School days, school days...

Just a post about what's going through my head today:

The kids and I went to Utah for my grandmother's funeral, returning last Monday. We were really glad to be able to be there, but during the week after the funeral everyone got sick, so it was hard to visit like we wanted. I had 2 nieces with swine flu, one niece and one nephew with strep, and one niece with pneumonia. While we were there, Sabrina was sick for about 24 hours with a flu, but came home with just a cough.

That cough lingered, and over this past weekend, she started acting really lazy and had flu symptoms, which affected her blood sugars and ketones, causing her to get dehydrated. So, yesterday I took her to the hospital, where we spent 6 hours getting labs done, chest x-rays and an IV drip. The final word was she has a case of "walking pneumonia" which is making it difficult to manage her diabetes. So, armed with antibiotics and additional info on taking care of a sick diabetic, we finally were able to come home. But, she has now missed two more days of school, which brings me to this post.

I wanted to be proactive, so I took her to school today to pick up her assignments from the past two days. I shouldn't have. Now, I'm even more frustrated. She is not...I repeat...NOT a great student. Don't get me wrong...we love her dearly, but school and being organized (like using a planner) are not her strong suits. I have had conversations, even recent ones, with teachers about getting her caught up, staying on top of everything, etc. So, when I take my sick daughter to the school for the express purpose of picking up work to stay caught up, you'd think they'd be a little grateful...or at the very least, interested.

The first teacher didn't even get up from her desk, told Sabrina to back away (lest she catch the big, bad cold) and pointed to the board. The second one walked around the room, apparently gathering materials, with no indication he was even paying attention to us. Then he walked away without even a goodbye. One teacher is a sub for the entire semester, but isn't grading any work? Only one teacher even acted concerned that she was sick and made sure to give her all the information she needs for an upcoming test...and he isn't even one of her core subjects.

No wonder she's struggling...no wonder Hawaii schools are getting a bad rap...I'm finding it justified. This week her middle school is on minimum days, letting out at 12:30 for afternoon conferences that every student participates in. What I found today, when I arrived at noon, was the kids at lunch...really? Lunch ended at 12:20, when they proceeded to go sit in their classes, chatting until the bell rang at 12:30. Wouldn't it make more sense to skip lunch this week, work straight through, and let the kids out at 12:30? So, basically this week they are getting 3 hours of class each day...on top of no school on Friday for the Furlough Friday program to save money.

Hawaii kids are already getting less hours in the classroom. It just frustrates me that a student like Sabrina, that is already struggling, is not going to get the attention and interest she needs to succeed. It makes it hard for me to blame her, when the administration and teachers don't appear to care. I have considered homeschooling, but am told that unless I continue all through high school, she'll enter as a freshman when we leave here. And forget about private school...that's a small fortune, and I like to feed my family. I can only try to do my best at home, but without knowing what she needs help with, it's difficult. Just frustrating...

What the heck?

Well, It's been a hectic week, started out pretty good-- I mean you can't beat spending the last day of winter break at the beach right? But me and the kids are heading to Utah (insert "brrrrr" here) tomorrow night for my grandma's funeral...and I still have a to-do list a mile long. So, I'll just leave you with a short "huh?" post.


After Christmas, I saw this message board on a church as I was leaving Target (sigh...still gets my heart racing whenever I see that red bullseye...but I digress...) Anyway...how uplifting is this service? Nothing against Lutheran's but is that really the message they want to send? Depressed much?



Have a good weekend! I'll probably post lots of fam pics next week...10 days with the cousins, so my kids get break time redux!

It's a wrap...

So sad...2009 has come and gone, but we celebrated the welcoming of the new year with some new friends and lots of family time.

The day after Christmas, the stores immediately set up huge displays of fireworks. I had thought we would miss our German New Years, with lots of individual fireworks shows at midnight. But, the Hawaiians will not be out done! They started shortly before 8pm, and we heard them, nonstop, until 2am! When we returned home from our friends' the air was thick with smoke and the smell of the fireworks.

To start my fresh, clean blog, I thought I'd do a quick little post with a list of some of our high (and low)-lights of this past year:

• Just after Christmas, we found out about our orders to Hawaii, and prepared to make the big change from our 6 years in Germany to being back stateside, if not mainland. (and visions of Target danced in her head...)
  
  
• McKenna started swimming lessons to prepare for the beaches of Hawaii. She loved them, but refused to put her head under water, which of course hindered her progress.
  
  
• Dennis was deployed to Iraq from January to May, returning just in time to pack out and leave the country. While there, he was able to explore his musical tastes, meeting Charlie Daniels and rocking out as one of his faves from KISS in a talent show. I know, surprised me too...
  
  
• McKenna started gymnastics, finding a new activity that she loved. I loved that she found a new outlet for tumbling that didn't include my sofa.
  
  
• Sabrina earned her black belt in Karate Tech after 4 years of hard work. We are all proud of her accomplishment. Hayden left Germany as a brown belt, with 4 stripes, just running out of time.
  
  
• We bid a sad goodbye to Europe and many good friends we'll take with us in our hearts. Thank goodness for this age of email and blogs and Facebook, may we never lose touch.
  
  
• We were able to visit all of our our family and many friends in three states when we took leave in between stations. We stopped in Indiana, where Dennis's mother's and sister's families met us, and spent time with them and the extended Terry family. Next stop was in Denver, then Utah to see my side. It was a fabulous vacation, although lugging 10 suitcases through the airports is something I don't wish to do again any time soon.
  
  
• We arrived in Hawaii, and after some juggling, were able to move into a fairly new home on Hickam Air Force Base, where our kids have been able to make friends and feel safe and comfortable in our own home.
  
  
• When the kids started school at the end of July, McKenna started Kindergarten, thrilled to be going, but making it much too quiet around the house.
  
  
• Most recently, I was called to serve as a counselor in the Relief Society in our ward, hopefully giving me more stability and opportunities to use my time and skills in the new year.

Now that 2010 is here, I'm excited to get back into routine, and start some new ones. I'm hoping this year will continue to bring our family closer together and strengthen the bonds with our family and friends we have missed while being in Germany. We hope to enjoy the time we have together and our short time in this beautiful paradise. May the Lord bless you and your family, too!