A Powerful Voice Speaks out

Looks like MR Lamrock had the tables turned on him today .

Immersion cuts hit a sour note with diva

Last Updated: Friday, May 23, 2008 | 2:50 PM AT An international opera star is lending her voice to the fight over early French immersion in New Brunswick.

About 300 students and parents welcomed soprano Measha Brueggergosman into a Grade 5 classroom at the Park Street Elementary School in Fredericton on Friday.

An alumna of the school, Brueggergosman, 30, helped launched a new music program, but her message wasn't just about the arts in education.

"It's quite amazing to be able to come back and sing with these kids and know, at least for the time being, there's still French immersion here," Brueggergosman said.

Brueggergosman went through the French immersion program, which is slated to be eliminated in September, at Park Street Elementary School.

French immersion and music are the two elements of her early education that shaped who she is today, said the singer.

Brueggergosman was at the school promoting a new "music in math" program that is meant to help engage students engage with learning through the arts.

The cross-subject instruction keeps students engaged, said Education Minister Kelly Lamrock.

"What you're seeing today is that you can use music and art to create a more engaging classroom that's also teaching math skill, literary skills, so the kids are far more engaged than sitting still in a chair," Lamrock said.

Pushed back to Grade 5

The new program comes as part of the province's efforts to inject more resources into music, art and physical education. The lengthened class times that will be provided to the subjects come partly because of the province's elimination of its early French immersion program.

Beginning in September, parents will no longer be able to register their children into the early French immersion program in English schools. The core French program, which required all students to take French as a mandatory single class subject, has also been pushed back until Grade 5.

Brueggergosman applauded the program but said it shouldn't come at the expense of teaching children a second language.

"If you can add arts programs and know that's an effective way to teach children, it's a no-brainer that early immersion shouldn't be cut," Brueggergosman said.

Parents shouldn't give up on their fight to keep the French immersion program in New Brunswick's English schools, Brueggergosman said.

"It doesn't need to be cut, and the people who have the power are the voters, and they need to take that power back," Brueggergosman said.

This about sums it up.

Lamrock misleading public on immersion

I am so frustrated at the continued misinformation spread by Education Minister Kelly Lamrock.

It is clear that while he is very articulate in arguing his case, he is clearly misleading the public and resorting to divisive arguments to support his misguided changes to the anglophone system.

Why do I say this? There are three reasons.

He is arguing his changes to French second-language programming will provide universal access and help 70 per cent of children become bilingual. The problem: His stated goal for those 70 per cent is Intermediate, which will not get students any bilingual-designated job in this province. He's done away with the one program where over 70 per cent of graduates attain an Intermediate Plus or Advanced level of proficiency.

So much for self-sufficiency. All our brightest students will go elsewhere, as they won't be able to get a job in New Brunswick.

He blames early French immersion for streaming, and streaming for lower-than-the-national-average literacy scores.

Guess what? The Education Department's own data and the Croll-Lee report both show that comparing scores between EFI and non-EFI students in elementary school reveals no differences. Their numbers show the streaming effect is a lot worse with late French immersion - the program that Lamrock is keeping.

And the worst thing? No child will learn French before the age of 10, if they are in the anglophone school system. So much for rapprochement between anglophone and francophone New Brunswickers.

My three children will be incapable of comprehending their francophone friends in the language of their choice. Lamrock is systematically dismantling bilingualism in our province, but he is too polished for most people to realize it.

And our Liberal government supports him, without really understanding what they are supporting.

Peta Fussell

Fredericton

International adoption

I thought I'd take a minute to highlight a friend's blog.  Jeff and I went to school with Chris and Tammy and I worked for Tammy for a couple of years.  They are in the midst of their second adoption from China.  Here's their blog.  http://www.themackinnons.blogspot.com/

3 adults, 3 kids, a bbq and one meal= a happy mom

Recently I posted about Hannah over coming her fear of riding a bike.  For us this is huge and very exciting.  It's been many years in the making.

This weekend, Parker overcame a hurdle.  For the past 4-5 years, he has been adamantly opposed to eating any meat other than breaded chicken.  I think it was a texture thing for him.   This makes mealtime very challenging and as a result, he eats a lot of peanut butter.   Recently he heard somewhere, either school or tv, that bacon actually tastes good.  So on Satuday, he and Hannah tried bacon for the first time.  Weird kids, I know.  But they liked it.  Later in the day, we were at the market and Jeff bought some beef jerkey.  Parker tried that too.  He liked it.  So Monday night we had our weekly supper guest, Geoff.   Steak and pork chops were barbequed and Geoff convinced Parker to try some steak.  Again, he liked it.  Amazing.  He actually sat and ate his entire supper without a fight.   He also had some pork which triggered Lydia eating it as well.  3 adults, 3 kids and one meal= one happy momma.   We celebrated with no name  oreos.  BBQ season may just have gotten more expensive though.



