately held. McMillen and her date showed up to the one they knew about, the publicly announced event that was chaperoned by school officials at a local country club. Only seven other students were there, she says, including two special education students.
Where was the rest of her class? They all attended the private affair, the one presumably free of lesbians and other undesirables.
Anyone who's read my 'blog for any length of time knows that I don't embrace the homosexual lifestyle nor do I think that homosexuals should have a protected class status. What you do in your own space is your choice, after all, and I shouldn't have to tiptoe around laws designed to force me to know about your behavior or to accept it as equal to any other.
That said, I am also absolutely opposed to the mistreatment of kids of any age and of any leaning.
The Itawamba school district was wrong to cancel its prom rather than let McMillen and her female friend attend. It was wrong to ruin her last year of high school over a couple of hours worth of bad food and likely cheesy dance music. (Hey, I've been to a senior prom and the food WAS bad and the dancing WAS awful.)
The district was also wrong because McMillen's parents PAY THEIR TAXES JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE and their daughter had every right to participate in any school-sponsored event.
And I can't even begin to imagine the hurt the parents of those two special-education students must be feeling knowing that their children who are already struggling with learning disabilities were also purposely left out of the "real" prom. Like their senior year wasn't worth commemorating properly, either.
The kids at McMillen's high school didn't cook up this dual-prom idea all by themselves, I'm fairly certain.
No, once again adults who ought to know better and who ought to know by now how fragile the egos and hearts of teenagers can be were behind this. Way too much planning and coordination had to take place to pull off a secret prom in a small town and, frankly, I'm doubtful most of those teenagers could have done it without adult supervision.
What does this whole thing teach those children? I know what it hasn't taught them. It hasn't taught them that it's okay to disagree with someone's choice and yet be civilized and humane to the person.
And that, to me, is THE lesson we're supposed to be pounding into the minds of our children.
After all, if we cannot civilly live side by side with people with whom we do not necessarily agree or understand, there is absolutely no hope for our society.
No hope at all.
April 4, 2010
The nail makes you think
Titled, "The Path to the Cross," the program featured live actors at various stations along a wooded path. The men, women, and children were in full costume acting out scenes from the Bible that began with Jesus' entry into Jerusalem at Passover.
When I was a child, we always went to my grandparents' house at Easter and invariably someone would have the TV on with the Hollywood version of the Easter story. The scene on Calvary never failed to grab my attention and I pondered the logistics of crucifixion.
As I got older I usually tried to skip that part of the movie and eventually I got to the point where the crucifixion part of the story was so distasteful that I glossed over it altogether when reading or thinking about the life of Jesus.
A couple of years ago, I read an interesting book by a Catholic priest in which he explored the significance of the handful of brief statements Jesus made while on the cross. The author implores the reader not to rush past the horror of the crucifixion but to instead linger and ruminate on all that it was and all that it represents today.
Sounds a little masochistic or perhaps voyeuristic until you stop and think about why the crucifixion is so integral.
It fulfills Old Testament prophecy, for one thing. It also bears witness to life in the Roman Empire at the time Jesus was sentenced -- crucifixion was a uniquely Romanesque way of dealing with criminals.
But more than that, the crucifixion stands even today as the ultimate example of forgiveness, humility, and sacrifice.
In a world where the "I" is often more important than the "you" and where self-love and self-interest too often drive the choices people make, it's no wonder we're craving selflessness. Who among us isn't wishing for more initiative, more cooperation, more giving and less taking? Who doesn't long to be forgiven for even the worst commission of sin?
As my friend and I prepared to enter the curtained portion of our journey -- the one with three men who appeared much too realistically to be nailed to crosses -- I took a deep breath. It's one thing to see crucifixion depicted on television and quite another to see it up close and in person.
Passing through the parted curtain, we were each handed a long, flat square-head nail, a replica of the type that might have been used in Jesus' day. I put mine in my pocket and kept walking.
As our group stood watching the men on the crosses, hearing the actor who was portraying Jesus recite the lines that for so many Christians are so familiar and so heartbreaking, I fingered the nail in my pocket and for the first time in my life actually appreciated the saddest part of the story.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Cor. 1:18)
The wrath of men and the power of God, the crucifixion and the resurrection -- Easter is all that.
I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6). I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? (John 11:25-26).
I do, and I hope that you do, too.
