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Christmas in Mississippi 2006\
I want to complain some more about Max’s school. All of my complaints are sort of minor, but things I find annoying.\
I’ll just refer you to the post below to see my traffic-jam rant.\
The clubs have switched times from after school to the last 45 minutes of school. This happens to overlap with Max’s Gifted class. BOOOOOOOOOO. I really appreciate what Max learns in Gifted, but is that more important than what he could learn in The Philosophy and Art Club? The Robotics Club? Or the fun, friends, and self-esteem he could gain in Chorus?\
The parking lot is set up so that you have to walk a couple of hundred feet to get into the school, even though you can park a mere 10 feet from the building. It’s just a badly thought out design. One time when I needed to pick up Max from school because he was sick, he was too weak to make it to the car. 🙁 I left him at the curb and brought the car to him. Poor guy. That made me grumble for awhile. Actually, I grumble every time I have to go to the school when I see how badly it’s designed.\
Max has Gifted five days a week, where he is pulled from his regular classroom. The regular class is, of course, continuing their lessons. Last year Max missed Math. Everyday. No wonder he got his lowest grade in Math, claims it’s hard and is his least favorite subject. Ugh. This is the same problem that kids in ESL and other pull-out programs face. I think I need to talk with someone at the school about this.\
There is a club that is only open to girls- WTH? Discrimination! Discrimination! It’s a robotics club. I guess girls are still considered “behind” when it comes to this sort of thing.\
ETA- The Gifted teacher is canceling Gifted classes on Mondays and Fridays to accommodate kids joining clubs. Yea, that’s the solution. Oy.

• Max has started reading this blog (hi, Max!) so I need to stop with the adult or subversive posts. I’m not sure what else there is to write, ha. I haven’t been feeling ranty lately which is a good thing given my new posting restrictions. The Hofstra case really has me irked though.
• Max has been settling well in the 4th grade. He is still in the Art and Philosophy Club and is trying out for chorus. (What normal elementary school requires tryouts?) We also try to make time for karate twice a week. Later in the year, he will add Robotics Club. So many cool new opportunities! We decided to skip soccer at the Y, heh.
• I still spend 30-45 minutes each day getting my kids to and from school, most of which is spent in the parent-created traffic jam. The system is ridiculous. I freely admit to adding to the problem. I don’t want to have my kids ride the bus in the morning because pick up time is 55 minutes before school starts. Considering how late school gets out and how busy Max is afterward, he could definitely use that time more advantageously at home (usually sleeping).