Tuesday, October 31, 2006

The end...

We ended up with about 75 trick-or-treaters and a basket full of candy leftover to take to the office. It should last til at least Thanksgiving.

Kids are tired; I'm tired and have a headache, and the Haunted Mansion theme song is stuck stuck stuck in my head.

Grocery Store treats

The grocery store we shop at had activities for kids this afternoon - pumpkin painting and treats from around the store. A handful of popcorn from the deli (literally a deli-glove filled with popcorn), an apple from produce and a cookie and cupcake from the bakery.

The boys just came home to dump their first load and then they're heading back out.

For me, I've only had one miniature snickers bar. For now.

continuing the count

6:56 p.m.

Over 50 trick or treaters so far. It's really a great night for it - the weather is clear and it's turned off a bit cool for a change. It's 73 degrees and not a bit humid.

Two supermans (supermen?), several "this is my costume" t-shirts (worn by adolescent girls carrying pillowcases), a fairy and a scary dude.

Three kids and one parent that we know so far.

continued

6:30 p.m. ~ we've had our first trick or treaters ~ a group of 4 girls, three who looked to be about 13 and one who was about 9. The boys saw them coming from the neighbor's yard so they hid behind the edge of the driveway so they could scare them. As the girls were walking up, the younger one said "there are some kids who are going to jump out" and about that time the boys did and one of the older girls screamed! That made the boys' night!

Three cheerleaders, an angel, a princess and a pumpkin. That's what we've had so far.

And one Sheriff's Deputy drive-by.

Halloween Live!

I'm sitting in our driveway watching two pirates having a sword fight. One looks quite a bit like Captain Hook with Harry Potter eyeglasses and a fake nose. The other looks a bit like Jack Sparrow. Only they're 4 1/2 ft tall.

Our pumpkin is lit and our CD player is set to "repeat" for the theme song to the Haunted Mansion at Disney World. The basket is filled with miniature candy bars and tootsie rolls. Now we're just waiting for the trick-or-treaters.

Oops - the dog across the street is starting to bark - hope my music isn't bothering him... it's not too loud.

If you happen to read live, don't forget to "refresh" to catch later postings.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Educationally Valuable Experiences

We took our children out of school for two days last week to go to Denver, Colorado. I checked with the school to see what we needed to do to have their absences Excused and was told that a new policy is going into effect regarding Educationally Valuable Experiences (EVEs).

In order to have such an absence excused, parents have to identify four benchmarks that their children will be addressing while participating in EVEs. And these benchmarks must come from Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies. If the EVE doesn't address a benchmark in each one, then the absence will not be excused.

After identifying the benchmarks, the student must prepare a written report and an oral presentation upon return to school before they will even consider excusing the absence. And then there is no guarantee that if you go to the extra effort that it will be excused.

We decided to just let the children have Unexcused Absences. We know they learned so much on our trip that is of value to them. They toured the US Mint, the Colorado History Museum, the Colorado State Capitol, the Denver Art Museum, the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, and the City of Denver. They can tell you facts and information about everything they saw and did. They can also tell you that what some people consider to be art is, in the words of our 3rd grader, "Just wrong. Just Plain Wrong!"