April 2, 2010
Autism Awareness Day
For those of us who live with autism in some form or fashion every single day, though, we're acutely aware and we don't need a special day, a ribbon, a slogan or a fundraiser to remind us that no one knows yet what causes autism, what definitively works best to control its symptoms, or what we can do to make insurance companies treat autistic spectrum disorders as the costly and life-altering conditions they seem to be.
We also don't benefit much from the media parading so-called autism success stories, especially when such stories are rare and misleading as to what the vast majority of affected families must face.
I know the stories are meant to be encouraging or hopeful, but frankly they come across as more hype than fact.
True, some people with high-functioning autism do go on to lead relatively normal lives -- college, marriage, families, etc.
But far too many more end up in assisted living or group home situations, and some even wind up in mental institutions although autism is not a mental illness.
The population with autism seems to be growing bigger, although I suspect more accurate diagnoses are propelling some of that growth. The population with autism will one day age, and that's the part no one seems to talk much about.
What will we as a society do with so many people who need help with everything from basic life skills to intricate social skills? What sort of place will we prepare for them so that they can share the best they have to offer while making sure they are kept safe? Many people with autism are extremely bright and enthusiastic but because they have trouble "reading" other people they may also be extremely vulnerable to financial scams or even sexual abuse.
In all the noise and chatter about universal healthcare, I kept waiting for someone to take a position that because autism is widespread, broad in its manifestation, and potentially crippling unless intervention is begun early we should dedicate more resources to families struggling to cope with it.
Instead, the silence was deafening.
The statistics say that that 1 in 100 children have some form of autism. More boys are diagnosed than girls. In most cases, the cause of the disorder is never known. Mothers of children with autism may experience symptoms similar to that of combat fatigue.
So on this day and every day, here's what you need to be aware of: Autism in any form steals something from your child that you're hard put to get back. It cheats your family of its peace of mind because you can never completely relax, never completely let go. It chips away at your economic worth because most interventions are not covered by insurance. It can be isolating unless you fall in with a group of people who are either experiencing the same thing or who at least care enough about you to put up with the quirks.
Worst of all, it taunts you as a mystery you cannot solve no matter what you do.
April 1, 2010
His teacher called him "pathetic"
My heart skipped a bit as I pondered how my son could have gotten in trouble within the space of literally five minutes. My toddler was asleep over his dad's shoulder, so there was only one other boy to whom she could be referring.
As I turned in the direction of the voice, I came face to face with an older woman and a young boy sitting in one of the booths.
"Is that your son?" she asked again, pointing straight at my five-year-old. "The one with the homeschool t-shirt?"
My son happened to be wearing a t-shirt from the Texas Homeschool Coalition, the statewide advocacy and support group for those of us who've beaten a different path through life.
The shirt reads on the front, "I homeschool in Texas . . ." and on the back, ". . . where people are free."
I nodded. "Yes, he's mine." And then I waited for the other shoe to drop because with my darling boy there's always another shoe.
"Do you, do you homeschool?" the woman asked hesitatingly, the last word barely slipping out of her mouth, as if saying it too loudly might bring on a hail of fire-tipped arrows.
"We do and we're in our fourth year," I replied. "Is it hard?" she asked, "because I've been thinking about homeschooling my grandson. He's ten." She gestured towards the boy seated across from her in the booth. Her name was Grace and she told me how she was tired of haggling with his teachers over everything from falling grades to name-calling.
"It's usually hard the first year, but that's because it's all very new and different," I said. "Once you find your groove it gets easier."
And thus began the conversation I've had now with countless strangers -- a lady at Half Price Books, another in the waiting room where my daughter goes to speech therapy, still another at the dentist's office. So many, I've lost count.
Something we do or say or have in our possession usually gives us away. Sometimes it's my THSC tote bag, other times I'm reading a magazine for homeschooling parents. The lady at Half Price Books figured me out just by the kind of books I had stacked next to me on the floor. "I thought you probably homeschooled," she said, "because it's usually people like you who buy books like those for their kids." My pile that day consisted of a variety of topics in science -- zoology, oceanography, astronomy, prehistoric animals and the Ice Age.
Even though I don't wear it on my sleeve, I always appreciate the opportunity to encourage someone who's considering what looks from their end like the scariest step they could ever take. I was there once -- it seems like a long time ago now -- and I remember the feeling of free-falling and the almost unbearable fear of failure.
Grace's grandson spoke up. "Do you know what happened to me on Monday?" he asked me. "No," I replied. "What happened?"
