School Archives - Page 4 of 7

Aloha Friday: School Time

September 7, 2012 TechyDad Aloha Friday, JSL, NHL, School

This was the first week of school for NHL and JSL. NHL is now in the fourth grade. After a very rough second grade and some moments in the third grade that made us want to break down and cry, we’ve got some hope that this year might improve.

JSL, meanwhile, is now starting kindergarten in the same building as NHL. The transition hasn’t been easy. He’s embarking on a brand new adventure, but he is scared of the change. Drop offs have been filled with tears (both his and B’s). Still, once he gets into the groove, I know he’ll have a blast.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: How have your kids taken to the start of the school year?

P.S. If you haven’t already, try out my Twitter applications: FollowerHQ and Rout.

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #155

Faith in Humanity

June 25, 2012 TechyDad Bullies, Internet, School

Last week news broke of a horrible situation. Some teens on a bus apparently thought that it would be fun to harass a bus monitor, a senior citizen named Karen H Klein. They called her fat, poor and a bunch of other mean, and hurtful things. While they were doing this, one recorded the entire event and uploaded it to Facebook to mock the bus monitor even more.

This could have been just another in the long list of horrible bully stories that you hear of which results in a lot of anguish but nothing substantial. Or, even worse, it could have stayed hidden with the bullies getting nothing to dissuade them from bullying again and with the bullied feeling like they were alone in the world.

It could have been, but then a man by the name of Max Sidorov intervened. First, he noticed the video on Facebook and decided that the whole world needed to see this. So he reposted the video on YouTube. Here’s the video, if you can watch the whole thing. Personally, I was only able to make it about a minute in.

Secondly, he decided that Karen deserved a vacation. He opened a fundraiser on Indiegogo. His goal was to hit $5,000 in about 30 days. As I’m writing this (on Sunday night), there are 26 days to go and the fundraiser is at $641,196. No, there isn’t a missing decimal point. They have raised over SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND dollars for Karen. This isn’t just "take a vacation" money or even ""take a really nice vacation" money. This is "retire and never have to deal with these horrid teens ever again" money.

There were (as of this writing), 29,606 contributors. That’s almost thirty thousand people who gave over $20 each because Karen’s story touched them and they wanted to throw some support behind her. Beyond that, there was a groundswell of emotional support as well. I haven’t seen any comments saying "Oh this lady’s so old and fat, she deserved it." I haven’t seen any comments saying "Meh, kids will be kids. This is just part of kids growing up. Ignore it any it’ll go away." Instead, I’ve seen questions asking how the kids could be so cruel, asking how the kids could be allowed to do this, asking why didn’t anyone intervene, and asking what role do the parents have in this. Emotional support was thrown behind Karen big time.

This overwhelming support shows that there *are* people out there who care. There *are* people out there who will see bullying happen and will say "this is wrong." It sends a clear message to bullyings that their activities will be exposed and will *NOT* be tolerated.

Moreover, I was impressed by Karen’s response to the kids who were bullying them. During the bullying, she could have lost her temper. She could have yelled, screamed, and threatened the boys. She didn’t, though. She kept her cool and stayed calm. Yes, she cried, but so would most people subjected to such emotional torture. (It didn’t help that they said she was so ugly that her family probably killed themselves… when her son killed himself when he was ten. The kids hit a big emotional trigger there, purely by mistake but still in a malicious manner.)

Instead of screaming, Karen took the abuse and tried to respond calmly. She showed more grace and restraint than those teens deserved. She took the high road and rose higher than those teens could ever hope to soar. Not unless they have some serious attitude adjustments.

When I hear about these bullying incidents, the bullies make me sad for humanity. Especially the "mob bullies" who band together to take on a victim but would be too scared to do anything by themselves. However, Karen’s reactions and the legions of people who came to her defense once the video was posted leave me with renewed faith in humanity. Perhaps we can band together and defeat bullying after all.

