High School Musical

OK, so if you have a daughter between the age of 6 and 18 you've probably at least heard about the High School Musical franchise phenomenon. (HSM to it's friends) The latest installment was HSM: Get in the Picture on ABC. It was an American Idol style show to cast the next great Disney star for an appearance in HSM 3. Of course, we had to watch. How could we not?

I was actually and surprisingly impressed by several things about this series.

First off, they did their best not to exploit these kids. It was very Disney. No really obvious catty-ness. The contestants' last names were never divulged protecting their privacy - as much privacy as you get after you've been on a nationally televised series. They were kind to the kids "voted off" and gave them additional training in the chorus.

All the contestants were very talented and great performers. I was shocked by the winner, a 17 year old boy named Stan. He was good but I didn't think he was the best. I'm hoping that Tierney finds her niche in the performing arts, if that's what she chooses, because she was amazing, beautiful, kind and very unassuming. She'll probably be eaten alive in the music business.

One of the contestants was a homeschooler. She was an excellent example of how "normal" homeschooled students are. She was very into the HSM movies and dressing trendy. She fit in just fine with this group of mostly publicly schooled students. Sadly, she was one of the first finalist sent to the chorus, but she was there and made her mark all the same. She seemed very mature.

Now I just have to wait for my girls to overcome the devastation of Stan's win and Tierney's loss.

Newspaper Article

Well, the article was published today. It focused more on a couple of families that are using the virtual charter schools which is OK with me. We know the families and they are great. I think the article was fair to them too.

My mom says that the last sentence about our family couldn't be more accurate. I'm going to make you read it to find out what it says. I don't know how long the link will be active, but here ya' go!

http://www.heraldargus.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&subsectionID=4&articleID=122591

Bad Morning

To be completely fair to my family and my readers, I feel like I have to share the bad with the good. Today we had a BAD start to our day. DD #2 is 8 and 3/4. She has always been a high need child, ALWAYS. She has always been very emotional and sort of volatile. She's a lot like her mother, poor thing.

So last week she had a whining fit in the middle of the grocery store and I decided I couldn't take it anymore. I have some how given her the impression that this is acceptable and it's definitely not. I have taken drastic measures to remedy this behavior and step 1 was taking away fun activities. Today is the first day of gymnastics class, and guess who is not participating! She refused to get dressed this morning and cried and whined some more until she lost gymnastics for the whole month. (This is a fantastic homeschool gymnastics program that we pay for on a monthly basis and has open enrollment.) I finally ended up calling her dad to motivate her to get dressed and stop the whining.

DD#1 is 10 and is known far and wide for her lollygagging skills. She was dressed and ready to go, except for her shoes. She's coloring with DS at the dining table while #2 is having her fit in her room. I tell them to make sure they are ready to leave when their sister is dressed. We are ready to walk out the door when #1 says, "Just a minute." We had to wait for her to get her shoes on.

THEN, as we are heading out the door, the dog escapes to the front porch. As we are attempting to corral the dog back in the house, one of the kittens escapes. So I'm pushing the dog in the house, holding a squirming squalling 4 mth old kitten in one hand while #1 stands in the doorway!!! Honestly, its a small miracle that any of us even got out of the house today. I managed to make it to the office right on time. Whew!

On the way to work I kept thinking that there would be many missed busses in our lives if we were a public school family. We have quite a bit of flexibility in our morning and we still barely make it most days. Thankfully I have a very tolerant boss who doesn't watch the clock too closely.

I am also extremely grateful that DH was available to talk #2 down and get her moving. I had lost all patience and would not have been a pretty person. Definitely not the kind of mother I've always wanted to be.

Off to work and learn something new!

Well I did it again!

I just finished another newspaper interview. This is the second newspaper article we have taken part in. I always have some apprehension that I will be misquoted or taken out of context or worse yet, look like the fool that I am. The reporter called me at the office so I had the added stress that someone would need me while I was on the phone and the distraction of the office activity.

The article is supposed to be published on Thursday. I'll let you know how that goes.

You would think that I would feel like an old pro by now, but I surely don't!

Waiting with bated breath and a pain in my chest!