Why Schools Don't Educate

It's been a week since school started. Been thinking a lot about what I want to do differently as I always do at the start of a new school year. Traveling around the world & coming up with an original opera with the kids have kept things interesting, but I wanted to bring more of my current interests into the classroom. So I decided to start a vege garden with my six-year-olds & together learn everything we can about how things grow. With our own class garden, I figured I could bring in nutrition, sustainability, environment, and community (cooperatives) into the curriculum... That is until I went to a meeting that made me want to quit teaching all together.

What was the meeting about? Test scores & No Child Left Behind. Don't even really want to get into what was discussed in the meeting, but I left with a bad taste in my mouth. No matter how creative I try to be in my classroom & no matter how supportive my Principal is with the things I do with the kids, it always comes down to the damn test scores. Believe me, my kids' scores are phenomenal with the exception of a few who are constantly pulled out to get "extra" help to drill phonics & number sense.

So why am I pissed? Because half the stuff I have to do is bullshit. If I could have it my way, I would do away with stupid tests which only measure the kids' ability to regurgitate what's been fed to them, and let the children spend the entire day exploring & hanging out. Instead of me dictating what they have to learn, I want them to ask questions, inquire, and learn on their own. (I try to do this the best I can, but it's almost impossible in a public school setting.)

Just finished reading a fantastic article about education (a must read) from my all time favorite magazine, the Sun. Want to quit teaching public schools, move out of Utah, and go to Oregon or Northern California to learn the Steiner method of teaching at the Waldorf school. Perhaps then I can meet fellow educators who understand what it really means to be a teacher.

The Future of Food

As you know, I write quite often about food... foods I grow, foods I make, foods I entertain with, and just my adoration for food in general. Well, I went to see Food Inc. last night. You must go see it, but I thought you might want to watch this for free here, first. It really makes you think about your food choices & what that choice means to the world we live in.
(Click on the image tab, and then click on the play button in the middle of the screen. I know you can't see it, but just move your mouse over. Might have to wait a bit.)

Fruits of My Labor

Swiss chard, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, and zucchinis.
Peppers, eggplants, green onion, and my Camino bonnet.

My garden salad.

Stone baked pizza w/ homemade rye dough.

Garden style scrambled w/ homemade wheat bread & fresh squeezed grapefruit juice.

My lovely yard...Thanks, Christy!

All that hard work in the spring has paid off, and I've started to enjoy the fruits of my labor. Okay, I had some help, but it still is my garden so it's only fair that I get all the credit. Not just me though, but the lucky SLC peeps who get invited over for my lovely dinner parties. (Can't get that word out of my vocabulary having spent all summer around the Irish.)

I've been busy entertaining since the beginning of the week, and it's only Wednesday. (3 more to go & I'll be done for the week...perhaps for this year.) Breakfast for my aunt on Monday was brilliant! (It's the Irish again...) Followed by afternoon drinks with Jeanette, and then Chris, Christy, Jack, and Hasen came over for some pizzas I baked on my never-used pizza stone. It really was quite lovely! (Wish had a brick oven though...anyone wanna build me one in my backyard?) Yesterday was spent entertaining a Swiss who made me feel like I was back on the Camino, and we even got in a lovely hike up to Lake Mary up Big Cottonwood Canyon. (Felt kind of weird walking without a heavy pack, though.) And tonight, I'm throwing a party for Jen's graduation & getting another use out of that fantastic pizza stone & my ice cream maker I got for Christmas which is still new in its box.

Wish my new Camino buddies were close by so they could partake in my end of summer soirees even though Super Hans may beg me to marry him again like he did the night I made dinner for a bunch of us in Arca do Pino. The only downside of all this entertaining is that my waistline is slowly increasing again. Perhaps I should just put a sack of rice inside my pack & start hiking everyday so I can eat whatever I want... like ice cream & chocolate on a daily basis.

Off to the backyard-farm to pick my veggies for my lunch guest before I start throwing some dough around for another round of pizzas tonight. I wonder if there's a Camino like walk in Italy...that really would be BRILLIANT!