Parker trying bacon for the first time.



Yay, Lydia knows the proper way to eat an Oreo.

A Miracle from Burma- Thank You God

Last week I wrote about our friends from Burma  http://blog.canadianparents.com/sarahnb/2008/05/11/burmese-cyclone/  as did my brother  http://occasionallywright.typepad.com/

My mom just called and said everyone is safe.  They received an email and no one was injured or lost.  An amazing story it is.  In Rangoon, you pay your rent a year in advance.  the rental agreement expired at midnight the day before the cyclone hit.  So the day of the cyclone, they were moved into a new apartment.  The old building was demolished and not a single tenant in the new building was killled.  Everyone was safe.

I am so happy for Ruth and Aung that their family is safe and sound.  The last we had heard, it would be 3-4 weeks before a brother in Malaysia would be able to get information.  Thank You God for keeping this family safe.

NB Parents Request Judicial Review of FSL Changes

New Brunswick Parents Request Judicial Review of FSL Changes
 
Legal papers were filed today in the Court of Queen’s Bench in Saint John seeking a judicial review of changes made to French Second Language programs following the March 14th, announcement of Education Minister Kelly Lamrock. Concerned parents across the Province have joined together and retained Fredericton lawyer, Thomas Christie, after it became clear that the Government was not willing to postpone the changes to FSL education to allow for a proper consultative process with all stakeholders.
“At no time in the FSL Commission’s process was it clear that Early French Immersion was on the chopping block,” says Tim Jackson, one of the group organizers leading the Judicial Review. “Minister Lamrock gave New Brunswickers only two weeks, one of those being March break, to look at the report and its recommendations before he implemented them fully. This is not even close to the kind of consultation period required to determine if such sweeping changes are appropriate.”
The FSL Commission Report, authored by Dr. James Croll and Mrs. Patricia Lee, neither of whom are experts in second language education, was made public on February 29th. This report has been widely criticized for its shoddy analysis of Department of Education data, the lack of statistical support for its own recommendations and bias in the report’s language. The recommendations of the report were fully implemented by the Minister on March 14th.
In addition to claiming the process has been flawed, the group makes particular note of the Minister’s commitment that disruption to children currently in the public education system would be minimized as these changes are rolled out. From what they have seen and experienced disruption to families is being felt on a number of fronts, particularly for parents of kindergarteners who were registered to enter Grade 1 French Immersion in September 2008. Examples of how these parents have been affected by this policy change are varied but include:
Their kindergarteners being forced to change schools in the 2008-2009 school year,
Siblings who will be split between different schools, and
Kindergarteners who might otherwise have qualified for enrollment in District 1 but have now missed the “francisation” program enabling them to start grade 1 in French.
Paula Small, just one of many parents with a Kindergartener registered for EFI for the 2008-2009 school year, provided an affidavit with the application for Judicial Review. “On January 21st, as requested by School District 8, I registered my daughter for EFI. On February 4th I attended an District-hosted information session on the program outlining the positive benefits of the program and its results, and a mere twenty-five days later, with almost no notice, the Minister of Education eliminated an established program which was more than three decades in the making. I was shocked. Aside from highlighting poor communication and governance processes between the Minister’s policy setting body and the District’s registration process for 2008, the rapidity of this policy implementation displays a complete disregard for a large number of citizens of this province.” stated Mrs. Small. “According to the Department of Education, parents are considered ‘partners’ in the education system. We feel that the government has effectively shut one of their major partners out of this process.”
Patrick Ryan, who recently returned to the province with his young family, also provided an affidavit with the application. "Our expectation, moving home to New Brunswick last year, was that both our children would have the opportunity to participate in Early French Immersion.  What concerns us most is the limited consultation and the lack of transparency for such an extreme upheaval to our province's education system.”
“If neither the Minister nor our Government is going to provide New Brunswickers with due process, then we will demand it,” says Jackson. “French Second Language education is too important to New Brunswickers, culturally and economically for it to be trifled with. We would rather have had an honest and informed debate on how FSL programs should be delivered than be backed into taking legal action to getting one.”
 