His round face twisted into a frown. "I was having trouble with my math homework and when I brought it to my teacher she told me I was pathetic," he said. "Do you know what that means?"
I told him I did and asked him, "Do you know that it was wrong for her to say that to you?" He nodded. "Everyone has trouble in math sometimes and just because you need extra practice or don't understand something doesn't mean you're pathetic." That made him smile.
I turned to his grandmother. "You, of course, know what his teacher said is wrong, don't you?" She nodded and told me she'd spent half the next morning going from one school official to another demanding satisfaction. "Did you get it?" I asked. Rolling her eyes, Grace replied, "You know, school is so much different than it was when I was his age. I have two grown children and I never had the problems I'm having now. My grandson is a good student, usually A's and B's, but it's the teachers he's had who have made him so miserable."
I pointed out that a lot of good teachers are working in much more stressful environments than they did 20 or 30 years ago, and she nodded. "It's the testing, the teachers are always worried about the testing because they don't want to lose their jobs. I think they get burned out faster than they used to," Grace said.
I gave her my name and e-mail address and told her to contact me if she wanted more information on the local homeschool association to which we belong.
"Shifting gears is hard," I said, "and homeschooling is not the cure for everything that might ail you or the child, but it's a valid option if you've run out of others." And with that we parted ways, me to my Italian supper and Grace and her grandson out into the dark and misty night.
I don't know whether she'll contact me, but at the very least I like to think I've given her hope.
Sometimes all you need is to know you have a choice.
Necessary socialization? Really? REALLY?
I'm sure there are some like that. I just haven't met them.
The argument I most often hear for enrolling children in traditional institutional education is that they "need" the socialization and the time with their peers in order to become well-rounded individuals.
The logic of spending boatloads of time with lots of other kids your own age and then somehow using that as a springboard to individualism has always escaped me.
I've even read the argument that kids need to be in an institutional school setting so that they can learn how to behave, how to get along, how to cope.
If you know the story of beautiful Phoebe Prince you're likely to disagree. I know that for the umpteenth time I sure do.
Prince, 15, is the Massachusetts teenager who was found hanging in her closet Jan. 14, a victim of suicide that many say was brought about by incessant bullying and torment at her local middle school.
Her family had immigrated from a small village in Ireland last fall so that their daughter could experience all that America had to offer.
How ironic.
According to Boston newspapers, Prince was not only physically attractive she was smart and friendly -- everything her school's so-called Mean Girls found threatening.
The group of girls who, by the way, are still in school as of this writing, set out to make Prince's life a living hell, hurling slurs at her, throwing objects, following her home from school, sending her cruel text messages, etc.
She briefly dated a senior football star, so maybe that was the problem, school officials speculate.
It gets worse. According to newspaper reports, school officials acknowledged that they knew there was a problem. They don't offer up exactly what they actively did to put a stop to it. What's more, they went on and held a school dance two days after Prince died. Didn't want to hamper all that potential socialization, I guess.
Bullying has always been a part of public school life. I saw it and I was even briefly the victim of it once. The difference is that when I was in school back in the 1970s and early '80s, principals and teachers still had enough authority and autonomy to make bullies' lives incredibly miserable long term. No one worried about political correctness -- the noisome term hadn't even been invented.
If it's not the socially challenged kid who's being picked on, it's the handicapped kid, the poor kid, the shabbily dressed kid, the cerebral kid, the short kid, or the fat kid. Sometimes it's the beautiful kid, maybe it's your kid, and I have to ask again why anyone thinks ANY kid ought to have to put up with this crap in order to become more well-rounded and, dare I even say it, educated?
Children learn best in small groups and quiet environments. They learn best when the rabble rousers among them are summarily plucked out and sent away. They learn best when their teachers don't have to struggle to distraction to discipline the students whose families should've disciplined them long before.
Anytime you corral hundreds of kids into a building and expect that all their differences and weaknesses and strengths are just going to meld together in one big kumbaya experience, you're asking for trouble.
I can't imagine the horror Phoebe Prince's family is living through right now. I also can't imagine why it's now April and her tormentors still have not been punished.
On Jan. 24, Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen wrote the poignant final chapter to Phoebe's story:
"Last week, Phoebe was supposed to visit Ireland, where she grew up, and she was excited because she was going to see her father for the first time in months.
She did end up going back to Ireland after all, and when her father saw her she was in a casket.
Phoebe’s family decided to bury her in County Clare. They wanted an ocean between her and the people who hounded her to the grave."
