Thanks Jeff

In my last post, I forgot to thank my husband for all he's been doing in this crazy busy house.  I could have editted to add a thank you but he deserves his own post.  It wasn't too long ago that I would have passed up all these meetings because it wouldn't have worked for us.  But we have both said that if we don't give this fight, everything we've got, then we've done a dissservice to our kids.

Thank You Jeff for picking up the slack.

MIA

It's been a hectic week and a half and I really need a couple of days to catch up on life.

Last Monday I had a meeting for the Saint John Breastfeeding Alliance, yoga at suppertime and then a Home and School meeting.

Tuesday- playgroup at our Family resource Center and  Citizen's for Educational Choice   What are we?  From our website-  http://www.educationnb.org

"

	What is the CEC?
	Citizens for Educational Choice” or CEC is an umbrella group that supports fundamental choice in the province's educational system and opposes the Liberal government's intention to remove it. Some of us don't want the EFI experience to be taken from NB's children; Some of us are sure that Gr. 5 Intensive French is not right for our children;  Some of us are Francophones concerned about our culture, and immigrants who would like our children to learn a second language. All of us know that the Liberals have turned their backs on the fundamental practices of democracy and have rushed to implement Lamrock's educational experiment. Click here to get the CEC FactBook which lays out the major reasons why we oppose the Lamrock Plan. "

 My son also had beavers Tuesday night instead of Wed.  and since we are a one vehicle family, conflicts in scheduling require some juggling.  They were going on a field trip at a local park so that meant hubby had to take the girls as well.  I also look after two little boys on Tuesdays so it was a very hectic day.

Thursday nights dh is out.  Friday night and Saturday I went to the provincial Home and School AGM.  I sat in on some amazing sessions about community schools,parenting the net generation and learning styles.  The presenter for the learning styles session was great.  He's from PEI and here's a link to the course he's doing for the PEITF http://www.peitf.com/ideas.htm  I'd love to go to a full course.  The little bit that he presented to us on learning styles, was very insightful.

Oh and there was a special guest appearance at noon. Less-than -Honourable Mr Kelly Lamrock.  :P I had a hard time eating with him in the room.  It made me quite nauseous and I almost choked when he said that with his new plan, gifted students will have SEP's.  This infuriates me so much .   Can you get more elite than that?   The current wait for a psycho-educational evaluation in this province is 1-2 yrs.  That's for struggling students who may have learning disabilities.  And we've got room in the system for gifted students as well??

Honestly I think the man dreams up a new plan each night while he's sleeping.  He should be writing them down though because he's constantly contradicting himself.  he told a well spun tale of being on the basketball team in high school and almost cutting his fingers off in shop class.  I mentioned it to someone last night and they laughed.  Basketball??  More like theatre, debate and mock parliment.  New Brunswick needs to exile Doug Willms and Kelly Lamrock to a deserted island.

Anyway.  I took Sunday off  from meetings and Monday night went to PSSC and CEC again Tuesday night.  I think I am good until Sunday when I hope to attend the AGM for CPF.  Joe Dicks and the Official languages Commisioner will be speaking.

For now, I need to catch up on laundry, do a meal plan for the next few weeks, get some cleaning done and figure out what to do with the kids this weekend.  Two days off school again.  No offence to the teachers out there, but union meetings should not take place during school hours.  We've missed enough classtime as it is.

My bottomless pit

I have a bottomless pit.  It's name is Lydia.  Seriously how can this kid eat so much?

Yesterday between 7am and 11am, here's what she ate:

1 large banana, fruit loops, 2 slices of toast, six large stawberries, 1 kiwi, granola bar, 4 mini muffins, yogurt tube, crackers and a sandwich.  She also nursed twice.  I'm hoping this is just a growth spurt.

Just how do you restrict their food intake?  We try to have set meal and snack times.  It's just not working with her.

A gift for the Premier

Pottying on the road

When my oldest was potty training, I was jealous of a friend, Lori R., who had a van.  She looked after 2-3 extras along with her own two.  She kept a potty in the back of her van so that no matter where they were, they had access to toilet facilities.

Now that we have a van and a potty using little girl, I keep the spare potty in the van.  Last weekend dh took Lydia and Parker to vaccum the van of all the winter build up.  As soon as they got there, Lydia had to poop.  No problem.  When they got home, they loaded the van with recycling to drop off,  As soon as they got there, Lydia had to pee.  No problem.  She used it at the park this week and twice today on our way home from my sisters.

I'm really loving the convenience but I need to figure out the best method for disposal.  Pee isn't an issue.  I can just dump it on the grass.  I'm thinking I could get the glad quick covers for bowls if they still make them and then dump when we get home.  At least it's the potty with the deep pot.

