Patrick Makes Varsity!

This is what making varsity looks like. Well, the last piece of it. There are other requirements, but the biggest one is coming in 7th at a meet. Patrick came in 7th here with just over a 19 minute 5 K. He has shaved almost 7 minutes off of his time over the season so far.

Not bad for his first year in Cross Country, huh?

Coree's New Do

Are you ready for this?

Coree wanted to get her haircut before we left for the States...but Rumiko is so popular, she takes about 6 weeks advanced notice. We only gave her 2, and so she just gave us the "silly girls" chuckle. So...we booked an appointment for after our return, and Coree went with a much shorter look. I LOVE it...it really suits her personality.

In fact, a boy at school (who shall remain nameless...because he has "self-esteem issues" and he's really mean to Coree...AND we know his family) said to her, "Wow, Coree...you used to be just plain and ugly...now you're kind of cute" and then followed that up with..."You look like your mom".

Of course, I drew the natural conclusion and could not let this pass and started chanting "(Nameless boy) thinks I'm cu-ute, (nameless boy) thinks I'm cu-ute."

I haven't decided yet whether or not to share my new discovery with him when I see him next. Maybe I'll just give him a knowing wink? I guess we'll just see what comes naturally.

So, without further delay...I give you Coree's new do:






Pretty sweet, huh?

Coree's Choice

December 2008...photo by Amy Lemon

Some of you will remember that Coree led the charge to enroll in public school when we got here to Okinawa. The boys wanted nothing to do with it.

The irony of that is, the boys ended up all meeting great friends in the neighborhood and at church who gave them all the inside scoop of the schools here. All three of them then decided they wanted to give it a try, too. They have had great experiences and haven't looked back.

Coree, on the other hand, has the misfortune of being a middle-schooler. Middle school is just miserable...there is no way around it. As a matter of fact, impending middle school is the main reason we started home schooling in the first place. Coree is the first of our children to have to endure it...and she may very well be the last.

I don't know whether the kids are miserable because the school is run like a prison...or the school is run like a prison because the kids are so miserable...but either way, all it's lacking is the barbed wire. For example, it is school policy that if you switch tables in the lunch room once you've already sat down, you get detention. So, if Coree is sitting alone...and sees a new girl sitting alone, she risks landing herself in detention if she goes to sit by the new girl. Nice! Those are JUST the kind of values I want to instill in my children.

That's just a small example, and I won't name names and go into the whole laundry list here, but I have just been completely underwhelmed with her school at every turn...from communication to parent involvement...from teachers berating students to students just being...nasty middle schoolers. I really wanted to bring her home. This is what Coree wanted 2 weeks into last school year, so I was surprised that she didn't jump at the chance.

What she did want to do, I think is a pretty good compromise. Since the school is set up on an A day/B day schedule...she is now only attending 4 classes on A day and we are doing other subjects at home on B day. It's funny how the classes she chose to keep all had things in common...great teachers, great communication with the parents and subjects she is doing well in...and these are core subjects like language arts, math, PE, etc. The classes she dumped also had things in common...teachers who acted like they would much rather be doing something else (and probably should), LOTS of anxiety and terrible communication with home...and these were supposed to be "fun" electives. Who needs that kind of stress for "fun"? We can do just fine on our own, thank you!

So I now have one half-time home schooler! And Coree is thrilled to be home by herself with Mom. We are going to do lots of fun things! We've ordered a microscope and a unit that could last us the rest of the year exploring all kinds of things with it. There are SO many things to explore here on Okinawa in the science arena...and art? SO much art...Coree is going to be able to explore what she loves. She hopes to do some more work with pastels that Grandma Garrie got her started with on our trip...AND, this will finally give her more time to work on writing her first book. You think I'm joking? Just wait!

I Can Has Bedtime Storiez?

"Tonight, Kids...It's Plausibility through Pleocroism."

Flashback Friday...{Home}school Dayz

The eleven of you that follow this blog have probably noticed through the last year of posts that my kids have been doing GREAT in public school. I am SO happy for them. They have had some fabulous opportunities...especially the high schoolers...in both academics and sports. They've all been making great grades and enjoying new friendships. It has been so thrilling for me to watch their progress as they overcome obstacles and make their own way.

At the same time, I have to let all of you in on some secrets:

(1) I miss them like crazy.

(2) I'm jealous of their teachers.

(3) I wish I could turn back the clock to the good ol' days:



Where we could take a field trip any old time we wanted (thanks to zoo, Sea World and science museum passes).



