Captain Preston

As I have mentioned before, Jordan's class is doing a fabulously experiential unit on Colonial Boston. Jordan is Captain Thomas Preston, who, as Jordan will explain to you, did not start the Boston Massacre. Here he is ready for school today.

The red coat is mine, the shirt is Dale's, the sword/belt/hat are from other costumes, and the boots belong to a friend. (Jordan now wears a size 7.5 in men's sizes, which is a 9.5 in women's, so borrowing a girlfriend's tall boots was not so simple!)

Captain Preston is famously pictured in this engraving by Paul Revere, with the sword raised, on the right.

Jordan, however, is critical of this picture:

Jordan: If you look in that picture Mommy who does it look like started the fight?

Me: Looks like the British started it.

Jordan: Right. And this makes us look very helpless, the colonists over here. But Mommy google "Boston Massacre" so I can show you another picture. [I did so, and he directed me to the one below.] See how this one is completely different? We do not look so helpless here. Captain Preston says that the colonists were yelling and throwing things at the soldiers but he never said to fire. 

I think it is pretty awesome to be learning to critique revolutionary propaganda when you're ten.

Rainforests

Aaron's class has been studying rainforests (both temperate and tropical), and yesterday they went on a field trip to the zoo to enhance their studies. I didn't get to go, but Dale was there with the camera, and it sounded like a great time. It was a beautiful day. They petted wolf fur, with two fingers.

They looked for the owl.

They enjoyed each other's company.

One of the highlights was an interactive theater production in which children played rainforest roles. Marni, for example, was the Forest Floor. Could there possibly be anything more awesome than a second-grader being the Forest Floor? I love it so much. I can't get over it. 

The zoo educator (an awesome woman named Kate who we know from zoo summer camp) has covered the Forest Floor with leaf litter, and is placing a wooden banana slug into the scene. Other kids were Canopy Trees. Observe how their branches stick out; when snow collects on them, they bend down to let it fall off. And don't miss the Understory down there at bush level, with a bee. It just doesn't get any better than this.

That was all from the Temperate Rainforest, stage left. Stage right showcased the Tropical Rainforest, which also includes Canopy Trees, an Understory, and a Forest Floor. Note the different foliage, including a bromeliad in the Understory. One of the Canopy Trees has a question. And is that a leopard on the Forest Floor?

A sloth visited our favorite Canopy Tree. Aaron described later that sloths kind of hug the trees, so he made sure that this sloth did that.

The tropical rainforest also features an Emergent Layer, which is a very tall tree that pokes out above the canopy (in this case by standing on a stool). The Emergent Layer tree needs special strong, spreading roots to support her height. She also boasts a toucan.

Billings

Jordan has been accepted to Billings Middle School! We are thrilled; Billings was our first choice, and we think it will be great for him. (Regular readers: Billings was School A in an earlier post, and was the school with the fantastic assessment process.)

I had the pleasure of spending a few hours experiencing only the euphoria of acceptance. Then there was a period of gasping for air when we found out that our financial aid award was not what I had hoped it would be. We sort of got through that with pragmatic planning (finding ways to sort of make it work at least for this year). That pragmatic part is not concluded. Emotionally, though, there is another layer, which is: even if we can pay for it, is it worth it? Will it really be as good as we hope, or will we make this huge investment for not very much payoff?

To get a handle on this basically non-answerable question, Dale and I took some time to identify what we hope for Jordan to achieve that would really make it worth the money, and what kinds of things would have to happen on a day-to-day basis to assure us that we were on the right track. We turned that into a family contract, sat down with Jordan to read it through, and all signed it together. He was enthusiastic; he knows the money is an issue, and wants this to work out, and said "These are all good things that I should do no matter what." We are hoping this will be something we can return to in the coming year(s) to see how we are doing.

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Billings Family Contract

This contract is between Jordan Scherr and his parents, who are paying for Jordan to go to Billings Middle School. Middle school costs a lot for good reasons (the same amount as a new laptop computer every month). Here are the things we hope to achieve in middle school that will make it worth all the money.

· Jordan’s work at school will be meaningful. Jordan will learn a lot. The schoolwork that Jordan does will be so interesting, exciting, surprising, and deep that he will gladly put independent effort into it.

· Jordan will have awesome relationships with inspiring teachers that he trusts and admires.

· Jordan will make great friends.

· Jordan’s parents will make great friends and enjoy being a part of the school community.

· Jordan will be increasingly independent and self-motivated.

· Jordan’s parents will trust that school is doing a great job helping Jordan learn.

In order to feel good about spending all this money, we want to know that these things are really happening. Here are some ways we will know.

1. Jordan will have something interesting to say about school each day – something he learned or did with other people – a “school rose.”

2. Jordan will do a good job with his schoolwork. This means keeping track of what needs doing every day, doing it even when he’d rather do something else, and being pleased to share completed work with his parents.

3. Jordan will tell his parents if he feels unable to do his schoolwork well – say if he thinks the work is too hard or too much, and make a plan together with his parents and his teachers for what to do about it.

4. Jordan’s parents will talk to his teachers to hear how things are going.

5. Jordan’s parents will feel secure that Jordan and his teachers are taking responsibility for Jordan’s learning.

6. Jordan will invite new friends over.

7. Jordan’s parents will invite new friends over.

By signing this document, Jordan and his parents agree to do all of these things.


[Jordan] [Dad] [Mom]


If these things don’t happen, there will be natural consequences that will be unpleasant for all of us. These are some of the things we want to avoid:

- Jordan could waste time and not learn much.

- Jordan’s parents might have to work longer hours and play less to make enough money for not enough of a good reason.

- Jordan’s parents could start fighting over whether we make enough money, or be bitter about spending money on middle school.

- We might not have enough money to do regular things like buy good food.

- We might not have enough money for important things that we will need to pay for later, like college.


We agree to do the things on the first page partly because they are good things, and partly to avoid these bad things.