How does a parent choose which child to save?

Dear Logan,

I just finished watching "Private Practice". The medical story of this episode was focused on choosing which of the two sick twin girls their parents had to save. Twin girls were both sick and they were relying on their newborn brother's cord blood to do blood transfusion to save them. However, there's not enough blood to save both of them, and the girls' parents had to choose who to save. How do you decide who to save? It's such an agonizing episode.

The episode reminded me of a conversation I had with Daddy and Grandma, and also inside my head when you were sick. I remember thinking by letting you go, I was choosing your brother over you. It appeared that by letting you go, life would be easier because I didn't have to deal with home-care nurses taking care of your overnight. We wouldn't be tied down at home because you would require a lot of attention, and we wouldn't have to worry about your tracheostomy, or medication, or doctor visits. These were such horrible thoughts. I knew that's not the case. I knew by letting you go, was to relieve you from all pain and suffering. By letting you go was not the easier choice. By letting you go, we were not choosing one son over another. But why did it still hurt when all these feelings were brought up when I was watching this episode?

It's been 9.5 months since you left us. On one hand, it felt like you have left us for a long time, as life has settled down and we have moved on with our lives. On the other hand, I could remember all that has happened 9.5 months ago. It felt like it was yesterday when we had to make the most difficult decision of our lives. We might have moved on with our lives, but you are still definitely in our hearts.

Love and Miss you,

Mommy

St. C Open House

Dear Logan,

The last school that we checked out last weekend was St. C. This school is a little farther away, but still in Sunnyvale. We first went into the Preschool/Pre-K room. Both rooms are decent-sized and brightly lit. Aidan was immediately attracted to the school bus in the little kids room. He didn't want to go over to the Pre-K room. Hank mentioned his nose was allergic to something when he was in the preschool room, and wondered if it was mold. Not a good sign! I talked to both Pre-K teachers, who are nice and young-looking. I got a feeling that the class is not academically-focused. I believe they follow the Montessori style of teaching. Not that it's a bad thing, but I think we're looking for more focus on academics.

They have music class once a week, Spanish once a week, computer class once every 2 weeks. there's a computer lab that the kids could go to. They have 3-4 field trips a year, Christmas pageants and performances. I think the curriculum is very similar to what Aidan is doing right now at CCLC. We didn't stay too long in this room, as we're running out of time already. We wanted to be able to go to the KG room.

We were escorted by the Vice Principal, who also teaches science and computer. The Vice Principal seems like a pretty young guy. He showed us the computer lab and the library, which I like. I spent a decent amount of time talking to the Kg teacher. She looks like she's my age, and appears very enthusiastic about teaching.

There are about 16-22 kids with 1 teacher and 1 part-time aide (shared with 1st grade). They have computer class once a week (30 mins), PE twice a week (30 mins), Spanish once a week (30 mins), Art once a week (50 mins) and music once a week (30 mins). They also teach religion everyday, and go to mass once a month. Religion appears to be a big part of the school curriculum. Classes are from 8-2:50 p.m. and then extended care. Before Christmas, kids all have nap/rest time. But after Christmas, they won't be able to nap anymore.

Kids are taught to read and write 1-2 sentences, and there are a bunch of sight words posted on the wall. They use a language arts program (phonics) from day 1. They also teach addition and subtraction within 1-10. The first couple hours in the morning are ability groups, when teacher can work 1:1 with students to improve their reading. Students have homework every Monday to bring home, and bring them back to school on Friday. There isn't any formal tests, but assessment of how they are doing.

There are about 1 field trip a month, except in the beginning of the school year when they're trying to learn the basic rules and schedules.

This school is OK, but I don't think it's one of the top ones, though I like the KG teacher.

What do you think, Logan?


Love,
Mommy

St. L Open House

Dear Logan,

Continuing with my series of blog posts regarding the open houses, the next one is St. L. This Catholic school is the closest to our house. This school actually goes up to high school. The campus isn't and as all Catholic schools, the campus is on the older side.

