Yesterday Kirsten “called out” so we could spend the day as a family. I’m glad she did. Our work and school schedules rarely allow for us to be together during the day. And the day was absolutely gorgeous. Fleece weather, my favorite. We brought the cameras along.

Enjoy.

Kirsten made a wonderful breakfast of scrambled eggs with cheese, toast, grits, bacon, orange juice and coffee. How lucky am I?!? Jenna read to us the book, “Fairly Stupid Tales”, which is hilarious, especially the way she reads it. At different parts she is quiet, loud, fast, slow, and inflects her voice where appropriate. It was great fun to listen to, and watch, her read this super silly story.

Does it get any better than this?

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brent · children's museum · lighthouse · maine · phl · portland head light

Skye has been asking me to take her to Boston for a while now. She loves the city. Her GT (gifted/talented) class is going in four years and she’s wonderfully excited. She said she loves Boston more than she loves Maine.

I have most of this week off work and about a bazillion Choice Privileges Points so I decided to take the girls on a mini-vacation before it gets too cold. Kirsten, unfortunately, had to work. :(

Sunday morning we drove to Boston, parked the car at Quincy Center, and took the Red Line train into Park Street Station. Skye wanted to check out the Granary Burying Grounds so we headed over there. Then we strolled around Washington Street before heading to Marriott’s Custom House (my favorite Boston building) where we would see the city from the 26th floor observation deck.

Park Street Station in the Boston Common

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boston · brent · vacation

Birthdays aren’t a big deal to me. This year I spent mine watching the first presidential debate and hanging out at the new Hooters in Saugus, Massachusetts.

It was nice to return home Saturday evening to one of my favorite meals and my wonderful girls. Kirsten baked macaroni and cheese from my mom’s old recipe. Yummy! She also made my favorite black forest cake. The candles were the trick kind that relight themselves after they’re blown out. Fun.

Kirsten gave me a flourescent light so I (we) can read in bed at night. Skye gave me a small Rubik’s Cube. Hayley gave me 9¢ to buy my favorite (candy) bar. They each made me a card. How cool is that? I love those girls.

Kirsten dressed extra sexy, as she does whenever I’m returning from a road trip. I appreciate that a lot!

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birthday · brent

Kirsten is SO mean. She put water in a bowl and froze it over night. Then she had me pour a layer of Hayley’s favorite breakfast cereal, Kix, over the ice and add a little milk to make it look like a bowl FULL of Kix. Hayley was not amused. Every time she sees this video she reminds me that she didn’t think it was funny, that she was only laughing because I made her.

She also put a looooooooooong dark thread in Jenna’s shirt with only a couple inches hanging out. In the morning I pointed Jenna’s attention to the wayward thread. She couldn’t be bothered by it. I told her to remove it. She pulled and pulled at the thread of seemingly infinite length. Skye wondered aloud where the thread was coming from since the shirt Jenna was wearing didn’t even contain that dark color.

Kirsten, you’re mean! Funny, though.

2008 · april · april fool · april fool's day · cereal ice · fool · frozen · funny · thread · video

brentdanley

Yes, that’s a keyfob. And, because it’s a Volkswagon Jetta keyfob, it’s also the key.

Last Sunday the girls asked me to take them to Portland Head Light to climb on the rocks, hike and take pictures. The answer to that request will always be an enthusiastic “yes”. While I took pictures the girls made a “house” out of driftwood, mangled lobster pots and rocks. I climbed all over the cliffs and boulders trying to capture the lighthouses from new and interesting perspectives.

I laid on a rock about six inches above the surface of the water to get this shot.

And got really low to capture this reflection.

Then I waited for the girls to be done playing. After a long while I suggested we go play on the swings before heading to the hospital to get Kirsten. The sun was getting low and the tide was coming in and I was getting a bit chilly.

Skye and Hayley headed to the playground while Jenna and I went to get the car and drive it down. I couldn’t find the key! It wasn’t in my pants, jacket or camera bag. Nowhere. If it were down on those rocks the tide would, in a very short time, completely cover it. Besides, it was getting dark and there were about a bazillion round rocks it could have fallen between. And, it was getting dark. And, the park would be closing at sunset. And, Kirsten needed a ride home after her twelve hour shift at the hospital. Fuck.

