My Super-Star

The new program at school seems to be working out well for Starling.  She has not had a single incident of other children (or their parents!!!) bullying her about being a bully so far this year.  That darling Ms Cole seems to have really shut down that childishness, and Starling loves the drama club they have started for her.

As a matter of fact, the club is going to be putting on a mini-production of Annie (helpless lil’ girls being rescued by men is such a great model for our kiddos) and guess who is playing the starring role?  Hint: her name has the word “star” in it!

It is definitely not a hard luck life if you are brimming with talent and also have a dog who can perform. Arf!

Reunited…and it feels so good!

Cari and Amber got back last night from Burning Man.  Apparently it is very dusty there so she just tosses all of their clothes into a Goodwill donation box somewhere in Nevada.  Let that mess be the charity’s problem to deal with, and the poors will be the beneficiary of relatively nice clothing (she doesn’t bring anything really valuable to the playa).

She says Burning Man always reminds her about taking care of the earth and valuing our resources.  Such an important message!

Amber and Starling were delighted to be together at school today.  I am afraid this has been a rough week for Starling.  I hope the school can get these other children to stop their bullying her about being a bully!  I don’t know why they have separated her from her best friend.

They couldn’t stop laughing about something Julia wore to school today. She thought it was cute but it was totally ridiculous.

Hummus had a wonderful first day of school I am sure.  He was asleep when I picked him up, he slept straight through the night and was still asleep when we pulled back into the parking lot this morning. I poked him and handed him a toaster pastry.  School time, lil’ buddy! He is wearing his Daniel Tiger underpants today.  Let’s hope they get a little more respect than poor Elmo got yesterday. ;(

 

What Would You Do?

I may have mentioned before that Starling is absolutely brilliant and a wonderful student, but she finds school difficult.  This year has been particularly hard on my lil’ princess.  There were some claims that she was a bully (untrue), a couple or maybe four or five suspensions for bullying and then the inevitable bullying by other students and their parents about Starling being a bully.  That is not right!

She has also been complaining about being bored all year and I have had multiple phone calls with her teachers about what they need to do to challenge Starling more.  She would like more field trips, more high interest enrichment like performing plays about fairies that she writes, dressage instead of gym class, and just more.  The teachers seem uninterested in even discussing our ideas, particularly very late at night when I have my best ideas, and I am feeling frustrated.

This morning Starling told me that she was no longer going to go to school.  She didn’t fight me or anything, just refused to go.  I immediately called that lovely private school in the next town over to see if I could drop her off there (I thought that Röbert and I could figure out the tuition etc. later).  Did you know that you have to apply ahead of time to go to fancy private schools?  Wow.  I just thought you needed to show up with a check.  Also, more expensive than I expected.

Homeschooling is a no go.  I am far too busy with my blog etc. to have time for that.  But what can I do?  Is there a free alternative to school?  Something that is super-convenient for me?

She is far too smart for her public school teachers.