We were first escorted by a member of the student council to the Extended Care room. But for the first 15 minutes, I thought that was the Pre-K room. Then it dawned on my after questioning the teachers for a while that it's not! The extended care room is pretty big, but the toys that they had there were all very old. Granted, Aidan still had a good time playing with the cars and trucks that he saw.

When we went to the Pre-K room, we saw a few bunnies outside. It's nice to see live animals, especially when you're teaching about them in science class. There are actually two rooms for the one Pre-K class. One of the rooms is open to other students, and the little ones get to interact with the older kids. However, they only offer a half-day Pre-K class from 8-11:15 and the rest of the time, Aidan would have to be in extended care. That's already a "NO" in my book. That's just not enough class time, and too much downtime. They have Music class (Mon), Library time (Tue/Th), Mass every Wed morning, and PE (Th).

The teacher said the first half of the day is spent on Math, putting numbers in order, learning dates of the month and their birthdays. The second half of the day will be reading and learning the alphabet, and associate words with the letter. The teachers acknowledged that students come in at different level, and they will work with students with different abilities in different groups, so the advanced ones won't be bored. They also accept Open Enrollment throughout the year, provided there's a spot for the student.

We toured the garden at the back where the students have planted carrots. The teacher said the Boy Scouts helped with the project.

We then headed over to the KG room. We saw brand new computer screen where the chalk board was. The teachers said they just got this SMART screen last week. It did some really cool stuff. We also saw some "fake snow" that a couple kids were playing with. I couldn't tell from the texture what kind of snow that is. We didn't notice they have the whole Penguin theme going on in the classroom. There were 5 laptops there, and Aidan of course sat himself down and played with it. The teacher was nice enough to log on and let Aidan play, while I asked more questions. The students use the laptop for reading and math programs, and they do assessment on the kids using them.

There are about 31-36 students in the class with 3 teachers. Actually, I think the room is a little small for that many students. Class is from 8-3, and then extended care until 6. There's a kitchen in the school, where students could order lunch the day of. The teacher also said there's a volunteer who comes in on Fridays to teach a cooking class. There are other classes taught by outside teachers, such as Spanish, Music, Art and PE. There are 3 field trips a year (see a play, pizza parlor, park). On the teacher/class website, it will show what they are doing for the week, and the teacher welcomes emails or talk in person. There's homework to be given out every Monday, and they're expected to complete them and bring back to school on Friday. Informal assessments are done every month, and a report card 3x/year.

Students are expected to be able to read and write 3 sentences, and be able to do addition and subtraction by the end of the school year.

I get a good vibe from all the teachers, but I just don't like the Pre-K is only half day. The campus also seems a little small with all the students around. However, I do like that they invested on technology with the new SMART screen in all the KG and Grade level classrooms. I think the middle school kids all get a laptop as well.


Love you,
Mommy

St. M Open House

Dear Logan,

On Saturday, after dropping daddy off at Auntie Rachel and Uncle Paul's house to help them move, Mommy and big brother continued on our mission to check out more open houses.

We headed to St. M, which is pretty close to where we live. This school didn't seem too big, and the hallways are painted in yellow and blue (I guess those are the school colors).

The Pre-K students shared the room with the 3-4 yr olds as well. At first I thought the room was pretty big. After talking to the teacher, I found out the Pre-K shared the room with the little ones, and half of the room is actually for extended care. The room didn't seem that big after all. The teacher I talked to is new to the school. She's soft spoken and obviously doesn't know the school very well. The other teacher was talking to another parent, so I didn't get to talk to the more experienced one.

There are 2 Pre-K teachers, and they have about 22-36 kids. Children bring their own lunch. I need to look up their website to see if they have catering for lunches. I didn't see that in my notes. They have music class every Tuesday and a science class where they learn how to grow celery. I asked about what's expected from the kids, and this young teacher told me that the Diocese expects all kids to at least learn to count to 10. She said they want them to count to 20. Ok, that's not good enough. I guess if I have asked a more experienced teacher, I would get a better answer. The extended care reinforced homework and also fun activities. The teacher said the preschoolers are buddied up with the 4th graders. They have a buddy-system going on.