Jenna and I walked to the playground to get her sisters then headed back down the tall granite cliffs to the rocky shore where we had spent most of the afternoon. I scanned the ground in what I knew was a futile attempt to locate the missing key. I suspected it had fallen out of my jacket pocket in either of the two places I had laid down.

The girls were too slow over the cliffs and boulders so I told them to go to the top of the cliff and walk around. That way they wouldn’t slow me down and I could keep an eye on them.

At the first location, where I had laid on a rock to shoot Ram Island Ledge Light, the rock was submerged by the rising tide. I looked through the clear water but couldn’t see the key. I hurried to the second spot and, when I rounded the last corner, saw the bright red PANIC button of the keyfob at eye level. Whew!!! After snapping a few pics for this blog post I retrieved the key and headed back to tell the girls the good news. I had no idea the adventure had just begun.

The girls hadn’t gone up to the cliff, but were still down on the beach. Apparently they hadn’t heard me or communicated to each other. And they couldn’t hear me now, they were too far away. When they were in range I called out to Jenna and Skye and asked them where was Hayley. I figured she was behing a large rocks and was just out of sight. All I got was a shoulder shrug. I yelled for Skye to go find her and off Skye went. When I finally reached Jenna I was missing two girls, but was confident Skye would find her sister and we could finally leave.

As Jenna and I climbed up the cliff there were about fifteen people standing on the edge watching us. When we got close to the top a women asked if I was the dad. I told her I was a dad. She said they found my daughter, which was nice. I didn’t think they were lost, really. Pretty soon Skye rounded the corner and everybody looked quite pleased about the reunion. Until I told them I have three daughters. Those happy expressions instantly changed back to concern and panic.

With Skye and Jenna close behind I walked around the top edge of the cliffs yelling for Hayley. After only a few very long seconds we heard a man yelling that he had found her. I could tell by his voice that she was okay. She had a huge smile on her face as he carried her up to us. Everybody was relieved and happy our little family was back together. Hayley had been several hundred yards away from where I had left her. She was trying to find us but was going the wrong direction over very large, sharp and treacherous boulders.

I was never as concerned as any of the spectators. The girls are very good on the rocks and hardly ever fall off them.

2008 · adventure · cape elizabeth · emergency · found · keyfob · lighthouse · lost · panic · phl · portland

brentdanley

Jenna and Skye started school today. We are excited the girls are in great schools and have excellent teachers. Jenna is in a multiage (1st and 2nd grade) class at Fairfield and Skye is in a multiage (3rd and 4th grade) class at Burns School. We had never heard of the multiage concept but think it will be great. Not all the classes in their schools are multiage so we are fortunate they were placed in them. The advantage, we’re told, is that the younger pupils can be assisted by the older ones or work at an advanced pace while the older pupils benefit from tutoring their younger classmates. We’ll see how it works but I think it’s a promising idea. Being in a multiage class environment with two teachers also means they’ll have the same teachers and classmates next year. It was neat to see the teachers and students interact at the open house last night. They knew each other and had a good rapport. I think the continuity will be beneficial especially early on in the second year.

brentdanley

Friends and family who know that Skye was a first grader last year may be wondering why she is in a third/fourth grade class this year. Yesterday we finally won our long battle to have her placed in a grade appropriate to her academic level. Last year in Kansas we asked to have her placed in a second grade class and were told it was against the district policy. Her teacher was able to arrange to have her attend a second grade class. She was technically still a first grader. This was acceptable to us only because we knew we were moving. We were hopeful Maine would be more accommodating.

The principle at Burns School initially denied our request to enroll her in third grade. We asked him to consult with her teachers in Wichita and scheduling conflicts prolonged their communications. When we met with him to present our case last week he again would not acquiesce. He had many concerns about “skipping” her because he didn’t know her and didn’t know us. Every parent, he said, thinks their child is a genius. He was concerned she would be overwhelmed in a class of older pupils where she wouldn’t be the star. While we appreciated his time and geniune concern we knew enrolling her in second grade was the wrong decision for Skye. So I argued my case in a letter to the district superintendent. Two days ago Skye was evaluated by a reading specialist and yesterday she met with a teacher who evaluated Skye’s abilities in mathematics. Skye did awesome!

