Sage The Hair Dresser

A few weeks ago, Sage decided to cut her hair. She actually had a good reason. She didn't want to go to a doctor's appointment so she decided that if she wore a wig the doctor wouldn't recognize her. All of her beautiful, thick curly hair didn't fit into her Cruella Deville wig so she decided to cut her hair around her face to fit into the wig. This picture only shows half the hair that she cut.

Sage Visits South Florida

We had gone down to Lake Worth in south Florida for a visit to Scott's family. His brother, Joel, was in town from Seattle. Sage hadn't seen him in a long time so it was really great for both of them. Ed's daughter, Leigh, came to visit too. We all had fun. We had two mini parties - one with Hazel's friends and the other with her family. Sage loved going to the pool and searching for shells with Joel.

A few more pictures

Dad's 70th Birthday Party

Dad is getting ready for his party


Dad, Brandon and Sage outside of the Tusker House


Michael and David acting brotherly!


Dad, Brandon, Sage, and Mom

Magic Kingdom Day

These are our Magic Kingdom pictures. The greatest part of the day for Brandon was on the Jungle Cruise ride. He was asked to come to the front of the boat and he got to steer the boat the whole time. Though he said he wasn't really steering. I had taken pictures but they all came out lousy. Here's some other pictures from that day.

Our Busy Lives!

February was a very busy month. We began homeschooling on the 9th and it's going great! The only thing I miss is being able to go food shopping without Sage. It is so much harder to bring her with me. Sometimes Scott or my mother will watch her so I can go. It's just something I now have to arrange instead of just being able to go.

We actually took our Spring Break early from the 14th through the 24th. My brother and his family came to visit. It was my father's 70th birthday on the 20th so they came in to have a celebration. David and Regina left Brandon with us for four days while they went off to Jamaica. They had a great time. I'm jealous! Sage and Brandon had so much fun together. Originally Sage would have been in school but now she was able to spend more time with him. We went to Disney a couple of times and to Universal.

My dad's party was at the Tusker House in Animal Kingdom, just like my birthday. This is what he really wanted. The food was absolutely incredible! We all loved it. It's buffet style, which I know doesn't sound very fancy but the taste of the food makes up for the lack of elegance. My dad was beaming during the entire dinner, especially since he went off his diet and ate all the breads and desserts he wanted. We all had a great time except for Michael. He really tried to have fun but he had the flu. He stayed even though he was suffering. We all felt really bad for him. He was a trooper! He was sick for around 10 days. He was a total mess. Thank God he is better now.

The day after the party, we drove to Scott's mom's house. Scott's brother, Joel, flew in from Seattle and he hadn't seen Sage in 2 years. Sage really loved seeing him. Ed's daughter, Leigh, came over along with a few of Hazel's really close friends that she's known for years. We had a nice little party. The next night some of her family came over. We had another very busy weekend. We only stayed two nights but we had fun. Sage loved going swimming and taking a walk with Joel.

While we were gone, my parents went on their 10 day cruise to celebrate their birthdays. My moms birthday fell out on March 3rd the day before they came back. They had a great time. They're already planning their cruise for next year!

You could see February was a very busy time for us!

Homeschool For Sage

Yes, you read it right! We will be officially withdrawing Sage from her public school next week. There have been so many problems since day 1. My last post explained the PE problems. Here's some of the other ones:

1. Sage's class has 11 boys and 6 girls. 7 of those boys have major discipline problems. The administration should have divided those kids amongst the other Kindergarten classes at the beginning of the year. Lately, the boys are looking up Sage's shirt or stepping on the back of her shoes. The teacher rarely sees them doing it. So what is she doing with her time?

2. Sage's teacher spends most of her time yelling at the kids. She actually wears a microphone to teach. (Their classroom is really small) Why she does this, I'll never know.

3. The curriculum is horrible. Sage comes home with a folder full of worksheets every day. They are using a first grade curriculum in Kindergarten. They don't give the kids enough time to catch on to a concept before moving on. They teach to meet the curriculum requirements instead of to the children's needs. It's so sad!

Those three were actually the more minor issues. Yes, it was disappointing to see Sage's Kindergarten year get ruined by poor teaching but I would have kept her there anyway.

Between the PE problem and my next set of problems, we chose to withdraw her.

It all started two weeks ago when I brought Sage to school four minutes late. This was her first time being late. The school just put up a fence surrounding the whole interior of the school grounds so that the only way on campus after the bell rings is through the front office.

