When Jack & I Take Over the Department of Education

So Jack and I are redesigning the American education system. We're, um, having a little fun with it.

Overall Changes to the Education System:

• Parents are required to sign off on homework, tests, and any other paperwork that the teacher requires. (Signatures should be verifiable in some way) Failure to do so more than 5 times in one month will automatically require a parent-teacher conference. 3 required conferences in one school year will initiate a DFCS visit. (Guidance counselors should be empowered to cancel that visit in known special circumstances)
• Emphasis away from AP & IB programs and into dual-enrollment college courses
• Advanced courses whose curriculums allow should be available as online college courses
• Textbooks should be approved at a federal level so that rogue school systems may not teach local revisionist history or religiously biased curriculums, and so that school systems are not fleeced by textbook writers who publish 'new editions' every 2 years with no real new information (a common issue in both HS & college textbooks, for those unfamiliar with it)
• Peer tutoring should be available at all grade levels, by students 1-2 grades above, and for juniors/seniors in HS, should be made available through college students to take some of the pressure off of parents & teachers for extra help (I don't expect to understand my 16 year old's calculus homework, or for his overworked teacher to have time to tutor regularly... however, if he needs help, low-cost help should be available!)
• Technical schools should receive recognition as valid alternatives to 4-year colleges and funding should be treated as such
• Department of Health should be empowered to require school systems to acquire at least1/3 of their lunch foods from local (within-state or region) direct sources, specifically lower growers, not processors such as Sodexo. (Pizza sauce is not a vegetable, regardless of where the school system purchases it)
• Drastically lower the number of Federal employees within the Department of Education, redirect that funding to hiring more, better qualified teachers and offering incentives to States & Counties who give raises to their current teachers. (Is there anyone who will argue with me that we don't need more, better-qualified teachers? Bueller?)
• For all middle & high school teachers, student loans enter deferment status automatically upon hiring, and one year of student loans are forgiven for each year spent teaching full-time

High School Curriculum Changes

Note: This is currently designed for a 'block' system in which students have 4 classes per day for one semester, then another 4 classes per day for the next semester

9th Grade Required Courses:

• 2 study halls, one per semester- children shouldn't have to work harder and longer than their parents (8 hours of class, then up to 6 of homework is longer hours than my parents routinely worked.... how 'bout yours?)
• Choice of Basic Life Math or Algebra 1, depending on inclination/test scores/previous grades
• English 101
• Earth-Space Sciences (Basic Geology/Meteorology/Geography/Astronomy with focuses on practical application such as map-reading, how weather works, etc)
• PE
• Fine Art elective (music, art, theater, etc)
• Humanities/PE/Fine Arts Elective

10th Grade Courses

• Study Halls
• English Composition (everyone should know how to write a basic business letter/resume/etc)
• US History
• PE (every year, TYVM, exercise should be a normal part of kids' days)
• Biology
• Algebra/Geometry OR higher math elective (for those who took Algebra already)
• Driver's Ed/Auto Care (everyone should have hands-on driving instruction from a qualified instructor, as well as learning the basic skills of caring for your car)

11th Grade Courses

• Study Halls
• Western Civilization
• PE
• Sciences (Mostly basic understandings of Chemistry & Physics)
• Practical Application Elective (Agriculture, Horticulture, Metal Shop, Wood Shop, etc)
• Humanities Elective
• Home Economics 1 (everyone, male OR female, should know how to cook a meal, sew a button, etc!)

12th Grade Courses:

• Study Halls
• Eastern Civilization
• Government & Economics (because everyone should have a basic understanding of how their government works!)
• PE
• Life Skills (with critical thinking component, and skills like time management, budgeting, how a loan works, etc)
• Humanities Elective
• Elective- Fine Arts, Humanities, or Practical App depending on student's interests)

Humanities Elective Options:

• Interdisciplinary Perspectives
• African American History
• Philosophy
• Anthropology
• Sociology
• Psychology
• World Religions
• Individual languages/cultures (German, French, Spanish, Chinese, etc)

Math/Science Electives:

• Geometry
• Trigonometry
• Pre-Calculus
• Calculus
• Chemistry
• Physics
• Astronomy

Specific notes and caveats:

• If students reach a certain point excelling academically, joint college enrollment and/or college credit for their courses should be the default
• Empower guidance counselors to drop study halls, then electives if necessary for students who would like to take more advanced courses in any subject (like college counselors have the ability to change how courses are weighted against your major requirements)
• School administrators should work alongside and with guidance counselors to reduce their role as pure disciplinarians and give them a greater role in guidance and aid
• These changes will be implemented as appropriate to the state/county/municipality and within their budget. Not every school will be able to include every one of these electives, for example.