When Kirsten and I met with the principle after the examinations he felt better about letting us enroll Skye in third grade. Although his concerns remained he allowed us to make the decision. We had made up our minds two years earlier and were elated to have finally won. We hope Skye will find challenges in her new class and learn what it’s like to have classmates who know the answers before she does.

Skye considered herself a second grader last year. Therefore, while putting her in third grade is technically skipping, enrolling her in second grade would have been tantamount to holding her back. She is where she needs to be and is excited to be there. Because her classmates consist of third and fourth graders she’ll be able to do math with the fourth graders and other things with the third graders. It’s all going to work out beautifully!

Today Skye got to open a box in class because she was so polite (her words, not mine). It contained a watermelon which the class ate outside. Also, the cafeteria is huge and she can sit wherever she wants. The fourth graders in her class are assigned third grader “buddies”, so Skye has someone to show her around. She exclaimed, “You should see the art and music rooms! They’re amazing!”

I think her favorite part, although she won’t say, is being a third grader. She finally feels validated. She was frustrated doing long division and fraction arithmetic at home and addition, subtraction, and graphs at school.

brentdanley

Jenna is excited about her teacher, Mrs. O’Neill, who she met yesterday when Kirsten took her to Fairfield to show her around. She is also excited that there are twice as many boys in her class as girls. She didn’t say much when she got home today but it was obvious she likes her school and is excited to be back with kids her age.

She didn’t eat her lunch today because her sandwich was squished. The lunch lady was telling kids to eat neatly and Jenna was afraid the sandwich would make a mess. She left it alone and only drank her water. Tonight Kirsten bought her a plastic container so future sandwiches won’t be smashed.

Since the end of the last school year I quit my job and we moved to Maine. All of our time has been spent as a family on one adventure or another. So today the house was quiet. Hayley especially missed her sisters. She kept bringing her toys to wherever Kirsten was so she’d have someone to play by. Kirsten softened up on the rule about leaving toys in the bedroom when she realized Hayley was lonely and missed her sisters.

education · maine · saco · school

The No Child Left Behind Act is, like most of President Bush’s programs, a complete failure. Money and attention that have previously benefited our brightest children are, under NCLB, being diverted to remedial programs that help students who struggle to grasp basic curricular requirements. Focusing every resource on failing students increases the likelihood that students who aren’t will never get ahead.

Kristen Stephens and Jan Riggsbee of Duke University wrote an interesting article in February about the impact NCLB is having on our country’s brightest pupils. It is the impetus for this post.

Please indulge a bit of bragging. My seven-year-old daughter, Skye, is a first grader this year. Early in the school year we scheduled an appointment with her teacher because, quite simply, Skye wasn’t learning anything. I requested they move her to second grade and argued that she was only a first grader because of a technicality: she missed the birthday cutoff by two weeks. Her teacher rejected the request citing district policy and told me I could discuss it with the principle. We figured we’d be moving soon so picking a fight here probably wasn’t worth it. Instead her teacher came up with an agreeable compromise, Skye would remain a first grader but go to a second grade class for math and reading.

Since then Skye has had a desk in her first grade classroom and one in her second grade classroom. She is officially a first grader but spends most of her time in second grade. That worked for a while. She is now doing multiplication and division worksheets independently while her classmates learn concepts Skye mastered long ago.

Our five-year-old daughter, Jenna, is a kindergartner in a similar situation. She’s adding and subtracting in her head while her classmates learn how to identify numbers and count to ten. Both of them are marched to the library every day for individualized study away from their classmates.

The story is repeated when the subject is switched from mathematics to reading and writing.

We have been fortunate to have teachers that are flexible and accomodating. They care about the needs of our daughters and have worked very hard to provide the education Skye and Jenna need. But it isn’t enough. They are stretched thin with federal, state, and district testing requirements and helping failing students whose parents don’t care enough to provide supplementary instruction at home.

Enough is enough. “No child left behind” sounds great during a political campaign but doesn’t make good education policy. We need to insure that “no child left behind” doesn’t also mean that no children are allowed to excel. We need to encourage our brightest students and provide them with interesting and challenging instruction. Unfortunately, the simplest way to guarantee no child is left behind is to lower the standards. If we continue to do that we will continue to fall behind the rest of the first world in science, technology, education, and innovation.

education