We went in, I signed the papers then I wanted to walk Sage through the building to the outdoor walkway. The building is a bit of a maze if you don't know where you are going. The office staff wouldn't let me walk her to the door. I told them I wouldn't go out I just wanted to make sure she knew where to go. They refused to let me. The Assistant Principal, Mrs. Pegram then got involved. She told me that they have Rules and Procedures and I am not allowed to walk her to the door. Of course, I told her how absolutely ridiculous they were being. I would have been back in less than 30 seconds. We had a mini spat than she insisted on walking Sage out. I left furious again. They actually expected a Kindergartner to walk by herself through a building that she has never been in before. Are they insane?

Today was the last straw. This actually happened again. I purposely brought Sage in late today. She had the flu again this week. She was out of school on Wed and Thurs. Her teacher called me Thursday night asking if I would bring Sage in for school pictures. I know that Sage would love to have the group picture so I told her that I'll bring Sage in a little late so we won't have to walk in the cold. It was around 40 degrees out this morning. She suggested I pick Sage up at lunchtime because she was still sick. It turns out that last night was horrible. Every time she fell asleep, she would wake up coughing. She only slept about two hours. I didn't want her to stay until lunch. I wanted to ask the teacher for Sage's work.

We went into the office. I signed Sage in and I signed in as a visitor. The office staff signed my name tag approving me to walk onto campus. As I was leaving another office staff (you know the one who thinks she runs the school) called out to me and said I couldn't go. I told her I'd be right back I just have to talk to Sage's teacher. We were only 20 minutes late to school and the pictures were in 10 minutes so I knew I wasn't interrupting the teacher. I continued walking even though she told me to stop. I heard her contacting the administration. We got to Sage's class and as I was talking to the teacher, Mr. Mabry, the AP arrives and makes a big stink in front of the kids. I continued telling the teacher what I needed to tell her, ignoring him. When I left the class he told me I needed to go to his office. I told him that I know what he has to say and I don't agree with it. A parent should be able to visit their child's classroom whenever they need to. He followed me, and chewed me out along the way, to the front office where I signed out. I guess he figured I was going to his office. I told him it wasn't necessary. I will never agree with that rule. He followed me out to the parking lot where he started yelling at me. I couldn't believe him. I know I was rude but an administrator should never shout at a parent. Now everybody who knows me knows that I rarely lose it, but I went ballistic. I shouted at him and put him in his place. I don't always stand up for myself but let me tell you, I did a really good job. Just to backtrack, when I refused to go to his office (this is before our shouting match) he told me that he will put a restraining order on me if I don't go. In other words, just because I wanted to visit my child's teacher, I am now doing something illegal that needs a restraining order. Do you see that this isn't just some little ridiculous incident? There is something totally wrong with this school if I am not allowed to see what's going on during the day without giving them a 24 hour notice.

One more thing. They actually allow paddling at this school. I signed a waiver refusing it. If a child misbehaves, they are actually sent to the front office to get hit. Isn't that nice. I guess they are so incompetent that they can't handle poor behaviors with hitting the kids. What a bunch of morons!!!!!!

I have talked to some of the moms in my Moms Club who's kids go to other schools in the area. They don't have any of these problems. They go into their kid's classrooms whenever they want. Believe me, I enjoy my free time so I really didn't spend much time at Sage's school. It would be nice to have the access when I wanted it and to be able to volunteer once in a while. I did help a few times but the teacher doesn't need my help anymore. I think I've been outcasted!

I am trying to get her into a Charter school. There are two in the area. I plan to homeschool her until there is an opening or until next year if needed. I just hope I can handle it. I really loved my free time and it was good for Sage to be around kids, even though they weren't very well behaved. She could be such a couch potato. Our day will have to be structured and I will have to find activities for her. Maybe this will give us some quality time that we don't usually get. We spend a lot of time together but we aren't usually doing things together. She plays or watches movie while I do my own stuff. It will be nice to work together. I'll let you know how it goes.

The PE Teacher From Hell

The PE teacher in Sage's school thinks he's in the army and the school is boot camp. He is a militant, arrogant, SOB. He doesn't talk to the kids, he yells at them and humiliates them. He stands around constantly blowing his whistle. He is very old-school and a total redneck. I picture him slugging down beer and chewing tobacco all weekend while sitting on his porch playing with his whistle and imagining new ways of torturing the kids.

Sage missed her first week of school due to the tonsillectomy. She had PE on her first day of school but her class already had it the week before. Her school combined three Kindergarten classes together for PE - I guess because of budget cuts. (Eventually, they were able to add on Art as a Special so now they only combine two classes.) At the beginning he had approximately 55 kids in one class with his two assistants. Since Sage missed the first class, she was put with one of the other classes to learn the rules of PE. This involved a lot of whistle blowing while the kids practiced walking in a straight line and stopping when told. She was really upset because he yelled the entire time and he never explained to her why she wasn't with her own class. The next day I asked him about it and he rudely told me that all the kids have to learn the rules. He talked to me as if I was one of the kids. You had to hear him to see how rude he was to me. I already pegged him as a moron.