When science was about digging your hands into owl puke...



or making chocolate that won't melt...



or playing with snakes...



not some boring, pointless project designed to put a check in a "standards" box.


(Troy as Sir Toby Belch)

When they not only had the opportunity to study Shakespeare...but to fall in love with the Bard through reading, watching, and listening to his works...



and then spending a semester preparing and then performing one of his plays.




When PE was more than dodge ball and four square...



it was fencing, or soccer, or gymnastics...or even English riding lessons.



Where I got to experience the joys of first lessons learned...not someone else.




Where education involved our entire family...



and children were able to let their interests drive their research...



not state standards...so that what they learned was a LOVE of learning...



a desire to learn more...and not how to simply regurgitate what was told to them.



For more than ANYTHING else, I want my children to learn that education is pleasurable, and it's life-long...not something to get away from as soon as the state says you don't have to do it anymore.

I hope that they have gotten that message...and that in spite of all the frustrations that can come along with institutional learning at such a young age, that they will be able to enjoy some of the benefits, too...like having other caring adults in their lives to inspire them...and friends to share in the experience.

Conference 09...Journey Home (this time, it's for real!)

We got up bright and early, and this time...



We managed to get off the ground! Woohoo!



For such a busy airport like SFO, we had NO idea they had such wimpy weather standards. Apparently, if someone turns up their sprinklers too high, they have to start canceling flights.



But we made it...



With plenty of time for Jake to gawk at our ride.



Pretty sweet, huh?



I'm not sure whether I like this screen showing us how far we still have yet to go or not.







I guess we can take off in the rain...just not land in it?




OK...so the best part of this flight delay...even BETTER than a bonus day in SLC?



I don't think the flight was even HALF booked...



Which meant LOTS of extra legroom...



See what I mean?



We got fed twice, by the way. Lunch and dinner. Aren't you jealous?



LOTS of soda and pretzels, too. (Unless you are like me and drinking as little as possible to avoid peeing as much as possible. Just sayin'.)

We flew through Tokyo Narita airport for our connection to Okinawa this time. I wouldn't recommend doing this if at all possible. I intend to avoid it in the future. The domestic terminal looks like something out of the 50's...there is nothing to do...and you have to ride a bus from the gate out to your plane. Weird!



And what did we find upon landing? More rain. Seemed the whole globe was getting a good drenching. It was great to be home, though!

Conference 09...The Journey Home (Sort of)

Get a load of that face!



You guessed it...it was time for us to head home to our regularly scheduled lives.



The trip came to a close way too soon...



At the same time, I was so eager to get back to Troy and Patrick.



We returned the rental car, crossed the street for the terminal...

Checked in our luggage and waited for our flight home.

The End....



Not really! Our flight was not going to be allowed to land in San Francisco because of the bad weather there. They delayed it SO long, that when our connecting flight to Tokyo was boarding...we were still sitting in Salt Lake City waiting to board. We gave up and opted for the hotel voucher. They put us up at the Airport Residence Inn, since we had to be back at the airport at 6 AM the next day. What ever would we do with another day in Salt Lake City?



Take a party Suburban into the city...that's what!!!



Do you think maybe Coree had something to do with this? She just might have!

Our first stop....here:



Where we promptly went to get some lunch, here:



Which was even yummier than these pics, here:















Then, since we still had room in our carryons, we spent a significant amount of time, here:

(What I failed to get was a pic of my favorite stop, Sur La Table, which you can visualize on the lower left of Barnes and Noble. If you look really hard, you can see some of the goodies in the window. I almost left with a delicious lasagna pan...but I had a premonition of it breaking on the plane, so I abstained.)



After some Tomfoolery in the fountain, we headed here:

And turned the kids loose on the new iMacs while Cliff and I played with the iPhones.















Ummm...we're so proud.



By now we were getting hungry again, so of course we stopped at Ben and Jerry's.

We were running out of ideas by now...when I remembered Coree was supposed to be thinking about getting her ears pierced on this trip. (In Japan, they do it at Dr's offices out in town. I wasn't eager for an ear-piercing Dr. visit.) She admitted to not actually having thought about it at all. I encouraged her to try again, since maybe we were delayed for just such an occasion as this. We took her into Claire's...just to "talk" about it with the technician. She knew her stuff and had Coree sweet talked into her lair in no time!

And it went a little something like this:























Coree was SO thrilled...I knew she would be once she got past the fear of the pain.

It was a pretty sweet bonus day, I must say that. Sometimes in life, we are thrown curve balls that are SO much better than plan "A"!