A Pleasant Surprise

The local firefighters do this big thing every year to promote literacy in our community - there's a coloring contest, a reading contest, they go do presentations at each school, etc. Unbeknownst to me, Dylan entered the coloring contest and won second place! I don't know if it was second place in the city or in the school district - one of the two.

(It was Pajama Day at school - just in case you were wondering what he's doing in Bakugan jammies.) Anyways, he won some art supplies, which was cool. He's turning out to be quite the little artistic kiddo. When he can sit still enough. :)

I think there are some sour grapes in his class, though. A kid named Jesus keeps telling Dylan that he's a bad artist, and that Dylan's daddy is bald. Oooooooooh. Pulling out the big guns there. Ben told Dylan to tell Jesus that, if he keeps teasing Dylan, Dylan will get his family deported back to Mexico. Jeez. Nice, Ben. Nice. I told Dylan not to say what Daddy says, but, about the "bad artist" thing, to shrug and say, "Well, that's your opinion, I guess." And, about the "bald dad" thing, to shrug and say, "I think he looks cool." I told him that, if he seems to not care about the teasing, the teasing will probably stop.

I'm having so many crazy feelings lately about the kids' schooling situation. You may recall that, last year, we almost signed the kids up for the new charter school in town, the one that Ben designed. It's a charter school based around the Montessori method of teaching. It would have been a fantastic thing for the kiddos, especially Dylan. But it just didn't feel right. I kept getting the feeling that it just wasn't right for my kids at the time. I know it was the Holy Ghost. So, against all logic, I kept them in public school.

And, as it turned out, it was a good choice to have my kids still in our public school this year. The charter school didn't have a busing system at the beginning of the year - they do now - so I would have had to pack up all the kids, drive out there in the morning. Come home. Drive out there at noon. Come home. Drive out there when school got out. Come home. It's a good ten minute drive each way. All of this with an infant and a slow-as-molasses toddler. I think I would have had a nervous breakdown, honestly. So in retrospect, it was a good thing that we held off.

Well, this year, some things have happened at Dylan and Sadie's school that have been...special. First, the Jesus thing (that looks weird. Meaning "hay zeus." The kid that's jealous of Dylan's artistic skillz). Second, Sadie got called an F-word by a first grader on the bus a couple of weeks ago. Nice. Third, Dylan came home last week and asked me what a vagina is. I asked him where he heard it, and guess where? A kid at school. There are many less-than-savory kids at this school. This makes me want to get the kids into the charter school. I know that most of the kids in the charter school have parents who care about them, who actually parent them and teach them right from wrong. The reason I know this is that I know several of the parents whose kids go there. And the fact alone that the parents signed the kids up for a progressive school, one that will ensure that the kiddos learn to think outside of the box, speaks volumes about the parents. Good volumes. I also know for a fact that a lot of the kids in my kids' public school aren't getting parented. Many of the parents aren't teaching their kids right from wrong.

It's time to sign the kids up for the charter school for this fall, so I printed out the forms, and.... I'm having doubts again. I'm trying to figure out if it's the Holy Ghost, or if I'm psyching myself out. I just need to do a lot of praying and thinking. And in a hurry. The forms are due soon. It's just so easy to let my inner monologue, and the craziness of my life, shout over the promptings of the Spirit. I'm not saying that the charter school is a bad place to be. Far from it. Perhaps, for some reason that I can't fathom yet, the kids need to be in public school for a reason. Maybe for a certain teacher to inspire them. Maybe so they can be an inspiration to others. I have no idea.

I told Ben of my misgivings, and he says that I'm crazy. I asked him to just think and pray with me. And I think I might head over to the temple on Saturday, just to be at peace and feel the Spirit and maybe be more open to whatever it is that Heavenly Father wants me to do. To calm that inner monologue. Does anyone want to go with me?