Breakfast Talk and Future Thoughts

Currently, in grade 2 Madelyn is working on a unit called Small Flying and Crawling Animals. This couldn't be a better fit. Seriously it's as if it were hand picked by Miss Madelyn herself. Seriously, small flying and crawling animals... Be still her beating heart. They have divided into groups, she chose the bat group, but agonized over the decision because she had to choose between that, bees, spiders or ladybugs. 

She has spent the better part of 6 weeks learning all sorts of trivia, about all sorts of critters. She has taken a grasshopper to school, and held it under the smart board, in her hand, so that everyone could get a good look at it. She's taken a found moth wing to school. She collected information on crickets and took that to her class to share. She's even working on a little project at home, to take in for her teacher. Just because.

Her class room has also had a tarantula, a scorpion, meal worms and pill bugs. Guess who got to pet the tarantula? Guess what the tarantula ate? Crickets... [I think that was a bit hard for this hardcore bug lover to learn, but hey, she also learned about the food chain...]


Yesterday morning, as I was getting the kids lunches made, and they were sitting at the kitchen table eating their breakfast, I was privy to the following conversation. [Madelyn was feeling badly, because the critters were heading back to where ever it was that they came from...]



mg: "Mason did you get creatures in your class room when you were in Grade 2?"
mk: "No, nothing like that."
mg: "I'm going to miss them"
mk: "Things have changed drastically since I was in Grade 2, Madelyn.
mg: "How?"
mk: "Well for example, do you know the Grade 3's got to make brownies? Yeah... They did. They got to make brownies because it has something to do with Rocks & Minerals.
mg: "That's neat."
mk: "Yeah. Because do you know what I got to do in Grade 3? I got to smell sulphur"

Had I been sipping coffee at that time, I think it would have sprayed out my nose. It was just so funny to hear them talking like that. And to hear Mason say how DRASTICALLY things have changed in the past 3 years...

Imagine my horror, to how things have changed... Now in school there are ipads and mac books. Mason has accounts set up, and can check home work / hand in assignments and find out quiz results from home. Back in the day, we had spelling tests, he's got spell check. Back in the day if you were bullied, it happened Monday through Friday. Now if you're bullied, it happens 24/7. He wants to use the computer. I'm just so not cool with that. The kid is learning how to type. It's a different world out there for sure, so when he tells me how drastically things have changed over the past 3 years, I can't imagine how they will have changed 30 years from now.

I just hope that I can keep up with changing technology. So for the next few years at least I don't get the eye rolls and the 'Mum how would possibly know that?' questions... I've always thought I'd be a cool, hip mum, but maybe I won't be... Oh you kids, I need you to know, that ALWAYS, it's your best interest I have at heart.  I don't EVER want you to have to deal with any of the horror that seems to run so rampant. Don't EVER think you're not good enough. Don't EVER do something because some one says you have to, to be cool. ALWAYS know that you can turn to your Dad or I, no matter the situation. We are here to go to bat for you, FOREVER.