The group has established a Fund for donations to offset legal costs of the case. Donations and more information can be found at www.educationnb.org.

It's about time....

that our paper published the other side of the EFI debate.  The comments can be read on the Telegraph Journal site.  http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/article/293282

Citizens for Educational Choice
Commentary

Citizens for Educational Choice is an umbrella group for a number of local coalitions that have formed across the province since the government initiated drastic changes in the education system on March 14, 2008. Over the past month, CEC has studied the changes and their likely outcomes. The following is the other side of the story associated with five key issues raised by the government.

File

Katie Evans, Levi Ellingwood, Nick LeBlanc, Nathan Johnson and Andrew Mott work on computers at the Saint John High School media centre. Parents concerned about recent changes to the education system argue the government is moving too quickly - and mistaking the symptoms of bad management for the causes of poor student performance.

Streaming

The government has declared the 'streaming' effect that early French immersion has on core classrooms as the main reason for their changes. They believe that class composition issues are created because the EFI program is naturally biased in its intake of students, yet they have ignored the root causes of these issues. In fact, they are easy explained and point clearly to mismanagement of the EFI program.

The government says that because children from higher socioeconomic groups are more likely to be found in the EFI program, it is a program for "elites." Yet in New Brunswick, as with any province, the average per capita income in urban centres is close to 40 per cent higher than in rural areas. The Department of Education provides the majority of EFI programming in urban areas. This socioeconomic difference is therefore not a result of the EFI program, it is simply a reality based on how and where the Department of Education has offered the program.

The government also blames EFI for the fact that of the 17 per cent of anglophone sector students on special education plans only 7 per cent are in EFI. Again, we simply need to look at where the resources for these children are found to see why this occurs.

The vast majority of funding for exceptional learners is funnelled into the core program. In the 2006-7 school year, after examining hundreds of applications, the Joint Committee on Classroom Composition awarded grants totaling $1,060,800 to English core program classes and just $4,080 to French immersion classes. Obviously, the core program is where these children are placed to get the support they need - it is unavailable in EFI. This has nothing to do with the EFI program itself and everything to do with resource management.

For years, the Department of Education has directed exceptional students and resources specific to them into the core program, and now the government is blaming EFI for a streaming problem that they themselves created. Studies have been calling for increasing inclusiveness in EFI for years. Based on these figures, it appears that the government has not even tried to do this. Without trying something, it's hard to credibly conclude that it won't work.

Unfortunately, the Minister says he cannot correct this disparity due to a lack of bilingual learning specialists to support the immersion program. "They simply don't exist," he claims. But why would bilingual B.Ed. graduates preparing for positions in New Brunswick specialize in the teaching of exceptional students when, for years, the government has failed to hire them?

Again, mismanagement has turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

We simply need to focus on encouraging bilingual education graduates to become exceptional student specialists. Given that roughly half of all UNB B.Ed. grads are bilingual, we could very quickly be populating EFI with the resources that exceptional students need. This would eliminate one root cause of the imbalanced distribution of exceptional students within the system, and would give children of all abilities an equal opportunity to benefit from early second language training.

Access to early immersion

"The fact is that, today, 60 per cent of the children in New Brunswick do not have access to early immersion." Premier Shawn Graham made this statement, and it is recorded in the Hansard transcript of legislative proceedings for April 3, 2008.

This is simply wrong. The most recent publicly available data required to calculate level of access (2004-05) showed 57.3 per cent of Grade 2 students attended a school with early immersion. Obviously, any child attending a school offering EFI has access to the program. Additionally, in areas with multiple elementary schools, students can choose to enrol in a school that offers EFI rather than the school to which they usually would be assigned if they were entering the core program. Statistically, 20.8 per cent of all children in this situation attend core schools but have access to EFI. Thus, we see that 78.1 per cent of all children have access to EFI. The government needs to remember that not choosing a program does not mean lack of access.

Math, science and literacy

Critical to the government's plan is the promise that under their new system, math, acience and literacy scores will improve. They claim this is due to the fact that classrooms will now contain the "peer leaders" that were previously in the EFI program. However, this claim is not supported by test results in New Brunswick.

In the francophone school system, where there is no immersion and therefore no "streaming", PISA test scores are consistently lower than in the anglophone system. Furthermore, the superior performance of early French immersion students on PISA testing noted throughout the country is only partially explained by socioeconomic and other factors (Allen 2004), suggesting that something else about early second language training enhances performance. Researchers Black (1993) and Bialystok (2001), among others, concluded that second language instruction improves all aspects of a student's academic performance, from creativity to critical thinking.