The Power of Teachers: A Hope For A Great Third Grade

September 6, 2011 TechyDad NHL, School

Last year was a rough year for NHL. We struggled through most of the year trying to find some way for him to fit into the class’ structure. Nothing we came up with worked. (Or rather, should I say, nothing we suggested was fully implemented to give it a chance to work.) A bullying incident was the final straw and NHL was moved to another school.

Luckily, the bullying was a blessing in disguise as this new school and NHL took to each other instantly. The administrators and teachers knew just how to handle NHL to keep him interested and engaged and NHL loved school again. He even cried when school ended because he didn’t want to stop learning.

As the school year starts up again, NHL didn’t cry about going back to school. He was nervous, to be sure, but they were normal going-back-to-school nerves and not a desire to stay away from the school itself. He’s actually excited to go into the third grade. (Side Note: How did I become the parent of a third grader? Wasn’t he just a baby? I think I need to go over my old physics equations to find out why if Relativity can prove that time speeds up a child’s aging process. Side Side Note: Must find a way to keep JSL four.)

Thinking back, I recall my transition from the second grade to the third grade. I had an awful second grade. My teacher, Mrs. D, hated kids, especially didn’t like boys and despised me. She would make fun of me in front of the class, give me “special work” to do every night (the same assignment which she wouldn’t grade – my mother made me hand in the same paper every day and she never caught on), told me I’d never succeed in life, and generally made my life miserable. I remembered going to the in-classroom bathroom just to escape her for a few minutes. I also remember actually being happy that I got the chicken pox because it meant I didn’t need to see Mrs. D for awhile. Yes, itchy scabs all over my body were preferable to Mrs. D.

Obviously, I wasn’t sure about the third grade. If Mrs. D was any indication of which way school was headed, I was going to be miserable for a long time. Then, I met Mrs. S. Where Mrs. D was mean and hated kids/me, Mrs. S was nice and loved kids. This year we happened to have reading tests to place us into reading groups. Mrs. S noticed that I got a good score on the “normal reading group” test. She wanted me to take the advanced reading group’s test. At her urging, I did and wound up doing well on that one. So I was moved into the advanced reading group.

Advanced reading groups led to advanced level courses and then to AP/College Level courses. Many of my successes in life and desire to learn new things, I trace back to Mrs. S. Had she been a Mrs. D-clone, I would likely have hated school and dropped out at the first opportunity. My life would have certainly gone down a much worse path. This one teacher saw potential in me and did her best to bring it out. She succeeded and, wherever she is, I thank her. I hope that NHL’s third grade teacher can bring the best out of NHL the way Mrs. S was able to with me.

Aloha Friday: Bullying, Reactions and Friendship

May 13, 2011 TechyDad Aloha Friday, Bullies, Friendship, NHL, School

I’ve been itching to write about this for awhile, but wanted to wait while we assessed our options. (Besides, B already wrote about this last week, so I figured it was high time I address it.) On Thursday, April 28th, NHL was punched in the stomach by another student in his 2nd grade class. NHL was sent to the nurse with bruises on his stomach/ribs.

One interesting wrinkle to this story was NHL’s reaction. While in the nurse’s office, he was crying, sad that he had upset the child and had hurt his feelings. NHL blamed himself for the bullying incident even though he had done nothing that warranted a punch in the ribs. He even, over that weekend, listed the child as his friend. Yes, the kid that punched him in the ribs was still a friend to NHL.

As you may recall, I was bullied a lot when I was growing up. One incident in particular happened in middle school At the risk of retelling a story I’ve blogged about before, I only had one person that I considered my friend at the time. That was RH.

The only problem with RH being my friend was that he would stab me in the back. Literally. With a pen. He would bully me for awhile and then would play the victim, claiming that he had heard from a third person that I had said something bad about him. Then we would be friends again until he decided to bully me again.

