Wordless Sunday

First two weeks of Summer 09

Well the first two weeks of Summer has been busy for Zachary. The first week he went off to Walt Disney World in Florida with his Grandma (Kissy) and his Aunt Pookie. They had a blast and came back with lots of good stories. One of those is that when Zachary was waiting for the airplane in DFW he started talking to a boy behind him. The boy is 6 years old and was headed to Walt Disney World too. Zachary got his email address and the boys said they would write each other (ok email each other). I missed by boy greatly but enjoyed being with just Brooke.

Brooke and I at that time headed off to Dallas for some girl fun. We left on Thursday morning and went shopping. For lunch we went to RainForest Cafe. When Zachary was this age he didn't like RainForest Cafe however Brooke loved it. She loved all the animal noises and the lighting. We then went and babysitted for a Friend of mine. In turn we slepted over at their house. The next day was more shopping. I found some really neat cloth at JoAnns and could have stayed in there for hours. But, we had to leave and go meet a friend at her house. We stayed there and had lunch and chated for 2 hours. We made tinative plans to go back to Dallas and go with her and her 2 daughters to Medival Times and to the water park close to her house.

This week was also busy. Brooke started MDO and was away from me for 6 hours for the first time. She enjoyed it and did very well. She will continue to attend on Monday throughout the Summer and then go Monday and Fridays when school starts up. Zachary started swimming lessons but the lessons were for beginners and he is past that point. So, we stopped group swimming lessons and now he will take private Swimming lessons starting next week for 5 days. Tuesday Zachary went to Cub Scout Day Camp. It went from 8:00am till 3:30 am Tuesday through Thursday. He was tired and exhusted but had a great time.

Next week starts our churches VBS which is really a sports camp. Zachary will be doing swimming lessons from 3:30 till 4:00 and then VBS from 6:45 till 9:00pm. I will be volunteering at the church for the younger kidos VBS. Brooke will be attending VBS with me but in her own class. I think I will take PJ's for her to change into b/c 9:00pm is late for her to be out.

Well, Summer has begin. Zachary is off and running with everything he is doing for the Summer. Brooke is now walking and is becoming a very independent little girl. And the weather is already getting into the upper 90's during the day.

No TV, Internet, Wii week and Dress Making

I decided that this week (5 days) we would go without the TV, Internet and Wii. We listened to the radio. I did a short story on Thomas Edison and Electricity and we will be making a light bulb and an electricity game tomorrow. Zachary read more books and played a lot outside. Brooke played with her big brother and by herself. We also all played together. I have read 1/2 of Swiss Family Robinson (unabridged). It is a really good book and different from the movie. I also made a dress for Brooke. Yes, I sewed. This is my frist attempt and completed attemt at making clothing. All in all, I think we will cut the TV and computer off more so that we can read more and just be together.

Brooke in the dress I made.

My little model!

Oak Tree Down

About a week ago we had a really bad storm go through during the night. The rain was pounding our bedroom windows I could hardly sleep. When we awoke in the morning it was still raining a little bit but not to bad. Mark had left early to go to a Chamber meeting. When I walked into the kitchen and looked out of the bay windows the huge oak tree was down on the ground. I thanked God for the direction the tree fell. If it had fell the opposite way it would have hit the house. I went outside to check to see if it went across the road but it hadn't. God's hand must have been over our house that night. I had been asking Mark to cut the tree down b/c you could go up to it and pull bark off of it. I told him it was rottening but he said it has leafs so it is still alive. Guess I got what I wanted!

Here are some pics of when it first fell. It has now but cut down, atleast most of it.

Dad and Lad 2009

A few weekends ago Mark and Zachary made the trip to go to Dad and Lad. Dad and Lad is where the father and son go camping together at camp dierks. Zachary is a wolf cub this year and this was the 2nd dad and lad they had attended. They had a really great time but said the food was just ok. Zachary loved the food pizza's and hot dogs. Here are a few pictures that Mark had taken.



If you have a young boy please consider scouts. It isn't as much time commentment as you think nor does it cost a lot. The boys develop friendships and learn a lot of skills. I have been a den mother for the past 2 years and will be the den mother for the Bears (Zachary's group) next year and I have enjoyed working with both my boys and their parents.

Update on Zachary's Schooling

I checked with Connections Academy which is my first choice for Virtual Public School to see if they had gotten the Out-Of-District letter signed by my superintendent. Well, They had not. They said that they were going to send a letter to my superintendent from the superintendent of the Houston ISD. This letter would also be specific to Zachary and no other child in the MPISD. Hopefully with the letter individualize the superintendent will sign the letter.

The other thing I found out is that Zachary was accepted into 3rd grade next year and also was accepted into the Gifted Language Arts, Math and Science courses. I am so proud of him for this achievement. In order to qualify for the gifted classes he had to take a 4th grade placement test. He pass these test with a 100%. What this says is that Zachary (Technically a 1st grader by age) is ready for 4th grade work. But what I love about Connections Academy is that they are keeping him with his age mates (somewhat) but letting him go deeper and faster with his subjects. The math program allows him to do 2 years of math in one year. The science makes him think deeper and do projects. The Language Arts allows him to do a Literature Study. He will also be able to talk to other gifted children.

I am considering if the school isn't able to get the superintendents signature to take this matter to the school board. I am hoping they will see that they don't offer these types of gifted classes and will sign the paper so Zachary can attend.

Zachary's Schooling

While I was looking into enrolling Zachary into TXVA (virtual public school) I discovered that there was another virtual public school in Texas. This one is called Connections Academy and is offered through the Houston ISD to all students in the state of Texas.

After reading more about CA (Connections Academy) they offered more in the way of gifted education. They have a gifted Math, Science and Language Arts course. The school is for 3-8 grades. I contacted them and they said they would except Zachary is they thought his course of study this year was equal to 2nd grade. Well, I knew he would get in. I started gathering all the paper work. One of the papers they needed to enroll Zachary was a letter signed by my local school district superintendent.

I took the letter to get signed. I called to see if he had signed it and he wanted to talk to me. He said that he needed to let his legal team look at it before he signed it because it was a blanket statement that covered all students in his district. I told him it wasn't and it was only for Zachary. He said he would call me back.

He called back and told me about another virtual school program that was really good and I should check into that for Zachary. I did check into it and it is for High School students. I told him this and he said "Oh, I didn't know". Then why did he suggest it for my 7 year old son? UGH!

So, he called me back a few times. We exchanged words as to me saying that the public school didn't do anything for Zachary's academic needs and him saying they did. He doesn't know what really happened in Kindergarten. He called me back and said he wasn't going to be signing that paper. That he didn't want any kid in his district to be going to another school that was out of his district. That the schools here offered an excellent education. However he did say that the district didn't have the funds needed to provide the gifted classes that this virtual school offered. His other concerned was over the funding. If Zachary goes to CA then Houston ISD getting the funding for Zachary and not the local school district. He didn't want his funding money to go to another district. I told him that right now he wasn't getting any funding for Zachary anyway and that he was more concern about the money then my son's education. At first he said he wasn't but then he agreed he was. It all came down to MONEY.

So, without his signature Zachary can not attend CA. So, I completed the enrollment for TXVA. Zachary is currently set up to attend TXVA next year. He will also be in 3rd grade. We have gotten a one year grade skip for Zachary, however I don't think that will be enough for Math. I am going to try to get him into 4th grade math.

I am not happy with the way the current superintendent has delt with this issue. To put MONEY ahead of a child's education is not right. My child may not be attending the local school district right now but may be in the future. It will be with my voting that I will change my local school district.