The Important Things in Life

This fall all my Grand children started to school.  JJ is in second grade, Dominic is in Pre-K and so is miss Amara.  JJ and Amara go to school in OKC.  Dominic goes to school in Stillwater.  I have taught in several schools all across the state of Oklahoma.  I have worked as an Assistant County Superintendent, been a teacher of Kindergarten all the way up to 8th grade.  I have been on the school board for almost 2 years now.  I have taught in a very small school and what I would call a medium sized school.  I raised 3 children who went to public school and then I had 1 child go back east to a prep school and on to a military academy, plus 2 more who went to a state university.  Where am I going with this, I'm never really sure until I start writing where the story is going to go.  The one thing I know is that education has always been and always will be important to me and my family.

There are many ways that you can go to educate your children.  You can educate at home, which no matter what any Good parent does this.  You can send your child to private school.  You can also send them to public school.  When I grew up I went to a very small rural school in Southwest Oklahoma.  My dad was President of the school board for years.  My parents never said, do you want to go to college.  They asked me questions like, What college do you want to go to? or What will you major in when you go to college.  I chose a private, Christian school to begin with, but later transferred to Oklahoma State University to finish school.  Both schools were excellent and I made many lasting friends at both schools.  I also have many life long friends from that small rural school in Caddo County.

When Ryan was going in to 4th grade we decided to move in to the Anadarko School District.  The school was about 10 times bigger than Oney where he had been going to school.  We took a chance, but he adjusted well.  Anadarko is a very diverse community.  My children made friends with Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican, Asian and yes Caucasian students.  Mike and I felt that living in Anadarko was preparing our children for real life.  I feel we were able to accomplish what we set out to do.  Our children had friends from all races, religions and walks of life.  They went to public school and maybe they were exposed to some things in life that are not so good, but they learned at an early age how to select the people to hang out with.  We did many hours of home schooling I must say.  Mike was the go to Math tutor for our children and most of their friends.  I was the go to person to help write essays and speeches.  I sat many hours teaching my children at home how to outline and study. 

As I grew up I was in school clubs like 4-H and FHA.  My own children were in many groups some of which included Boy Scouts, Camp Fires, 4-H, FBLA, Student Council and more.  These clubs do so much to help shape our children.  Of course, they were also involved in their church, just as I was.  They all played sports and learned how to get along with their teammates.

If after 58 years of life I can give one piece of advice to my younger friends it is this:  Provide your child with many diverse activities, teach them right from wrong, be a good example of what you are preaching and always, always be involved in whatever your child is doing.  Take time, make time!!  I have been volunteering in my grandchildren's school for the last 3 years.  They love having me come and I get many more blessings by being there than they do.  Get to know your child's teacher.  Do Not just go to the school on parent/teacher conference day.  Do Not just go to the school when your child is in trouble.  Volunteer, help out your school.  Ask what you can do to help out at the school.  Go help at lunch time with playground duty, watch the cafeteria.  There are so many things that adults, parents can do.  Talk to your child when they come home.  Look at the papers they bring home.  Ask questions about what they are learning.  Listen to your child read, and read to them.  These are the things you can do to help your child become an adult that is an asset to society.

Last but certainly not least, hug your child, kiss your child and praise your child.  Let them know how much you love them.  This is not to say that your should over inflate their egos to the point that they think the world owes them.  There is such a thing as humility too, but help them to have a healthy self esteem.  Help them learn to be Good Citizens!  The best education, gift you can give your child can not be bought with money.....it is LOVE.

Orr Family Farm Pumpkin Patch Pre-K 2012

Orr Family Farm, first field day for Amara.

Our pretty girl, posing for me.

I met the NHES Pre-K at the Orr Family Farm in south OKC.  We had so much fun.  The farm was crawling with little people.  I had two kids....Amara and Aubrey.  They were so excited to ride the horses, feed the animals, go on a hayride, slide down the giant slide and bounce on the air pillows.  They were really surprised when I showed up with chicken nuggets too.

Miss Amara holding her little pumpkin.

Amanda joined us and got to share in Amara's excitement.  It is good that NHES still lets these kiddos go on field trips.  I am sure some of these kids had never been to any kind of farm.  They were very excited about ridding the bus too.  Adults forget how new all these experiences are to little children.

Each child gets to pick out their own pumpkin to take home.  This too is exciting for them.  Amara wanted a little pumpkin because she is little.  I am so glad that I have retired and I am able to go and share in these once in a lifetime experiences with my grandkids.  I am really blessed.  Hope you enjoy the pictures of the kids on this special day.

Ms. Luster's Class

The Rattlesnake Run 2012!!!!!!!

Nichols Hills Elementary School has an annual Rattlesnake Run to help raise money for their school.  This money goes to furnish things for the kids at the school.  It even helps pay for bus drivers so the children in this school can go on field trips.  Each child is ask to get at least $25.00 in donations.  Each student then pledges to run at least 1 mile.  Since the elementary school does not have a track, the students are bused to one of the middle schools that does have a track.  It takes many volunteers to run this race.  Three years ago I volunteered to help for an hour and ended up staying all day. Last year Mike and I volunteered to help and stayed all day.  This year Amanda, Mike and I all  three helped with this.  We had so much fun watching kids from 4 years old to 12 years old run at least 1 mile.  One four year old ran 1.5 miles in about 20 minutes.  Some of them are amazing.  Others struggle, but they smile when you encourage them and tell them they can do it.   Many parents come just to watch their child run and you can see it on their face how excited they are to have mom or dad there to watch them.

This year many of the middle school students, some who went to this elementary school, came out to cheer on the runners.  The cheerleaders dressed in the cheer outfits and stayed out there all day cheering on these little kids.  The kids loved it.

Someone else donated water and snacks for the students.  They come one grade level at a time.  The Pre-K and 6th grade ran together and the rest of the grades were just that one grade.  Of course this fun raiser also promotes a healthy lifestyle.  I was happy to see that even the students that one might consider over-weight were still able to run/walk their mile.  I was proud of them and I know they were proud of themselves.

Kids and Carnivals!!!!

Last Thursday night was the school carnival for Nichols Hills Elementary School in Oklahoma City.  That is where JJ and Amara go to school.  It was held at a very nice large church who has a large gym, a patio with nice tables and chairs and a huge, lush, green lawn.  The PTA puts on a great carnival for those kiddos.   There are a couple of inflatables outside and a dunk tank.  The young boys enjoy the large field where they can play football.  I really like the way they do it.  The kids buy wrist bands for $8 in advance.  It costs more if you wait till that night to buy your wrist band.  If they keep their wrist band on until the next morning they can be tardy and it doesn't count against them.  The wrist band allows them to do everything at the carnival for free ($8).  There is a cake walk... football throw, ring toss, face painting, mummy wrap, a hotdog, chips and a drink.  They also have a silent auction for several homemade items.  Painted pumpkins, wreaths and more.  The whole family comes and all the parents really get to know each other.  I'm not sure how much money they earned for the school, but it's quite abit.  The main thing is that parents, kids and friends get to have a good time and interact with other families.