Why did I keep taking him back as a friend when he kept bullying me? Simple. I felt like I had no other friends. If I admitted to myself that RH wasn’t my friend, I was left friendless. At the time, a horrible friend seemed better than no friend at all. It scared me to see this scenario playing out again in NHL’s school.

Then, in a display of good timing, I saw a tweet from @sociallysmart (aka Corinne Gregory) about the covering up of bullying incidents. To summarize the article (which is a must read for all parents), school administrators across the country are turning a blind eye to bullying because it makes them look bad if they admit there is a problem. Of course, this is a case of short term gain-long term loss. What the school administrators gain in the short term (saving face and avoiding bad PR), the kids lose in the long term (higher incidence of bullying with little to no consequences).

The only solution is for parents to know their (and their children’s) rights and stand up for them. It might be tough to do at times, but it is essential for our children’s well being.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Have you or your child ever been bullied by someone you/they considered a friend? How did you/they react?

Also, don’t forget to enter my Aerobie Sprint Flying Ring giveaway. It’s ending in four days and has a very low amount of entries (as I write this).

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the McLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #87

Summer’s Last Hurrah and First Day of School

September 7, 2010 TechyDad JSL, NHL, School

This past weekend, B’s family members were in town to celebrate her grandmother’s 85th birthday. My boys love seeing Mimi and all of B’s family. Especially Cousin’s S and B. NHL seems particularly enamored with Baby B, wanting to see him, hold him and talk to him all the time.

JSL and Cousin S seemed joined at the hip so many times. They would hold hands while walking, even throwing temper tantrums if they couldn’t.

On Saturday, we headed to Aunt S and Uncle M’s house on by the lake. We tried to go for a boat ride but had to hightail it back to shore when it started to rain.

Of course, once we got everyone off the boat and the cover on, the clouds parted and the sun came out! We stayed indoors for a bit but then decided that it was time for Plan B. We got the kids in their swimsuits so we could head for the beach. Wouldn’t you know it, it began to rain again! Not to be daunted, we decided that the kids and I (the only adult in his swimsuit) should play in the rain. JSL was hesitant at first, but then got the idea that I was actually permitting him to get wet and step in puddles!

This didn’t last long, though, as the rain soon ended. You can see JSL wondering where the wonderful rain went.

We then headed to the beach for some sand fun time.

Then, we decided to head to the pool. This didn’t go over well with JSL who wanted to play in the sand more. He threw a temper tantrum and refused to go into the pool. Opting, instead, to sit on the side with B. NHL did a good job of walking through the shallow end while I carried Cousin S through the pool.

Might I add that B has turned into quite the photo-bug. She even took a few “artsy” shots like this one of our pool/beach items on the pool chairs.

After drying off and changing back into clothes, it was time for wind down time, dinner and fun with family.

The next day, we stopped by a new supermarket with B’s brother and his family. Then, we headed back to the lake. This time, our boat trip wasn’t interrupted by rain. You can see B’s post for photos, but I’ll just add two that she neglected to post of her showing how much she appreciated my constant photo-taking.

I love you too, B! 😉

The rest of the day was spent with family, playing games and enjoying the company of family.

Monday morning, I let B sleep in (or at least lay in bed for a few hours) when JSL woke up early. Then, NHL joined us and we tried our best to be quiet. (Which, with two young boys, is never quiet enough.) Eventually, we got up and headed out to meet one of JSL’s classmates who is new to the area. The boys had a blast playing in the playground, seeing some older kids playing baseball (and retrieving stray balls for them) and just enjoying the great weather. Before we knew it, we have been there 4 hours. After playing, JSL accompanied me for a grocery store run and then we went out for one last dinner out.

This morning, the hard reality hit. Summer vacation is over and school time has arrived.

NHL had his first day of second grade and JSL was going for his first ever day of school – even if it was only 45 minutes of nursury school with mommy by his side. (His first mommy-less day will be tomorrow.) How did my boys get to be so big, so quickly?

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