As the year progressed, Sage started refusing to go to school on PE days. She would cry hysterically in the morning only on PE days. She even had nightmares about it. In early October, Coach Henry sent home a letter inviting the parents to participate in his class. I took him up on his offer three times. The first time, he didn't seem too happy I was there. The kids had to do a sprinting test. He sat on his rear blowing his whistle the whole time. He totally humiliated and made fun of the kids who forgot his instructions. Remember, these kids are only 5 or 6 years old and never had PE before. I wasn't too impressed.

On the next visit, Scott came with me. Sage just got over having bronchitis and missed her long distance running test. The kids had to run a 1/4 mile. That bastard had the three classes of kids, around 50 kids, watch Sage and two boys run their test. It was hot as hell outside and Sage isn't exactly in great shape. She was so embarrassed. She finished way after the other two kids and everyone was watching her and shouting.

The running had ended and bowling began. Sage actually enjoyed it so I decided not to complain to the administrators.

After Winter break, the running started up again and so did Sage's hysterics each day she had PE. One day I bribed her to go to school by telling her I'd pick her up before PE. I talked to the guidance counselor about this and she was supposed to talk to Sage. She really didn't do anything to help. That week she had PE twice. Once again Sage wouldn't go to school so I told her I would go to her PE class.

When I showed up, I signed in at the office like I'm supposed to. I then went outside to the PE field. When I arrived, the coach was totally pissed off that I was there. He radioed to the office and the assistant principal, Mrs. Pegram showed up. Nobody says anything to me. I continued to participate in his class which really sucked. At the beginning of each class, he has the kids do old fashioned calisthenics. Very military-like. He does not let the kids modify the push-ups. They have to do full body, knees cannot be on the ground. He does some idiotic stomach strengthening exercise that is so bad for their backs. The other stuff he has them do isn't harmful, just senseless, like windmills, jumping jacks, skiing etc. He wastes half the class with this and then makes them run the 1/4 mile. They only had about 20 minutes to spend on the actual lesson of the day.

After the class, I went back to the office to sign-out. The AP was waiting for me. She brought me to the other assistant Principal's office, Mr. Mabry. The two of them chewed me out for being there. They claim that I can't visit the school without a 24 hour notice and they never heard of the letter sent out by coach Henry inviting us to his class. The word had gotten out by the guidance counselor and by the crossing guard (my mistake for talking to her) so they were on alert that I was having problems with coach henry. They had this 24 hour notice idea already set up in their minds to use as a way of getting rid of me. At the meeting I let them know how I felt about coach henry. They, of course, didn't care. They were insisting on having a meeting with Sage, Coach Henry and the two of them without me. They didn't like the fact that Sage was causing problems coming to school. (Like this is all her fault!) I agreed to it at that point because I needed to leave. I was so furious. When I told Scott and my parents, they were all outraged. I wrote a note to them and the principal refusing to allow them to meet with Sage and I wanted a meeting with the principal. Scott and I had our meeting but nothing really came out of it. The principal was going to have one of the PE assistants work with Sage instead of the coach and the guidance counselor was supposed to meet with Sage before PE. She was going to see if the Coach would modify some of the exercises. Of course, Sage will still be in Coach Henry's class so working with the assistant is a bunch of crock. The guidance counselor didn't meet with Sage until 10 minutes before PE. That didn't help us one bit since Sage has her hysterics in the morning before PE. I'll never know if he allowed the modifications since I'm not allowed back in his class.

Thus the problem is unresolved.

Where Have I Been?

I am sorry I've been slacking with my blog lately. I never even wrote about the holidays, which seem long gone now and senseless to write about. So, I will just begin again from now instead of trying to backtrack.

We've just been keeping very busy lately doing the same old stuff. We finally painted Sage's room. It looks awesome! I will post pictures eventually when I finish some other rooms. Scott's is next and then my kitchen/computer area. After, we'll paint the living room, bathroom and hallway. One room down - five to go!

I've been keeping busy with The Moms Club. I enjoy being the VP and the newsletter editor. It is definitely better than Membership VP. I might even continue with it next year. I have met a lot of really great people who keep me very busy. I actually love creating the newsletter. It looked awful before and now it is pretty and professional.

I've also been working-out a lot lately. I'm still a mess with my Crohn's Disease so I get to the gym as much as possible. We have started taking Juice Plus to build up our immune systems. Sage gets sick all the time so I'm hoping this will help her. She get's hers free for three years as long as I buy mine. We'll see if it helps.

I have been spending a lot of time battling with Sage's school. This is a story that needs it's own post so I'll explain it all soon. What A Mess!