Although there are no meaningful achievement differences between EFI and core children in grades 2 or 4 (see the data in the recent Croll and Lee report), these differences do appear in later years. This raises the question: if the cognitive stimulation available to children in EFI is lost, where will the strong "peer influence" the government is banking on to improve overall scores in later years come from?

The "new" programming

There is no doubt core French has not worked well in developing bilingual graduates and intensive French has provided students in Grade 5 pilot programs with proficiencies not witnessed in the core program. However, our goal is to produce bilingual graduates.

The intensive French pilot initiated in the province several years ago has yet to graduate any students, so predictions surrounding the long-term success of the program are speculative at best. For the government to even consider a complete rollout of a program that has yet to complete a pilot phase is irresponsible. It is such reckless and rapid shifts in curriculum that have been identified in reports such as the Scraba report (2002) as the major cause for the failings in our system.

Other factors also put the government's 70 per cent intermediate proficiency goal in serious doubt. The post-intensive program in Middle School offers exactly the same amount of French exposure as the old core French program, which the government claims produces proficiency in less than one per cent of graduates.

Also, one of the Croll and Lee report recommendations states, "after Grade 10, students who have chosen to study through late immersion will not be required to study their science and mathematics courses in French and that schools shall have the option of offering science and mathematics courses for late immersion students in either French or English between grades 6 through 10." This suggests massive variation among schools in what late immersion will mean, with students having different opportunities to learn in French depending on where they live. Is this the "universal" French second language program the government claims to be creating?

Cultural and economic implications

Culturally, it took incredible vision years ago for provincial leaders to understand that for anglophone and francophone cultures in our province to live and work together, a respect for each other had to be fostered. Early French immersion has allowed children to not only learn the language but to respect it, along with the culture and the individuals within it. It is the engine that has facilitated our shift toward a truly successful multicultural province.

Economically, the planned changes have already impacted the province negatively. Families are moving to other provinces so their children can enter early immersion next fall. Companies are losing potential employees from out of province who refuse to move where their children will not be able to access early immersion. Immigrants are bypassing the province for other jurisdictions that offer their children an opportunity for early second language education. The unintended consequences of this decision will no doubt be far-reaching, and rarely do so many negative consequences become apparent so soon after a decision has been made.

This government has gone too far too quickly. We appreciate their commitment to improving math, science and literacy outcomes, but none of their changes address the root causes of our poor performance in these areas, relative to other Canadian provinces.

The only responsible thing to do at this point is postpone these changes until proper consultation with all stakeholders can take place, offering an opportunity to properly research and implement changes required to improve our education system.

As Canada's only bilingual province, we must be a leader in innovative educational systems that incorporate the best in language instruction as well as math, science and literacy outcomes. The government does not think we can have it all.

We know we can.

Burmese Cyclone

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2008/05/08/burmese-family.html?ref=rss&loomia_si=t0:a16:g2:r3:c0.107069

Burmese immigrant waits for news of family after cyclone

Last Updated: Thursday, May 8, 2008 | 1:38 PM AT CBC News

A man from Burma who immigrated to P.E.I. in 1999 is still waiting to hear if his family has survived the devastating cyclone that hit his home country last weekend.

So far, the official death toll released by the Burmese government is 22,500, with more than 41,000 people missing. With officials still unable to reach some of the hardest hit areas, there are fears up to 100,000 people have died in the disaster.

Aung Lowt, with his wife and three children, are among the longest-term Burmese residents of the Island.

"I couldn't sleep for two days now, and I'm still trying to get in touch with my family," Lowt told CBC News Wednesday.

"I don't know what situation they are facing now. Are they alive or are they dead? I don't know."

Lowt is also frustrated by the actions of the military junta, which has ruled the country, also known as Myanmar, since 1962. He said the government officials are fearful of people from other countries and that is slowing the ability of aid agencies to provide help.

Aid groups and governments around the world are begging the military to allow humanitarian help into the flood-ravaged areas.

The Lowt family are an adopted family for us.  My mom looked after their oldest when they first arrived in Canada.  She and Hannah love to get together.   The kids have adopted my mom as "Nana".   This is a family that is completely devoted to making a wonderful life for their kids.  When they bought their first house, we discovered it was one we had lived in about 15 years previously.  We're thinking of them and their family and praying for them.

Mother's Day reflections

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and for the past few days I have been trying to brace myself.  Ideally, the day would be all about Mom right? 