NB MLA's get chastised for their behaviour

I'm not sure if this will work.  You may need Real Player. 

http://switchboard.real.com/player/email.html?PV=6.0.12&&title=CBC%20Radio%20%2D%20Information%20Morning%20in%20Moncton&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbc.ca%2Finformationmorningmoncton%2Fmedia%2F200804160003375b.ram

NB MLA's were lectured on proper behaviour in the Legislature.  Actually it sounds exactly like a lecture a teacher would give a 5th grade class.

Juggling

I'm juggling so many things right now I feel like I am ready to explode.

I'm trying to do the seasonal change of clothing.  Got the kids rooms cleaned last week, winter recycling taken care of and the van cleaned out.  now I need to go through their clothing and see what's too small and what's needed.  before I can do that I need to tidy the basement though.

I'm also trying to help with our efforts to save Early immersion, organize a community event and a fundraiser at one of the kids schools.  Add in a bake sale, games night at the church this weekend....  Oh and I haven't touched the book I am supposed to be reading for a group study.  Sewing that needs to get done

My head is spinning.

How do you keep a balance?

Hannah is getting ready to write her second letter to Minister Lamrock.  I hope he's ready for it.  Here's a video of the first EFI rally that we went to where she read her first letter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdzpBmt09m8

Is it FRY- DAY?

(taken with my phone)

About 6 weeks ago, Lydia and I were in the mall on a Thursday to pick up a prescription.  We walked past New York Fries and she stopped, looked up at me and said "Mommy, it Fry-day today?"   I couldn't beleive that she put Friday and Fry-day together.   We talk about the days of the week all the time.  She knows that Sunday we go to church and she sees her teachers Jen and Burt.  On Tuesday, Jeremy and Elijah come and we go to the resource center to see Carolyn.  Wed we go to Jen's and Kate is there.  Thursday we usually go back to the resource center.  Now she has named Friday, Fry-day and if we are out doing errands we usually have a treat of fries.  Today (wednesday) we were driving past McD's and she starts "yay, fryday, fryday."  Poor little girl was disappointed but she did get a sucker from Julie when she got her haircut.

down the crapper

In more ways than one...

The other day on our way to playgroup, I saw this toilet on the sidewalk.  I had my camera with me and thought, Hmmm maybe this would make a good blog post about potty training in the city.  But Lydia has potty trained with ease and there really isn't much to say about it.  Thinking more about this toilet on the sidewalk though, leads me to the political state of our city and province.  Municipal elections are next month.  Once again the prospects are not thrilling and I think it will be more of a process of elimination.  If the mayor is re-elected, we may just pack up and move.

As for provincial politics....that toilet is where I would like to shove the Liberal's new plans for both education and health care.

Kelly Lamrock, minister of education, keeps refering to us as being elite and wealthy because our oldest is in french immersion.  Guess he hasn't checked my bank account.  I keep looking but there aren't any long lost funds popping up.

He's also called us emotional.  He'd better watch out.  Emotions fuel fire.  The more he speaks, the more he adds to the fire and he will get burned.  If not now, at election time.

NB Department of Education

Or maybe not....isn't this political suicide?

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ N.B. turns down ombudsman request for delay in axing French immersion 6 hours ago FREDERICTON — The New Brunswick government is not backing down from its controversial decision to scrap early French immersion, despite a request for a delay from the province's ombudsman. Premier Shawn Graham and Education Minister Kelly Lamrock said Thursday change is urgently needed in the province's school system, where literacy scores are among the lowest in Canada. "The greatest risk of all is accepting a 50 per cent illiteracy rate in New Brunswick and thinking that somehow that won't come back to harm us as a society," Lamrock told reporters. The Liberal government is under fire from critics across New Brunswick and Canada who are condemning the decision to axe early French immersion as a huge gamble in the nation's only officially bilingual province. The New Brunswick government has removed the early immersion option for the coming school year, although children already in the program can continue. An intensive French course will be offered to all English school children beginning in Grade 5, with a French immersion program beginning in Grade 6. New Brunswick ombudsman Bernard Richard announced Thursday that he will investigate the move, which he said could have far-reaching effects on French-English relations in New Brunswick. "I'm personally compelled to look at this issue," said Richard, a prominent Acadian and a former education minister in Frank McKenna's Liberal government. "New Brunswick has seen a sea change in the relationship between the two linguistic communities over the past four decades. I've lived through that. Any change that puts that at risk is a tremendous gamble." Richard said he can only make recommendations to the government, and his first suggestion was a one-year delay in introducing the changes. "That would be the fairest thing to do at this point," he said, noting that his office has received more than 200 complaints about the decision. But Graham shot down that idea in the legislature. "This government is elected to make policy," he said. "This decision will stand for implementation this September." Lamrock, who is bilingual, is staunchly defending his plan to change the school system in New Brunswick, despite protests, countless letters of complaint and even public discord in the ranks of the Liberal party. Only about 20 per cent of school kids in New Brunswick have been able to make use of the early immersion program, which was never offered universally. The remaining 80 per cent of the province's students have ended up in English core classrooms that were overcrowded and ill-equipped to handle the many special needs children with learning disabilities. Lamrock said the arrangement has led to a segregated and streamed system, where a few lucky parents were able to shield their children in early immersion classrooms. He said the changes will give all kids a better chance to learn the fundamentals. "It's Christian and right - if it works for a few, share it with the many." According to Literacy New Brunswick, about 60 per cent of the province's working-age people lack the literacy skills deemed necessary for coping successfully in today's information-based world.

