Heigh ho, happy Wednesday! Time for an update and this week’s WIPpet.
We’re in full-on State Testing Opt-Out mode here. My younger one is still homeschooled and therefore doesn’t need to take the state exams. My older one, however, is opting out—along with a lot of kids across the state. I happen to be married to a teacher, and this was a calculated risk on our part. I’m usually the one who does activist-type stuff, but my husband has been right in the thick of things. It’s been really cool to see this side of him.
Other than that, it’s same old, same old around here. I’m excited to be able to finally post about fellow author T. Strange‘s new release, My Zombie Boyfriend. I was lucky enough to get an advance copy, and you’ll just have to trust me when I say it’s well worth the read. If you’re on Facebook, there’s a release day event starting at 1pm EDT. I’ll be over there at 2 to talk about…stuff (spoiler-free zone here).
On to my WIPpet. We’re still with Andre this week, and he’s enduring an endless shopping trip with his sisters. For the record, I’m with Andre on this one.
WIPmath: 4/15 = 4 + (5-1) = 8 sentences.
Andre blew on his coffee to cool it and looked across the tiny table at his sisters. He’d agreed to go shopping with them on the condition they help him hunt for an apartment, but he regretted that decision now that he was sitting in South Station trying not to look pained by the aches in his feet and his head. There was nothing he hated more than shopping, made worse by the festive holiday atmosphere. He felt he owed Trinity and Phyllice, though. This was the first time he’d asked to make a trip into the city with them since [SPOILER], and they were more than willing to help him out.
On the plus side, he’d found a place almost first thing, a house for rent right in Weymouth. On the down side, he’d had to endure hours of crowds and noise and stores he didn’t care about other than his sisters’ one allowance into a secondhand music store. Now that he was comfortable and on the verge of being happily caffeinated, he crossed his fingers under the table in hopes the wicked duo didn’t have plans to drag him anywhere else.
For the record, I’m very fond of Trinity and Phyllice. They’re just typical big sisters who like tormenting the youngest sibling. Not that I would know anything at all about that.
Thanks to K. L. Schwengel for rallying the troops. If you want more good stuff, visit the link-up and check out the other WIPpets. To add your own, just post a bit of it on your blog, connect it to the date with Fancy Math, and share the link with us.
Happy reading and writing!
I’m with Andre too. Shopping just depresses me and stresses me out (though, I really should devote more time to shopping well so I don’t have to go back all the time for things I’ve forgotten).
Hmm, I wonder if part of your husband’s activism is related to how teachers are being graded according to how their students do in these tests…. not that I blame him. The truth is, no teacher can make a child learn, and no teacher can present a subject (or often subjects) in such a way that ALL students will want to learn or be able to learn. The idea of testing isn’t horrible… we’ve always had tests. It’s how the administrators want to use these tests.
Anyway… good your you!
Yeah, that’s a huge part of the problem—just how much of teachers’ evaluations rest on them having a high percentage of good scores on the tests. The sad part is how this will hurt rural and urban center schools far more than suburbs like mine.
I like on the verge of happily caffeinated. Great phrase! We just opted out of testing this week too. Curious to know your reasons and how it played out with your husband being a teacher
“On the verge of happily caffeinated” is how I start most days! LOL
Well, for us, a lot of it is about how we see the state government as corrupt and in the pocket of the companies that produce the tests. Pearson is known to be involved in some highly suspect practices. This afternoon, my husband and other local organizers are meeting with one of our legislators about the recent bill that passed. The whole system is such a mess.
LOL Yeah, Andre. With you on that one. But finding a house in one trip? I think you should take the shopping as the enh to balance the woohoo!
We did testing this week. We homeschool through a state program, the likes of which are unique to Alaska, to my knowledge. In essence, they give us money to spend on school stuff and a district diploma and we give them a couple days of our time and quarterly paperwork. Both my older girls have 504’s, though, so it’s not as arduous for them as for other students.
Ha! Well, to be fair, it’s pretty easy to find rental properties in Boston ahead of time and then check them out. I suppose the relief of finding a place might make up for the shopping.
I wish our state had a similar program for homeschooling. Our local district is very supportive as far as materials, information, and making it easy to submit quarterly reports, so I can’t really complain. Still, it would be nice if we had more options.
I’m totally with Andre on this one. And I have two older sisters who always enjoyed shopping(and likely torturing me) too. 🙂
Same. I dislike shopping. I can’t even imagine the torture of shopping with BOTH my sisters, honestly.
haha this is very familiar of a scene I just wrote with (SPOILER!). (ps, I’m kinda having fun with throwing spoiler in there randomly.) I’m with Andre too. Can’t wait to read this whole thing =P
LOL! Yeah, exactly. 🙂
Oh, blargh, not just shopping but Christmas shopping? (Or, shopping during Christmas period, at least?) I’m definitely with Andre on this one, too!
Shopping…Christmas shopping…Christmas shopping in Boston. Yep. I’ve been in Boston at Christmastime, and as much as I love the city (I could happily live there), I would NOT want to be Andre.
Oh, I am so with Andre on this. I still have flashbacks to a trip to Mall of America with my sister and two nieces. *shudders* The best thing about living in this day and age? Nearly everything you want can be bought on line and delivered!!!
Yes! I order everything but clothes online. I can’t stand shopping, to the point that even if I need clothes, I won’t go until I’m desperate—and even then I stall.
I’m completely with Andre also. I loathe shopping with a passion – unless it’s a book store or electronics. I’m afraid “happily caffeinated” wouldn’t improve my mood. A few glasses of wine? Maybe. Depends on what kind.