Well, Bart had the nerve to tell me that it had been a boring summer so far. I really let him have it. Number one, I have been absolutely exhausted this summer, from carrying this baby, so I haven't felt much like doing anything. Number two, I have stretched myself to the limit trying to allow the children to do fun things, despite my lack of enthusiasm and energy. Number three, I am carrying around a wee bit of guilt for allowing myself to sleep late in the mornings. Number four, gas prices are sky high and we can't go to the beach as much as we might have last summer.
That being said, we have gone to the pool A LOT, taken swim lessons, gone to the library, gone to the beach, had a vacation/family reunion at the beach, gone to some summer movies, and had A LOT of company stay with us. I think we have done A LOT this summer, particularly since I have been so tired and wishy-washy.
So I laid it all out for Mr. Bart Savitz, and I felt better about what we have done. I told him how when I was his age, we didn't do ANYTHING over the summer. We played outside, we occasionally (like once every two or three years) went on vacation or to the beach. We only went swimming at the town pool when I was a teenager. When I was a kid, we had a little plastic wading pool, and we spent most of our time in it outside, or under the trees playing Barbies or reading. That's it. And you know what? There was absolutely nothing wrong with that. We had a blast, and the summer seemed to go on forever. When it was time for school to start again, we were ready and excited.
Now, with school barely a month away, glaring at us, I want to say "Where the heck did all of the summer go?" It seems like only two weeks ago we were buying end-of-the-year teacher gifts and anticipating our first day at the pool. And now George and I just blew over three hundred dollars this weekend buying new school uniforms and supplies, and we're not even done yet! We still have shoes to buy and lunch boxes, too.
And that's another thing. When my sister and I were in school, there was no "School Supply List" waiting for us at the front of Wal-Mart or given out at the end of the year for the following school year. We bought backpacks, lunch boxes, pencils, paper, binders - whatever we thought we might need for the year. Oh no, not in this day and age. Back then, we didn't have to buy Chlorox wipes, hand sanitizer, Kleenex, reams of computer paper, jumbo glue sticks (each one is from $1.50 to $2.00 and we often are asked to buy as many as four of them!), highlighters, paper towels, gallon Ziploc bags, and the list goes on and on. And I haven't even mentioned the necessities - pencils, paper, notebooks, etc. Are you kidding me? Why on earth does each kid need to bring in two reams of computer paper? Is the school system not providing paper all of a sudden? It blows my mind. And this is public school! When Skylar attended Charter School, I was perfectly happy to donate $20 or so worth of school supplies. But public school? Am I providing two reams of computer paper to balance the cost of the school buying new computers or sports equipment? Are my son's $2.00 apiece jumbo glue sticks going to be for his use, or for the kid sitting beside him whose parents didn't bother sending any supplies in at all? Maybe I'm being a jerk, but all this stuff really adds up. And my kids aren't in public school by choice, but because there isn't much of an alternative since we moved two years ago.
And I'm not bashing public school teachers. I truly believe most of them are wonderful teachers who love what they do and love the kids they teach. My children have had some excellent teachers who I definitely trust with their education. I have a good friend who teaches. My beef is with the school system itself. I believe that the system has crippled itself, its staff, and is thus crippling the kids. In order to please a few, I think some important things are being swept aside. I don't feel like going much more into it. I just felt like I needed to get that out of my system.
Anyway....here are some pictures of what sorts of things we've been up to - just to prove Bart wrong. Also, please refer to pictures from previous posts. I believe I have made my point.
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