Snow Days = Vacation???

Currently Reading: Read The Shack over the weekend, and OMG! Wonderful insights to God's mind. I'll be keeping this book by my bed for whenever I'm in a 'Doubting Thomas' mood. Just wish I could get the SU to read it...I found it mirrored my image of God's love, but his Catholic upbringing is totally different. He sees everything wrong as God's Punishment, not the devil's influence. Maybe I'll have to start reading out loud again...

Regina, now that I've sent off TP, I'll finally get back to LSL!! I promise to finish your book this week!!

Also discovered the 3rd Jayden Chelsea book,To Close To The Fire, was on sale at CTR for a dollar. So I went ahead and bought it:)


My kids had two snow days last week. Why? An inch or so of snow.

Yes, an INCH. Not a foot, and certainly not deadly ice. So why did they cancel school for the entire day, instead of simply declaring a two-hour delay?

I've heard two stories running around, and I'm not sure which camp is right. The first one says that with the bitter cold, and the fact the forcast said the snow accummulation would increase as the day went on suggested that maybe school officials opted not to put teachers, bus drivers, and kids in potential danger. That was Thursday, and I'll admit, it made sense from a former bus monitor. If I was still on the job, I'd have been breathing a sigh of relief. (But then again, you already know I hate driving in snow!) The supposed five inches due to fall by noon? Never arrived.

So what happened on Friday? Instead of a two hour delay, they cancelled school again! So the SU took the kids to Lowes and purchased our new water heater. Other kids came over and our basement was turned into a movie theater, as many movies brought from home or trips to the video store were watched. And the ones not downstairs were monopolizing the computer upstairs. The SU took me to Office Max so I could get my printouts of my manuscript, and the main roads were clear. So why were the kids home?

Some people explain the second day as the same reasons listed for Thursday, bitter cold. But others also say it has to do with our new education guidelines.

Okay; I get that our kids have to be in school for 180 days, or whatever the number is. But last year, they did away with allowing half days to 'count' (we used to get out of school on half days at 11 am; then they changed it to 1pm, saying any day which served lunch was considered a day, and called it 'early release') and saying even the two-hour delay days had to be made up. So I guess if the weather is horrible at 6:30 am, but bright and sunny by 9 am, they'll cancel school because it won't 'count'? Why send them to school for whatever lessons they might learn, tests they might take, all because the day won't be recognized in the long run? To me this makes no sense.

They already have built-in make up days: MLK Jr day; President's Day; Good Friday; etc. But what if we have a freaking blizzard, like 1978? We missed 22 days of school. Under the new guidelines, would we have even had a Spring Break? Been in school until late June? Had to go on Saturdays?

Maybe the answer lies in simply pushing back the start times for school. Instead of an 8:00 start, push it back an hour. My honorary grandkids are in school from 9-4, instead of 8-3. Cuts down on traffic jams, and the kids get to sleep a little longer, and gives them extra time for breakfast. And gives the sun and DOT more time to clear the roads. But I also acknowledge there are parents out these for whom this would not work, due to their own schedules.

And yes...if we had wireless internet and Mom had her own working laptop, I'd have gotten more work done while the kids were home:)

Reminder: This is the final day to view my interview on the MLMYA blog:) Stop by and say hi!