Lactation Cookies Recipe

I can't take credit for this, it was sent to me by 3 different friends. This is by Noel Trujillo and is featured on a TON of other blogs, websites, and cooking/recipe sites. This is my slightly modified version:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Lactation Cookies by Noel Trujillo

By BridgetMarie on October 26, 2006

Photo by PixieFairy1981

37 Reviews

• 
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Total Time: 27 mins
• Serves: 54, Yield: 4.5 dozen

About This Recipe

"This recipe is great for mothers who are breastfeeding. It helps to keep your milk supply up or increase your milk supply. Use more brewers yeast and oatmeal if you are wanting to increase your milk supply. You can use more chocolate chips if you like or any kind of chips."

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1 scant cup sugar
• 1 scant cup brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons flax seed meal1 tablespoon fenugreek seed added at our house
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour- 1/2 white flour, 1/2 wheat flour at our house
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups oats
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 3 tablespoons brewer's or nutritional yeast
  OPTIONAL VARIATIONS:Butterscotch chips instead of chocolate chips (our favorite variation! Add a pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg!)4 TB cocoa powder, 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips, 1/2 cup walnuts/pecans/almondsRaisins instead of chocolate chips
  Half butter & half nut butter for an extra shot of protein(I've made 4-5 batches of these and frozen them so that we have minimal work and maximum cookies after Damian comes, hence the need for variation)
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Mix the flaxseed meal and water and let sit for 3-5 minutes.
3. Beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar well.
4. Add eggs and mix well.
5. Add flaxseed mix, fenugreek, and vanilla, beat well.
6. Sift together flours, brewers yeast, baking soda, and salt.
7. Add dry ingredients to butter mix.
8. Stir in oats and chips.
9. Scoop onto baking sheet.
10. Bake for 12 minutes.
11. Let set for a couple minutes then remove from tray.
    
    

Random stuff update

Well, I'm almost done with the crazy nesting.

The house is more or less clean (just don't look behind the toilet in the bathroom... I can't reach there with this belly!), the bedroom has been moved around to accommodate the baby stuff, there's a ton of stuff waiting to go to the thrift store, and we're stocked up on almost everything we need. The freezer is getting full, including with frozen lactation cookie dough.

What do I still need to do?

• Stock up on pet supplies (cat litter, food for all of the pets)
• Wash the last of the baby clothes
• Order diapers
• Order a couple of nursing bras
• Make a Costco run for non-perishables and some more frozen meals
• Make muffin and bread dough for freezing

My body is slowing down, preparing for the upcoming marathon of labor. I can feel it- my pubis separating slowly (which makes it feel like my mons is perpetually slightly bruised, a weird feeling), my lower back is starting to have small cramps and reminders to care for it. My energy is slowing and turning inward, and I'm constantly hungry... the feeling of my body preparing for something that it knows will be intense work.

We're just over 2 weeks out from our due date.

MLK Day- Bringing it Home

One of our best friends is a beautiful Black man. It is a mind-boggling thing to realize that only a generation ago, not only could neither of us have dated someone Black, but we could not have taken him out to our favorite restaurants for his birthday. He could not have walked down the street with me as a companion, or sat down to a friendly lunch out with my husband.

As a child of the mid-1980's who grew up in a port city, I take racial freedom for granted. I took for granted that my schools were a gumbo of ethnicities. I take for granted that my favorite restaurant is owned by an interracial couple, and most of my other preferred ones will have white servers taking orders for tables of Black patrons. I take for granted my friend and her wife's interracial relationship, and my own ability to talk through the Chili cook-off hand-in-hand with my friend.

