Wednesday, June 7, 2006

On Special Ed. and Chores




Milk Barn, 2005, Oil on Panel, 12x12











I have a horrendous schedule today. Doug is in the city today and so I have to do all of the after school chauffeuring, plus I have to do grocery shopping (we are desperate for food here-last night we had breakfast for dinner) and this afternoon I have a meeting at school to sign off on my oldest son's placement for next year. I requested a new classroom for him after realizing that several of the new students in his class this year were working at a pre-school level. Well, that and the fact that his new teacher is totally hyper and is driving K. crazy. This grouping has really set my son back this year and has made him feel "stupid", so I insisted that he be placed in a higher functioning classroom. In his current classroom he is about the highest functioning student and while that usually a good thing in a "normal" classroom, it doesn't work so well for K. He will raise his level of behavior and feel challenged to aspire to his higher functioning classmates. I was certain the school district would not want to place him in a different program, because of the expense involved, but they readily agreed when I made the request. In fact they agreed so quickly that I can't help but feel that there are some behind the scenes politics going on that I don't know about. There usually are I suppose but in this case I don't care. K is going to a higher functioning classroom where he will fit right into the middle and will start to learn a vocational skill, as well. So it's turned out well, this time anyway.

Anyway, I also need to put in a few hours working in the studio this morning, plus I have my chores to do. Yes, you heard me, I said chores. I have resisted that specific term for so long because it just sounds so "farmer-ish" and that just does not seem like me, but with the addition of chickens to our "farm" I decided to just go ahead and embrace the word. Because it's true, feeding chickens, dogs, cats, watering the garden, weeding, cat litter, laundry, cooking, these are chores, let's face it. I am on my way to being a farm girl, I guess. Of course the real clincher will be when I have to load bales of hay or shovel shit from the barn.

*Don't worry, the kids help with a lot of the chores, but there are some things that I still have to take care of or at least oversee or "redo."

4 comments:

tlwest said...

Make sure you get a couple of barn kittens and acclimate them to not eat chickens LOL!

Ed Maskevich said...

Good for you to make demands on the school. When our kids were in school we had many issues to deal with and the schools got to know me well. I usually pity the teacher. They are the ones caught between the rock and the hard place. Most administrations are really entrenched and resist any change.

Fresh eggs and fresh veggies, mmmm, when will the vittles be ready Miss Tracy, ma'am?

Anonymous said...

Hi Tracy nice to see you art it is very good I'm also a mom of four and an artist too. Your day sounds just like mine, I have a girl beginning school too she's english going into french school
glad I found your blog where do you find the time?

Tracy Helgeson said...

Hey TL, no cute barn kitties for us, but I am sure the neighbor's cats will be skulking around!

Ed, alas, I am actually not all that demanding, unless things get really unacceptable as in this situation. I tend to just go around the system, to mot depend on it and to just handle things at home on our own, with all of the kids and their issues. I have a basic distrust of administrations (educational, political or otherwise) and prefer to not be involved as much as is possible. That kind of goes along with my conspiracy thing:-)

Hi Amber, Glad to hear from a fellow artist and mom of four. Time? What's that? There's never enough time, but I've learned to multi task and to work despite interruptions. Plus it helps that I have the period of time while the kids are at school.