 My first Mother's Day kind of set the tone for me.  Dh bought me a set of muffin top muffin pans and 2 blank vhs tapes.  I'm not sure why.  I still haven't figured out how to use the VCR and he said the muffin pans were so I could make muffins for Hannah.  She was 2 months at the time.

In the years that followed,  whatever happened on Mother's Day seemed to fluctuate with whatever was going on in the home and I really don't remeber many of them.  I do not like breakfast in bed and nothing would be better than sleeping in but for us it's a hectic morning, getting out the door to church.

The most Memorable Mother's Day ever,  and by far my favourite was four years ago.  Dh was working in another province and I was on my own with the kids for 4 months.  I was feeling most competant because I was able to handle everything on my own and I came to the realization that if anything happened to dh, I would make it.  He had been home the weekend before for a visit and left a willowtree angel for the kids to give me.  Something I had just started to collect.  The best part though was the breakfast in bed.  I know I said I don't like breakfast in bed but this one was special.   Hannah was 7 and Parker was 4.  They made breakfast all by themselves.  A can of Coke, a granola bar and an apple, all served on a pizza pan.  Absolutely perfect.

So I am off to bed and no idea what Mother's Day will be like tomorrow.  I brace myself for the unknown.  Kids could be cranky, getting out the door on time could be disasterous...who knows.  I used to take it personally as an assault on my job as a mother.  I'm past that now though.

And in the end, what goes around comes around.  There's a reason that Mother's Day comes before Father's Day.  :)

Keep on, keeping on - Education Fight in New Brunswick

Some important things will be happening this week in our battle with the Department of education.  I'll write more after they take place.  I borrowed this from an email from a friend.

Why we need to continue the fight.
 
            This fight is winnable however we need more participation. These changes are going to affect the vast majority of students. 
 
The English core students will starting in Sept/08 have NO French language instruction until Grade 5.
The Early French immersion students will have to suffer with a lot less resources. Not all programs within the EFI program have been grandfathered. District 18 have already announced the axing of their summer remedial reading program for French language even though there are still students enrolled in the EFI program. We can expect to hear of more such cuts.
The Early and Late immersion programs will have staffing problems over the next number of years as immersion teachers switch over to the francophone system and the teachers in the lower grades with more seniority began bumping the teachers in the higher grades as each year is fazed out.
Schools are finding it hard now to get French substitute teachers for Immersion students it will become more difficult as fewer new immersion teachers will be coming in the system.
The intensive French model that is being brought forward by Minister Lamrock is not being used as it was designed or is it the same as what was piloted within the school system. The creators of the intensive French model have come out against this decision.
The late French immersion program is now a watered down version of what is currently in place. There will be less instructional time in French as math and science will now be taught in English. With less instructional time in French we can expect lower proficiency scores as a result.
The intensive French program will be very similar to the LFI program as they will include French language arts plus one other subj. (social studies) be taught in French and will be mandatory until grade 12
If you want your child to graduate high school bilingual it will not happen under this new system. The goal of both programs is to attain an intermediate or at best an intermediate plus level. All of the experts in 2nd language instruction that we have talked to concur this goal is overly optimistic. Intermediate plus is considered a threshold level at which “bilingualism” is attainable.
With the changes made to Policy 309 there will be no firm obligation on the districts/schools to maintain any level of French instructional time within the classroom so even the “grandfathered” EFI is not SAFE as it may be watered down as they take teachers away from the immersion programs to teach intensive French

What you can do
Letters to the editor are very affective. They are read by the politicians and considered by political types as a good gauge of public sentiment. Letters must include your Name address telephone number and no more than 250 words in length and can be sent to 'tjletters@telegraphjournal.com'
Letters to your MLA and other party officials especially riding associations. All this info can be found at http://www.nbliberal.ca ask questions that they have to answer in your letters. Ask for a confirmation of receipt
Contact the district  office ask questions on the new programs. Express your displeasure with the changes. There is not much they can do to change a ministerial decision but your displeasure will be sent up the line.
Try and get in for a face to face meeting with your MLA Mondays are constituency days. MLAS are in their local offices every Monday.  
Educate yourself know the facts. Do not just take my word and do not just take what the minister says for fact. Read the Croll Lee report www.gnb.ca/0000/publications/comm/FSL%20Report.pdf Read the analysis of and rebuttal of the Croll Lee report published by the CPF http://www.cpfnb.com/reports/BeyondHysteria.pdf
 