These are just normal parts of my life that I rarely even given them thought.

I like to think that my ability to take these thigns for granted is what Dr King hoped for a generation ago when he spoke to my parents' and their companions.

Of course, there is still room to grow, and progress which deperately needs to be made. Segregated Mardi Gras Societies in my hometown drove me away from the Balls I'd once enoyed, and knowing that my dear friend could not have accompanied me as an escort to the Ball given by one of my family members' Societies is a painful and infuriating reminder of that. Another family member's half-in-jest-all-in-seriousness comment before the 2008 elections that they were, "just going to vote for someone White," brought home to me just how close some of the need for progress is. Another family member baited me by continuing to tell racist jokes in my home, even after being asked not to.

Yet small steps, no matter how difficult, still move us closer to our goals. After my not-very-funny family member was asked to leave my home, I have never since heard a racist joke under my roof. I am open with my family about why I rarely return to my hometown for Mardi Gras, and my one Ball of the Mardi Gras season is that of the Order of Osiris, open to all, regardless of sexuality or ethnicity. I will never change another's mind through my own beliefs, but I can know that I will not be silent when I am confronted with even covert racism, and that because of that my friends and family may not so easily ignore their own.

I can walk down the street street now, holding hands with one of my dearest friends, his skin color irrelevant, and I take that for granted thanks to the thousands who worked, fought, were injured, and died in the name of equality. I owe to them my own efforts, however small they may be- and I owe them to my many friends and loved ones with whom I can openly socialize in ways my parents and grandparents could not have. Moreover, I owe it to my friends and loved ones who still are hurt by racism, overt and covert, where it continues to lurk.

Lastly, I owe it to my son, that he may find the entire concept an antiquated silliness, like the concept of women not voting or our gay friends' relationships being illegal.

Is it my fault?

My mother was an alcoholic.

No, AA/NA/Al-Anon friends, I'm not saying it wrong.

Was, as in she's already passed on.

What does this have to do with my baby/pregnancy blog?

A lot, actually.

Children have a capacity called, "magical thinking." Wikipedia defines it like this: "Magical thinking is causal reasoning that looks for correlation between acts or utterances and certain events. In religion, folk religion, andsuperstition, the correlation posited is between religious ritual, such as prayer, sacrifice, or the observance of a taboo, and an expected benefit or recompense. In clinical psychology, magical thinking is a condition that causes the patient to experience irrational fear of performing certain acts or having certain thoughts because they assume a correlation with their acts and threatening calamities.

"Quasi-magical thinking" describes "cases in which people act as if they erroneously believe that their action influences the outcome, even though they do not really hold that belief".^[1]"

Long story short, children have a tendency to believe that they can affect the outcome of a situation, even when they can't, really.

Example A: The child who says, "If I'm really, really good, dad will come back." You've seen statements like this in movies, most likely.

It's cute, when what they're saying is, "Step on a crack, break your mommy's back!" and then don't step on cracks for the remainder of the walk.

It's not so cute when they say, "If I had been better, mommy wouldn't have gone to jail."

"If I wish every single night on the first star for a year, then mommy will come home."

Sometimes, this bit of magical thinking isn't something we ever grow out of... how many of us have seen the TV or movie scene where the mean character breaks down and cries, "Why didn't my dad love me?! Was I bad?!"

Only it's not funny, when we realize how many people actually still harbor this fear on some level.

I did, for years.

If I had been better, would my mom not have needed to drink so much?

Was it because of me that she needed to?

Was it because of me that my parents got divorced?

Of course, intellectually, I know better. My mother was an alcoholic from high school on. She went to prison because she couldn't stop drinking and driving. They divorced because dad got tired of living with an alcoholic.

But deep down, there's still a little girl in the back of my head who asks, "Why didn't my mommy love me enough to be a good mom? Was I bad? Did I not deserve it?"

And it's for that little girl that I promised myself, years ago, that if I ever had a child, that his/her needs would come before anything else.

And it's for that little girl- until I hold my little boy in my arms and his needs become realities to me- that I will do it for my little boy.