I then headed to the KG room and spoke with a more experienced, and enthusiastic teacher. The ratio is 1 teacher to 20-25 kids plus a full-time aide. Aside from books, there are toys and coloring pencils for kids. The teacher seemed to know what she is doing. She said they use a reading program called Super kids. It's a phonetic-based program. There are also songs that help reinforce what the children are learning. They also teacher kids how to decode and sound out each letter.

This school has a library (not too big but with lots of books) and a computer lab with a bunch of Macs. The teacher said the KG kids get to use the computer lab once a week, and maybe a little more during open time. There's PE every week and Music class once a week. The KG students are buddied up with the 5th graders.

On our way out, we passed by the gym. The gym isn't too big and it looked kinda old.

As much as I like the KG teacher's enthusiasm, I am not sure if I like this school and it's curriculum and facilities enough.

I think I am going to take a break. Kinda difficult to write 4 different entries in a night when I am getting tired. I think I might continue the Sunday open house recaps at another time.


Love you,
Mommy

S. School Open House

Dear Logan,

We visited another 4 open houses this weekend. I think I am getting confused and slowly forgot what I have seen. I've been meaning to write about the two schools I saw yesterday, so that I won't mix it up with the 2 today. But of course, I didn't get to do that last night. Let's see if my memory serves me well.

We visited one of the two locations of S. School. I'll be visiting the other location this coming Saturday. This school is very academic-focused as well. As a general impression of the curriculum, we're pleased with it.

Pre-K schedule is from 8:15-3:45. We met with the teacher and checked out the classroom. Teacher was very nice and enthusiastic. She went through the curriculum a little bit and showed the different projects that the kids did. We saw pictures of the artist/composer of the month. Children copy the picture of an artist/composer and wrote a little something about him/her. The kids were taught reading/phonics, math, science, music, and PE. Aside from artisit/composer of the month, they also have a science topic of the month. They learn about the life cycle of butterflies and frogs, and see the actual butterflies, tadpoles and worms.

I like that in Pre-K, the kids are already learning simple addition (concrete addition) already, and don't have to wait till KG. Music classes are based on the science and art topic.

The ratio is 1:12 and there are 2 lead teachers. The little ones have a separate playground away from the big kids. Twice a year, there's a progress report cards for parents.

The classroom was a good-sized room. As always, student projects and artwork are posted on the wall and window. They have a pretty structured schedule throughout the day. Lunch is not provided, but could order from the catering service.

One bad thing that we noticed when walking in the hallways - leaky roof. Not a good sign. The campus is pretty big, but old. We definitely do not like seeing water on the floor, and a little leak. I am hoping to check out the other campus next week, and the building would be a not newer and nicer.

We then went to the KG room and met with two teachers. Ratio is 1:15 with 2 teachers and 30 kids. The schedule of the day is as structured as the Pre-K room. There are 3 KG classes and it's definitely academic based. We saw the sample math sheet posted on the wall and they are already counting coins (how many dimes and pennies in $0.85). There are word problems as well. I was a little taken back that KG kids are learning that already. But then, we definitely like how advanced it could be.

They offered PE class (2x/week), Music classes (3x/week), art classes (3x/week). Homework is due every Friday (Math and spelling). There is a test every Friday, and a poem recital! Of course, all teachers tell parents not to worry too much about homework, as kids spend all week learning the new spelling words and doing Math. There are other extra-curricula activities and classes taught by outside contracted teachers, e.g. chess, yoga, and soccer.

Despite such a rigorous academic curriculum, they do not have a library in this school. They have the booksmobile coming 1x/month and children check out books. But still, you would think a library is pretty critical. I guess they just want you to focus on their curriculum, but not really leisure reading? They also do not have a computer lab. That's a bummer! The teachers said there's a rotating computer teacher who travels to the campus with laptops. I think he might travel to the other campus as well. Not good either.

Melanie actually goes to this school, but the San Jose location. I think I am going to ask Auntie Leonor and Uncle Kyle what they think of the school.


Love you,
Mommy