There are many other issues and publications in regard to these changes which would be far too many for me to list here. If you want more info there are a couple of good websites set up with plenty of links to reports etc… the local Saint John site is www.educationnb.org

Ow, Ow, Ow...but it feels good

Our next door neighbor is a bit of an eccentric guy. He's lived in the same house for all but three years of his life. We moved here about 3.5 yrs ago (seems like a lot longer). When we bought our house, we assumed the house next door was vacant. The lawn was overgrown to say the least. Over the years, we've come to know our neighbor. In the summer he always stops on his way home from work to talk to Lydia and her friends, whether we are inside or out. They like to watch the window for him. He comes for holiday dinners as we usually opt to stay home. Each summer, Jeff has mowed a bit more of his yard. First it was the piece between our driveways, then it was his front lawn. The backyard, at full height is between 4 and 5 ft high. We've often discussed what it would take to tackle it. What would be the best way to go about it? We didn't want to be insulting. Jeff volunteers with a youth group and thought he could recruit one of the boys to help....until he younger brothers found out. We got the neighbors OK to do it today while he was at work. So this afternoon we had three extra boys. "J", helped Jeff with the big stuff, "N" seemed to pair up ;) with Hannah, raking and filling bags. "I" and Parker kept Lydia occupied. When we borrowed some gardening tools from another neighbor, he ended up helping for a while. Jeff and I are in agony after pulling out trees, pruning wild rose bushes, raking and mowing. Oh to be kids again. We filled 14 large paper yard waste bags, two compost cans and three garbage cans. There's still some tidying up to do but we ran out of room for branches. Now we'll help keep up the yard next door, a mom had an afternoon off and the kids got to learn about community service.

All worth the aches and pains. And the six pizzas that the kids devoured.

Make a Smilebox postcard

When life hands you lemons....

pour a beer.  A NB pub starts serving beer on the water in the midst of flooding.

http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/front/article/285393

smart little monkey

Lydia is quickly becoming the most independant little girl.  She potty trained within a couple of days.  She'll use the bathroom anywhere.  She's figured out doorknobs, can get the fridge door open, dumps her potty herself, opens the van doors, washes the floor while pouring her own water from a 4 L jug.....

Anyway today was a PD day....again.  Jeff left for work at 7:15 and the kids were all watching tv.  No one had had breakfast.  At 7:40, Lydia climbs up on the bed insisting that I get up.  She's got what looks like yogurt on her face.  Usually when she's finished eating, she puts her dishes in the dishwasher, gets a facecloth and washes her face.  She wants to cuddle and give me kisses.    So I get up to wash her face first.  I ask the kids who got breakfast for her.  No one.  IM Jeff at work.  He didn't.  Lydia has at her little table, a plate (she can't reach the cupboard so it proabably came from the dishwasher) with a hamburger bun, coated with  strawberry cream cheese.  She left the cream cheese out but did put her dirty knife in the sink.  I know she'd start cooking if I'd let her.

Oh and a couple of weeks ago I asked Parker too put dishwasher detergent in the dishwasher.  He used dish soap.  After about 4 cycles, I finally got rid of the bubble.  Lydia knows which one to use though.  She fills the dispenser everytime she sees it empty.  She'll turn it on too.

Flooding

New Brunswick is flooding along the Saint John River.  The legislature is closed due to the flooding so no new news today except this picture.



That would be our esteemed Premier and Minister of Education.

Wooohoo Finally

My oldest child can ride her bike.  Yes she is 11.  Last weekend Hannah finally managed to get both feet on the pedals and go about the length of the driveway.  You might not think this is a huge accomplishment but it is.  Last summer, MIL bought the kids new bikes.  After a couple of attempts, they sat in the shed all year.  When Hannah was about four she took a nasty fall off her bike with training wheels.  She pretty much scalped her knee caps and it took all summer to heal.  It was a long summer of cleaning her wounds after going to the beach..  Since then she has been absolutely petrified to ride a bike.  Hannah is a very smart kid.  She's an excellent debater, fluent in french, top marks in her class.  She loves dance, drama, yoga and golf.  But give her a physical challenge, and she's a different kid.  She doesn't like any sports where balls might come towards her or anything that requires a lot of balance.

So finally she has managed to balance herself on a bike, long enough to pedal.  i think maybe it was the threat of her 2 yr old sister learning to ride that spurred her on.  Or maybe that she would be allowed to ride on her own at the school next door.  By the time middle school starts in Sept, she should be sailing.