I feel like ranting
October 19th, 2009 — autisticandhealthyToday I will treat you to my rant about “early release” days in our school district. Once a month, my kids only have a partial day of school. It is craziness, they cram an entire day into 1/2, with lunch for some kids at 10:30am, just so they can get state funding for the day by saying they had lunch. The high school kids go to class for a little as 12 minutes each class, and in middle school, they usully have an assembly of some kind and no class at all. In the elementry school today, they have a pajama day and party. If you have lunch at school in Missouri, you get credit for the school day for state funds! The school district saysthey need these early release days to give their teachers additional education on teaching–so they give the kids to their parents, who don’t need any additional education parenting. . . . Oh and it is never the same day of the week, or day in the month, like the today it is Tuesday, next month it is a Friday. Most parents work, this is impossible. Someone always has to use a day of vacation for this terrible schedule. Just imagine how crabby the kids are after having their routine ripped out from under them? I can’t even send my autisic son to school on these days, he is a mess and would barely make it off the bus before something happened that would make the school isolate him in a conference room in the main office for the entire short day! I am thinking about videotaping a short segment and sending it to a newstation about what a mess this is for families! And about lunch, well, that time is short too, so the kids don’t get enough time to scarf down their food, and they come home hungry. I just finish breakfast dishes, and clean up and my middle school kids come home a little after 11am and want lunch again, and then when the last ones from elementry school get home about 1pm, they are hungry and the middle school child needs a snack! 
It is hard to find a movie that starts and ends before after school activities for my kids start, so they can frequently be found honing their sibling rivelry skills at home for a few hours on these days. Today however, I made the decision to send none of them to school and have a day trip to pick apples and pumpkins in a farm in Illinois about an hour away. We are meeting my dear sister in law, who lives a few minutes away and having family time. My autistic son is going to stay home with his 17 year old brother. Apple picking involves too many people, itchy grass that isn’t cut, and a bumpy wagon ride where total strangers sit too close. That is fine, the chicklettes as I call them, Allie age 7, Lizzy age 10, and Mary age 12, need an autism break. So that is my rant about “early release” days. I don’t like them. It is just craziness for no reason in my parent opinion. Today however, I am excited. I love family days and apple picking! I hope to make some great memories, and take pictures to post! Love to all, Ann
It is hard to find a movie that starts and ends before after school activities for my kids start, so they can frequently be found honing their sibling rivelry skills at home for a few hours on these days. Today however, I made the decision to send none of them to school and have a day trip to pick apples and pumpkins in a farm in Illinois about an hour away. We are meeting my dear sister in law, who lives a few minutes away and having family time. My autistic son is going to stay home with his 17 year old brother. Apple picking involves too many people, itchy grass that isn’t cut, and a bumpy wagon ride where total strangers sit too close. That is fine, the chicklettes as I call them, Allie age 7, Lizzy age 10, and Mary age 12, need an autism break. So that is my rant about “early release” days. I don’t like them. It is just craziness for no reason in my parent opinion. Today however, I am excited. I love family days and apple picking! I hope to make some great memories, and take pictures to post! Love to all, Ann