Apr 3- small victory

NB Ombudsman to look into government cancelling early immersion

April 3, 2008 - 7:14 am

By: THE CANADIAN PRESS

FREDERICTON - New Brunswick Ombudsman Bernard Richard says he will investigate the provincial government's decision to eliminate early French immersion in the school system.

Richard says he has received more than 200 complaints about the Liberal government's decision to axe early immersion in favour of an intensive French training program for all students beginning in Grade 5.

Richard says, at the very least, the provincial government should delay implementation of the plan until 2009.

He says the delay would allow for more public discourse on the subject and give parents and students more time to adjust to any changes.

Richard, a former education minister in Frank McKenna's Liberal government, says he believes it's a big gamble to eliminate early immersion, one that could set back English and French relations in Canada's only officially bilingual province.

Richard hopes to have a report ready by June on the issue.

Protesting = Progress?

Maybe.  So last Thursday, hubby took a vacation day and we took the kids to Fredericton to the legislature.  We were there to protest the new education plan for New Brunswick.  Our Minister of Education has decided to eliminated the early immersion program (in the only bilingual province) and implement a new intensive french program in place of core french.  On the drive home we were discussing the day, wondering if our protest, this was our second, had made a difference.  We decided that it would be an injustice to our kids if we just sat back and did nothing.  What would that say to them?  So even if the protest didn't accomplish anything politiaclaly, it would show the kids that we care about them. 

Today, the Telegraph Journal published this article.    http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/front/article/256396#

Grit turning against Grit in language battle

MEGAN O'TOOLE
TELEGRAPH JOURNAL

Published Wednesday April 2nd, 2008

Appeared on page A1

The Tantramar Liberal riding association in Sackville is joining a growing chorus calling for the province to re-examine its decision to axe early French immersion.

The association has passed a motion condemning the province's move and asking Premier Shawn Graham and Education Minister Kelly Lamrock to reconsider.

The organization will be meeting with Lamrock to discuss the matter, possibly as early as next week, confirmed president Janet Fotheringham.

She was tight-lipped about what specific concerns would be brought to the table, but said the meeting would provide a good platform for discussion.

"In Tantramar we're very strongly in favour of French immersion," Fotheringham said Tuesday. "We certainly don't like to see it go. If there's a way out of (this decision), then we'd like to find it."

The Tantramar association is not alone in its lack of support for the Liberal government's changes to the French second language system.

Last week, Bob Bernier of Millbrook, near Sussex, resigned as president of the Kings East Liberal Association, saying the decision on early immersion drastically changed his view of the provincial government.

"I no longer want to be affiliated with a party which will go down in history as the party responsible for the demise of French immersion in the province," Bernier wrote in a statement explaining his decision.

Conrad Pitre, president of the Nigadoo-Chaleur riding association in Beresford, also blasted the move to kill early immersion, calling it unfair.

"We're certainly not satisfied with the decision that was made," Pitre said. "We support total French immersion."

Members of his riding association have broached these concerns with their local MLA, he added.

Since it was announced in the legislature last month, the elimination of early immersion has spurred protests across the province, and complaints have been pouring in to the Ombudsman's office.

Lamrock has refused to back down on the controversial decision, maintaining the current system has been failing students and bogging down literacy rates.

Starting in September, all early French immersion programs in the province will be scrapped. Students will begin an intensive French program in Grade 5, with an option the following year to enter late immersion or post intensive French.

Those currently enrolled in early immersion and core French in Grades 1 through 4, however, will be able to continue in those programs under a grandfather clause.

Why God made Moms

BRILLIANT: Answers given by first grade school children to the following questions!!Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you Your mother & not some other mom?
1. We're related
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms & dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home & dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your Mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my Mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

thanks Emily for sharing this

Hello world!

April 1st, 2008
Wow things have changed a lot in the past month.
I have started listening to CBC radio, reading the news, getting involved in politics, protesting and writing letters.
I have to admit I have never had an interest in any of these things before but there are huge stakes on the line. The education of my children. This is actually keeping me up at night and consuming a good part of my thoughts and daily conversations. What are the issues? Just google New Brunswick, Kelly lamrock and early French Immersion.
I’ll explain more later but I’ve got to go relax before I hit the hay. If you can’t wait for an update, just check out http://educationinnb.wordpress.com/