into week six

Josh had a really great day today! He got to shot his gun, which was very fun for him. He had no p.t. punishment and got no RIR's. That meant when he got home he got to study for his next big test on Wednesday. yay! It is kind of sad though, since he came home at 5 I have not rested because I've been doing housework and chores. So on top of my 7:30am-3:30pm day, I got to work another four hours. Golly, I need more time to lesson prep! But Josh is doing well.

He and I got to go to visit my family for the first time (together) this weekend since he started the academy and my folks noticed a marked difference. He's chatty! He's friendly! He's more himself than he ever was before. Yup! He sure is. Mom and Dad Y- you'll appreciate this - he doesn't get upset and frustrated with Gi-chan any more! He's patient, kind, caring, and helpful. He cheerfully will get up and fiddle with things or listen to Gi-chans stories. I bet that you've never seen your son do that before!

I have realized, once more today, why my Starbuck's name is really necessary. I gave them my real name and stood there waiting while my order was up under the name of "Flor." right. I am sure that that is not how I pronounce my TWO syllable name. Yeah, I'm going back to Julie. Everyone knows the name Julie.

School today was neat. Really starting to settle in and settle down. I'm getting to know the kids better (both through personal interaction and from starting to read through their cum folders and talk to the school psychologist). Really interesting people! I'm going to start them on Plato's Republic tomorrow. I know that that is supposed to be a really hard college text book ... but I don't think that it is. The point of Plato is that he lays everything out neatly enough that the average man was able to understand it. At least that is what I get when I read him. And my kids could really use some help learning to think things through logically ... especially things like right, wrong, and why it is important to have consideration for your fellow man.

OH, hee hee, and guess what I looked up over the weekend? The California State Standards for the sixth grade. And guess what they specifically state that I am supposed to teach my children? I am supposed to teach them about Judaism - the first monotheistic religion, about their Slavery in Egypt, about their Exodus, about all the important Old Testament figures, (Moses, Naomi, Elijah, etc) and about the prophecies of the Messiah and how those lead to the Christian religion and Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of those prophecies. LOL. I just can't help but laughing at that. Don'cha just love studying those ancient world cultures? I sure do, especially when studying them leads me to know a guy named Jesus who died for the sins of the world. Wow, Jessica really was right in high school - public school really is a government paid witnessing opportunity. Yup, I will follow those State Standards to the letter...

The odd realization, since I've been subbing at this school, has been slowly coming over me that I am really very very educated. I always thought that what I know is just normal and expected and run-of-the-mill because for years I have been surrounded by other people with exactly the same amount (if not more) education than I have. Yeah, that's really not the majority of people. I really am a lot more educated than a lot of the people even at work. Fellow teachers (and the principal) raise their eyebrows in impressed ways when I respond to their question of exactly what do I have my degree in? The school psychologist (a very pretty, kind blond lady who swears that she is about to turn forty but looks late twenties) thinks that my thesis sounds more like a dissertation and wanted to know if I had ever considered studying psychology. And my classroom aids learn from me when they stay in my class ... things that I would have considered common knowledge and expected them to know already. I really do write better than a lot of people, understand more subjects, and have a natural gifting for working with these kids. It is an odd feeling, and not necessarily a pleasant one. I really liked it when I wasn't that different or impressive, and part of me really wants to help everyone else know just as much (and hopefully more) than I do, if for no other reason then I won't stick out when people ask me about my education. Is that so odd? In some ways I spend time trying to look less impressive than I think that I really am ... and when I mess up visibly in front of others I'm happy because maybe they won't think so much of me in the future and they know that I know that I'm not perfect and that I don't think I'm all that. It's just odd. I think that I understand why Dad Y. doesn't insist on people calling him doctor, even though he has a doctorate. Mom and Dad B. don't really stick out as much though, because all their co-workers are doctors too, so maybe it's not so bad for them.

In P.E. today I played basketball for a while with the boys ... in my black pin-striped suit. I really need to remember to bring different clothes for that! Some of the other boys were hanging out at the picnic tables not playing, so I talked to them as well and they were doing magic tricks. The trick is that you ask a person three questions. After every question you ask you write down the answer "psychically" knowing what they are going to say, and then after you write down the answer, crumble it in a ball, and hand to the person answering for them to hold, they say their answer to the question and then you write that down on a different piece of paper left on the table, face up, to be compared with the other answers at the end of the questioning. I figured out the trick to it. Here's how you do it

1. Ask question. Ex: What is your favorite animal? But write down a probably answer for the last question you are going to write, say, black, and give it to them to hold.
2. Find out their answer to the first question, say dog, and write that down on the paper that everyone can see.
3. Ask the second question. Ex: Where do you like to go for vacations? Write down their answer to the first question, dog, and give it to them to hold.
4. Find out their answer to the second question, say the mountains, write that down on the piece of paper that everyone is able to see.
5. Ask them the last question. Ex: What is your favorite color? Since they are already holding the that you guessed to that, black, write down the answer to their last question, the mountains, and give it to them to hold. They now have three papers in their hands reading, "Black" "Dog" "The mountains" and two of these are for sure the correct answer.
6. Get their final answer from them, say green, and tell them that you bet you got at least two of the answers correct.
7. Have them unroll the papers from their hands and "match" them up to the others answers and see them start to get freaked out that you were able to "guess" so much about them.

After they did it to me, and I figured out what they were doing (only the kid doing it, my "husband" knew how to do it) I said that I knew how to do it too. He didn't think that I knew, so I proved it to him. Only I had a really lucky guess on the other kid's answer and so I ended up getting all three answers right. They were all really impressed, especially because I got all three right instead of just two like the other kid did. They asked how I did it ... I told them that there is a trick to it and that I'm also just good at guessing. (But if someone asked you what your favorite animal was, nine out of ten times you'll say "dog" so I guess that I'm not really lucky, but I know what popular animals in our culture are). Yeah, it was fun seeing them get a little freaked out, and the kid who knew the trick was really impressed that I figured it out.