What part of Trinity do they not understand?
Trinity, founded by Presbyterians in the 1800s, is not considered a "Christian" school anymore. College officials claim its ties to the church are strictly "historical."
Nonetheless, while the student association backs the idea of removing the offensive phrase school officials are balking, worried they might lose funding from alumni who are already voicing their disagreement with the plan.
My question is this: Once you decide to shop for colleges, don't you usually take time to check out your choices to make sure their goals and programs are in alignment with your needs? Didn't it occur to the offended Muslim students that a school founded by PRESBYTERIANS might, just might, also include mention somewhere and in some fashion of something related to Jesus?
No? Really?
A quick internet search yields the following fact, thanks to Wikipedia.
The school "maintains a covenant relationship with the Presbyterian Church (USA)."
Trinity's own website offers this additional enlightening information. Christians make up 70.2% of the student body. Muslims? A whopping 0.6%
Again, it's not just Muslim students who are lobbying for the change but it strikes me as strange that anyone would.
Maybe it shouldn't.
Maybe someday it won't -- you know, after all our campuses, courthouses and other public forums have been purged of every reference to Christianity and history is once and for all completely revised.
We can knock out a castle in 30 minutes, can't we?
The floor? Bits and pieces of yarn, paper, cardstock, fabric, glitter, sequins, stick-on jewels, stickers, felt, thread, cardboard.
The table where our family of 7 must eat all its meals? Coloring books, boxes, puzzle books, pictures cut from magazines or catalogs, craft how-to books, pipe cleaners, glue, pencils, ruler, paper awl, two sizes of hole punch, stapler, tape (endless rolls of tape), and markers.
Almost every day all of the above get used to design and create a plethora of amazing and unusual objects. My house is full of them, and we joke that we're going to have to rent a storage unit to hold the overflow.
Some of the most recent creations include a shark tank made from a man's shoe box featuring paper sharks and other sea creatures against a backdrop of glitter glue seaweed and starfish, a large green octopus made from a painted paper plate with curly paper tentacles and stick-on googly eyes, a pencil holder made from an old soup can, a whole series of paper dolls -- some human, some cats -- complete with clothes, bedding and other accessories, and a stack of drawings featuring everything from ancient Greek citizens of Athens to cats in high heels and earrings. I can't forget to mention the home-made newspaper with original stories about a tiger rescue and a store that sells maypoles. Or the art exhibit featuring several fresh renditions of classic works by guys like da Vinci (Mona Lisa) and Vermeer (Girl With a Pearl Earring). We actually had to buy tickets to this one using pretend money my daughter had also drawn and cut out!
This evening after we'd finished our schoolwork for the day and I'd sat down to begin my research and planning for an astronomy class I teach, my daughter came to me and said, "I want to do a craft but I need your help."
She was holding up a book I'd found on clearance at Barnes and Noble, "The Princess Book of Crafts."
"I've done all the projects that are rated 'easy,'" she said wistfully. "Now all I have left are the ones that need an adult to help."
I hesitated. There wasn't another adult in the room, so it was up to me to take the hint and stop what I was doing.
"What's the project you want to do?" I asked, keeping my internal fingers crossed that it would be something we could finish quickly so I could go back to work.
"This one," she said, her big blue eyes lighting up with the sheer anticipation of all the crafty fun to come. "I want to make this castle."
She turned the book towards me and I tried not to gasp for air as I saw what lay in store. The required list of supplies to make the "castle" looked easy enough. We had everything it called for. The steps to complete this dazzling homage to royalty of yore were another matter.
Perhaps sensing my lack of enthusiasm, my daughter said, "This just looks complicated, but we can get it done in about 30 minutes if we work together."
Uh, sure. Thirty minutes plus about three more days.
Never one to let the reluctance of another steal her joy, my girl set to work gathering up everything we'd need while I began shutting down my computer. She had to get a box just the right size from her grandmother. I had to find two paper towel cardboard tubes, some Mod Podge, yarn, cardstock, toothpicks, and scissors.
I won't bore you here with the five gajillion steps we then followed but suffice to say the castle as of this writing is about 2/3 complete, which means we have a way to go.
I told my daughter that when the castle is finally finished and she begins to use it as the backdrop for a whole new set of royal family paper dolls she's making, she'd better be sure it doesn't fall into enemy hands, i.e. those of her two younger brothers.
A castle built of cardboard and paper is not likely to survive for very long.
Thank goodness I can't say the same for the memory of building it.