PT conferences

No school today--parent teacher conferences. I went to two (the elementary school) last night and one (middle school) this morning. It was one of the better PT conferences I've had--all of my kids are doing well, have good grades, and have good behavior at school. Plus, one of my kids who tends to see the world completely differently than anyone else has a teacher this year who is much more flexible and less rigid about "thinking within the box" (I'm not kidding--last year his teacher told me he needs to stop thinking outside the box all the time). The elementary school has changed its whole way of doing things so that they sort of change classes for reading, math, and whatever is left over, and it's a bit confusing for the kids and teachers, but it means the kids can be with their own academic levels more (and they can change if they move up or down, too). So, confusing, but it means my kids get to do stuff that is more interesting to them instead of sitting around, bored because they're done and no one else is. Can I just say again how much I like my unusual son's reading teacher? She's young (JUST out of a master's program) but she's smart/gifted (ie, not rigidly tied to a four-wall worldview), she has sympathy for the kids who er, are secretly reading their own fun books in class, and she is all for the kids coming up with ideas and picking the group books they're going to read, etc. I love the books in her classroom--they are all quality literature while at the same time having an actual story. (She totally knew what I was talking about when I said she had the "right" kind of award books--the ones that have a story that appeals to kids, as opposed to the award books full of social ills, devoid of plot, that only appeal to middle aged female librarians. I LOVE about half the award books--the other half, meh.) Anyway, the way this teacher loves books and respects and encourages her students' minds makes me as a parent very, very happy.

As to reading myself, I love fall! So many awesome books are out now. Some of them I read and I think, wow, I'll never be writing on that level, so I'll just have to read and admire and be content. And others, well, I can see my book next to them. So I am going to keep planning out my next book and work on it, but at the same time, I'm still lighting incense to the publishing gods and hoping that someday my current book will come up in the queue and I can find the right people to be interested in it.

More rain today--urgh. Must figure out what to do with five kids on a cold, rainy day. Probably have to buy more candy to hand out tomorrow (we blitzed what we had in the trunk or treat the other night)--not that we ever get many trick or treaters on our street. Plus we have a homecoming game scheduled for tomorrow night (hello?), and I suspect that is more of a religious devotion than Halloween in this town. (Am I writing what I know? Yes, I am writing what I know!)

Have a happy Friday, everyone!

Skinny

This week's theme for Illustration Friday is Skinny. (Yes, I am procrastinating working on my WIP!)



Too late, Horatio realized his scheduling error.