Would Dr. King Have Approved of Playing Hooky?

I did not make my kids go to school Monday.

Traditionally, my kids do not have school on Martin Luther King Day because our school district is civilized and understands that January is very bleak without the prospect of a three-day-weekend. Plus, you know, Dr. King. He was pretty awesome.

Anyway, this year, because of that asshole Sandy, we were supposed to have a half-day to make up for one of the hurricane days. But all of the kids woke up tired, cranky and late. Lovebug had been up all night coughing, Ironflower had a stuff nose and Hugmonkey still had a runny nose. Plus, I thought maybe we were all still fighting off the stomach virus that caused Lovebug to vomit all over the kitchen instead of performing in the school play Friday night.

Also, I noticed last night that Lovebug's reading skills have actually gotten worse in the last month. He is losing ground and becoming less confident. Now, it's not a huge tragedy because he was already well ahead of where he needed to be. But his teacher has only met with him ONCE since they started actually having reading groups - according to what he says, anyway. And he's alone in his group which originally made him think there was something wrong with his reading.

I'd have no problem just jumping in and teaching him myself if he wasn't  worn out emotionally at the end of every day. Sitting still and behaving all day is hard on him and I want him to be able to play or run around at basketball or swim after school, not sit through an extra lesson with mom.

But on a day off? Well, that's a different story. So Monday we stayed home.

I just don't know what I'm going to do the rest of the year. His teacher is very sweet and kind to him, but she's not going to change her way of doing things just because I say something. Last Novemeber's discussion just led to more worksheets. He needs to work on comprehension and breaking down multi-syllabic words like representative, neither of which is worksheet friendly.

Blergh.