You Is Kind

I snagged the above quote off of Care's blog. It's one of my favorite quotes of all time, though half the time I completey mess it up. Because I'm that special.

Before leaving the house yesterday for Ollie's pre-kindergarten evaluation, I gave myself a lecture:

Don't act crazy. Or neurotic.
Be cool. Just chill.
No matter what, you know Ollie is smart--and has literally come miles, since his last official evaluation 3 years ago at age 3.
And above all, I love Ollie EXACTLY AS IS and would not change a single thing.

I fixed his flannel shirt and skinnies and put some more gel in his hair.
"Perhaps we can distract them with a cute outfit?"

We got to the classroom and Ollie loudly asked "Where is the trash can??!!"

Already I'm thrown off. Finn and Calvin were such timid church mice on their first brush with kindergarten.

They sit Ollie down next to a very compliant little girl and instruct him to cut all the lines with a scissor.

I breath a lil sigh of relief. We are scissor pros.
Been at it since age 3 with OT. Ollie breezed through that part.

Next. "Oliver, we need you to draw a picture of yourself".

Just minutes before I had answered a questionnaire and circled YES, my child can draw a proper self-portrait.

Ollie looked at them and said "No. I can't do that. It's too hard." Gah! Stubborn little thing.

They encouraged him to try and he firmly insisted that "No, this task is indeed too hard."
I'm holding my breath. C'mon Ollie! You can do this!

Finally. After much convincing, they talk him into starting a picture.

Ollie grabs the pencil with this left hand and starts drawing... and says "Oops! I messed up!" and starts over again. He attempts drawing #2 and seconds later says "Oops!"

The teachers look over at me quizzically and I raise my eyebrows and give a sheepish smile. "Oliver you don't need to start over", they kindly encourage. "Just keep going."

Drawing #3 and "Oops!"
Drawing #4 and "Oops!"

By now I'm sweating it out and start to laugh.

"Oliver, try to keep going", they instruct, "You are running out of room on your paper!"

So get this. Ollie turns his paper over and starts his 5th drawing.

By now, I can't stop laughing...or I'll start crying...and the teachers don't know what to do.

"Oops!", says Ollie. Again.

I want to interrupt, "he really does know how to draw a selfie!", but refrain.

Drawing #6. And we finally have a winner.

Phewey. That was quite the ordeal.

Ollie then asks "Can I play now?"

"No, no Oliver", as they whisk him off to part 2 of the evaluation.

I hear his pipsqueak voice chattering nonstop to the teacher, and he keeps asking "Is it time to play yet?" I mean, this is a reasonable question. I played all day in kindergarten. But alas. Times have changed.

Ollie seems to do well on part 2 of this evaluation.

Finally they finish and we are FREE.

I get in the car and look at the time.

We'd been there a total of 20 minutes, peeps.

Just 20 measly minutes!

Mercy me.

How on earth do they expect  Ollie to survive ALL DAY kindergarten, 5 days a week?

I don't know.

I had a gut feeling going into this evaluation that all day kindergarten with almost 30 other kids was not gonna be best for my little Ollie mouse. Especially for a boy that is already on sensory overload with spd(sensory processing disorder).

And I need to go with my gut. It's not official, but I have a feeling that Ollie's little educational trek might look a leetle different than Finny and Calvin's. Still praying and looking into our options...but am 90% decided.

I know there have been a lot of "schooling" posts going around lately and I have nothing really new to add to the discussion. Just HALLELUJAH that we all live in a free country and still get to decide what route to take, be it public, private or homeschool.

As for me, I have gone to public, private and homeschool. Not to sound all politically correct here, but I really think they have all made me more resilient. All types of schooling have their highs and lows.

For example, public elementary school and jr high was great for me in that I worked really hard for my teachers...low points...I was naughty and even threw pb&j sandwiches on the ceiling of the "girl's bathroom" and awkwardly learned how to cuss(Seriously. Kill me. Now.)

I was home schooled for 3rd and 4th grade and got to spend wonderful quality time with my mom, who poured into me and my sisters...but I was a pill for my mom at times. My friends and I who were home schooled together fondly joke "once a homeschooler always a homeschooler", because of all our homey quirky ways. Gotta love it.

Public high school...there has to be something good to say of those 4 years. Hm... I went to a ghetto high school and even had my hair lit on fire with a lighter by some bored gansta wannabe in PE. Thankfully my tall friend swat the fire quickly before any damage ensued. I guess you can say I learned to throw some gangsta signs and toughened up a bit. I had a few good teachers, but mostly I was forced to teach myself. It's a good thing to be able to adapt and learn even in cruddy circumstances.

Private christian university was great with amazing godly teachers who grounded my science education in God's word. But hello. The pastor's son I dated was a joke--he got detained at the border of Mexico for possession of pot and on our 1st date, passed out in a cold sweat. I thought he'd fallen mysteriously ill...turns out he was drunk as a skunk.  But as a bonus, I met John the following semester!

And for graduate school at a CalState University: stellar education where I spent some of my happiest days on earth being a TA under very talented professors...helping teach college kids. But the arrogance and egos of some of the other profs still makes me want to run for the hills.

So there you have it. The good, the bad and the ugly, of my eclectic education. But I survived. Even made me stronger, I like to think. An imperfect education to cope in an imperfect world. I hope my boys will have a good sense of humor with regards to their education, even if their crazy parents screw them up at times.

What is one of your favorite yet imperfect school memories?