Parents in the Schools

I've been thinking a lot lately about parents in the schools. How can we make that happen in a productive way that strengthens the school ecosystems? I'm particularly interested in how we can get parents in the schools teaching kids about where their food and water comes from. I do this through art, but there is a bigger question here of actually having a curriculum that includes parent involvement on this level. How do we get more parents to feel they are welcome in the schools? Are they welcome? Would teachers rather be left alone?

As a parent who is also an artist in the schools I think that it's time for some curriculum reform. We've got to make room for more experiential learning in our classrooms.

First Sleepover

They went to bed at 10:30 and woke up at 4:30. Played World of Warcraft until pancakes at 9 am. Peter and I slept on the hide-a-bed and watched two "date" movies, Sunshine Cleaners and Little Miss Sunshine. (SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't watched these movies you might not want to read the rest of this post, although I try to be circumspect.) Both movies were entertaining, and both left me feeling unsatisfied at the end, especially LMS. I found the characters in Sunshine Cleaners more interesting but I still wanted more depth from both movies. Comedies need to be anchored in some kind of reality to make them funny. Either that, or really go big and satirical. Maybe it's a matter of taste, but I like some meat on my comedy. I wept a lot watching Sunshine Cleaners, but the lack of suspension of disbelief meant it didn't touch the deepest chords of my emotions. Alan Arkin is great in both movies. In fact, once his character dies, the plot of LMS starts to lag. I didn't like the ending. I thought Olive should have been able to do her routine without the overreactions in the audience and her family coming up on stage. Why bring in the police? Dumb and unnecessary. I thought she should have had a routine that started "normal" and then built up into the wilder moves that her grandpa had choreographed. I mean all those little pageant contestants are highly sexualized anyway, so showing an outraged audience just didn't cut it for me.

Another thing I liked about Sunshine Cleaners was watching the characters just being vulnerable on their own without dialogue. The device of the CB radio that allows them to "talk to heaven" was empty. In fact, it could have been more interesting if a trucker had actually had a conversation with the small boy rather than just hearing dead air. I'm a mystery novel junkie, so a movie about death scene clean-up is bound to appeal to me but parts of the movie didn't smell as fresh as others. The bit about the former cheerleader who's trying to impress her school mates feels like it was past its sell-by date. The affair that's going nowhere could have ended a lot earlier than it did. I so wanted the main character to have another relationship. I was flummoxed as to why innuendos in that direction never went anywhere. Will there be a sequel? Ha! There will certainly be more sleepovers!