Gun Scare

Today my daughter's school campus had a lockdown. Apparently one of the students had a gun and was making threats on the school. Another student called the police. We still don't know all the details.

For two hours my daughter had to hide in a darkened portable classroom without moving or making a sound, while SWAT teams swarmed between the buildings, checking doors and searching for this rogue student.

I passed the school on my way home and saw several cop cars out front. My first thought was "There's a gunman on the school campus!". It's depressing to think of how common this occurrence has become. It seems like every other week there is a school shooting. Thankfully, I had finally bought my daughter a cell phone for her birthday and she takes it to school with her. We texted each other every five minutes or so, keeping each other calm, until the students were evacuated.

I am not going to get into a debate about whether or not people need to own guns, but I don't like them. And I have no patience for people who allow their children to have access to them.

I think the bigger issue is mental health. Parents need to pay more attention to their children and their children's friends. Teachers need to be more watchful of distress signals in their students. We all need to get to know our neighbors.

In a perfect world, right?

Stay safe.

School Clubs

Today my daughter's high school had a club fair. That's where any student who wants to start a club sets up a table and pitches their ideas. Originally, she had planned to create a movie discussion group, where students would get together and watch movies and discuss the plot and characters, maybe write reviews for fun. She changed her mind and backed out at the last minute, but my husband decided to create one of his own! Cool school, eh?

He's a music fanatic and always wanted to teach History of Pop Music, so he is inviting students to join him for an hour a week to sit around and listen to different styles of music and discover what influenced their favorite music of today.

He was unsure if people would even sign up, but at the end of the day he got twenty participants!

Since my daughter decided not to run a club this year, I have invited her to create a new blog with me. It will be a mother/daughter movie review site. We both love movies and we love discussing them, so I think it will be fun. I will post a link soon!

The biggest surprise is that my daughter ended up joining two other groups: Concert Club (a performance group for aspiring musicians) and California Scholarship Federation (a group that helps students earn college scholarships). I am so proud of my girl. I'm always reciting one of my favorite Jamie Lee Curtis lines (from the Freaky Friday remake) to her, "Make good choices!", and she's doing it. Yay!

High School Has Begun

My daughter survived her first week of high school. Yeah! Actually, half the week was just orientation. On Thursday and Friday the kids started their new schedule.

They alternate classes each day. Three classes on one and three on the other. Friday is a check in day with their "mentors" and to catch up on assignments. Each class is 90 minutes, which gives plenty of time to learn a lesson and start an assignment, as well as meet with the teacher if having trouble.

I wish my school had been like this. I keep telling my daughter how lucky she is. All the teachers in her school are truly excited about their jobs and about helping kids. I remember a lot of teachers in my own school acted like they didn't want to be there. "Just read chapter three and answer the questions in the back. Blah-blah-blah."

Some people don't like charter schools, but I think they are good for giving regular public schools a much needed wake-up call. Already another local high school has adopted this same block scheduling. I think it's brilliant. It's less stress for both the students AND the teachers. Gone is the monotony of having the same boring schedule every day and you have a chance to finish homework before you get home. No child needs to face hours of work after spending all day working.

Music Education

Music is a major part of my household. We are all musicians. I sing, my husband plays guitar and sings, and our daughter plays drums, piano and now ukulele. She just picked it up one day a few weeks ago and hasn't put it down since.

I was thinking about how important it is for kids to have music in the schools. We were lucky because our daughter got into a parent co-op school that embraced the arts. I'm sure that's one of the reasons she loved school so much. But for all the kids out there in regular public schools that have dropped their arts programs, they need to bring them back.

I'm no expert, so here's a short and sweet article on the subject.

Music and Young Minds