While this is not the first creative letter I've written to a school teacher over the course of my years as a parent, this is the first letter like this that I have written for my youngest, Gaby. When Meg was a senior in high school, about halfway through the year I started to get bored writing the same old note again and again. So, I livened things up a bit. Meg still tells me how the ladies in the front office used to love getting my notes.
As with any great tradition (and I guess this is going to be a "tradition" in our family!), one must keep it up in order for it to remain a "tradition." Last week presented me with a perfect opportunity to spice up what could have been a very boring "note to my child's teacher." Truth be told, I needed to vent anyhow! Having a British husband who is very particular about how things are spelled and in the case of words he feels that we Americans have "Bastardized", he gets even more persnickety! Case in point" Last week's spelling list that Gaby brought home included the color "grey", or wait, was it spelled "gray" on her list? Now I've gone and confused myself. OK, so I looked and the way it was spelled on her list is the way Americans spell it, "gray."
Gaby insists that is must be spelled "grey" no exceptions! Over the course of the week I kept telling her that yes I know, she is both a British and American citizen (she does in fact, hold dual-Citizenship), however she's being educated (for the time being) in America and she's just going to have to spell it the way we Yankees spell it! She wouldn't hear of it! So, every time she had to use the word in homework or school work, she'd spell it both ways.
I think it's important to add that Gaby has never ever gotten anything under 100% on a weekly spelling test. I'm not saying it to brag, I'm saying it because it is what it is, and the fact is, my kid is pretty proud of this and ok, she's a bit obsessive about not ever getting anything under 100% on a spelling test. So, while she and her dad were eating breakfast last Thursday morning (normally they have spelling tests on Friday, but last week there was no school on Friday), I spent some time putting together a note to go to school with her, letting her teacher know about why, exactly, Gaby insists on spelling it with an "e" rather than an "a."
I've scanned in the note I sent - so you can see for yourself what went to school with my child.
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Yeah, I knew it was on the amusing side, but while I didn't want to send in a boring note, I also wanted to make sure Gaby's teacher, Mrs. F., knew how big of a deal this was to Gaby. This child of mine takes her British heritage pretty seriously and doesn't understand why Americans went and changed the way words were spelled. We've simplified the explanation, in terms that she can understand, but she doesn't think that's good enough. I told her that at some point she was just going to have to assimilate or risk losing points on her eventual GPA because she is so stubborn and because she won't always have teachers like Mrs. F, who are both understanding and generous. Of course, the main reason she's so very relentless about this is that we've raised her to spell things the English way rather than the standardized American way. Her Montessori back in Maine did the same thing.
When Gaby got home from school on Thursday afternoon, I went through her backpack and noticed a note from her teacher on the reverse of the letter that I sent to school. It made me smile not just because it was complimentary, but because I was able to make someone else laugh. I know that Gaby's teacher adores every student in her class and loves teaching, however it was really nice to get this reply, because you know that day in and day out, teaching a bunch of seven-year-olds probably has it's moments that make you want to scream. I have one very precocious, bright, amusing, chatty, curious seven-year-old on my hands. 16 of them in the same room? Yeah, that would make me want to wear a Xanax necklace all the time so that I could just lick it throughout the day.
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When all is said and done, Gaby does understand that for whatever reasons, we spell certain words a tad differently here in the states and that for the time being, let's just spell them the way we're supposed to. Unless it's the word grey, then there is absolutely no gray area at all in her mind!
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A while back I mentioned that I was going to have another giveaway sometime in the month of March. Much to my surprise, March is almost over. While I'm sitting here wondering where the hell March went (and why why why is it not taking Old Man Winter with it?) I guess I'll go ahead and kick off the giveaway!
This is a little different from my normal giveaways in that this time the winner gets a choice of one of four ways to receive the prize . . .
$300 VISA Gift Card
$300 Sent via PayPal Directly to your PayPal Account
Kindle HD Fire HD 8.9" 16GB Dual-Band Wifi + $25 VISA Gift Card -$300 total value
$300 Apple Store Gift Card/Credit
So, the bottom line is a prize valued at $300 and whomever wins gets to decide for themselves in which form they want to receive it.
What do you need to do to enter?
- Leave a comment on this post = 1 entry
- Tweet the link to this post and make sure you cc @Barking_Mad = 1 entry for each tweet up to two tweets a day - maximum possible entries between now and the close of the giveaway='s 20 ENTRIES. Anything over two tweets a day will not be counted! Contest ends at 10:00PM Eastern Time on 3/29/13. Including today, that gives you ten full days.
- Have a blog? Write about this contest and make sure you link back to this post within your own post then come back here and leave me the URL to your post in a comment, here on this post = 2 entries. I hope that wasn't too confusing. I mean, you don't have to make your entire post about this contest, just mention it.
- Contest begins the minute this post hits my blog and ends at 10PM eastern time on 3/29/13!
GOOD LUCK!
And now, for the fine print:
The Fine Print: This giveaway was not sponsored by anyone else other than me. If I'm related to you in any way, shape, or form, you aren't eligible to enter. Unfortunately this giveaway is open to American residents only.
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10:01PM EDT 3/29/13
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