Ungrateful little turd.

Dear Other Mothers,

GRRRR.

I told the girls that when they got home from school today they would have to have their rooms cleaned before they could leave. Josie and Kizzy share a room. So I told Josie that I would have Kizzy clean half of the room, and she'd have to do the other half when she got home.

During the day Kizzy said "Mom, come look I cleaned the room!" And she had. Minus a few random items like a ruler, some game pieces and a few other objects she had stuck in a box on Josie's desk.

So I pick the girls up from the bus stop, and Josie's friend asks her over, so I let her go home with them, but she needed to come get her eye patch. So they walk over to our house and Josie gets on an eye patch, and I show her her room and say, "Kizzy cleaned this for you--isn't that nice of her?"

and Of COURSE--the brattiest of brats says:

"But look what she did--she put a whole bunch of stuff on my desk--that's not cleaning!"

the words " ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" come out of my mouth. And she says, "well--she put all of this stuff on my desk".

So of course my short temper forced my arm to swipe all of the crap off her desk and on the floor. "There--now YOU can clean it up"

Then I let into her about how her reaction should have been to run to Kizzy and say thank you a million times for doing her chores.

And she just kept saying, "well . . but . . well"

And I grabbed her by the back of the neck and told her that she WOULD go and thank Kizzy--and then she would do ALL of Kizzy's chores next week. WITHOUT whining

"well, . . .but . . . well"

Then I said "That's it! You are grounded all of next week--AND you have her chores. Now clean this up."

And then I walked away so I wouldn't pull her hair out.

She has been super rotten lately, and this was the worst.

But now I'm regretting grounding her--because then she's stuck in the house with me for a week.

So I need something more creative--and punishing--something that would help her to remember to be grateful. And not so bratty.

What ideas to you have?

Anyone??

xoxo Me

Sincere Search

I am so sick of thinking about this. I decided to get more info from any/all of you. I know you either know some information or know someone who would know.

I REALLY want to switch schools. My kids are doing great where they are but it is so BLAH. I want a more well rounded approach to education. My neighborhood school is out.

I am seriously sick of thinking about this. I just wish it were easy.

So this is kind of where I am stuck right now.

Part of the reason I want to switch is that Annabelle is VERY creative. And I think her current schools is just not developing that. Also, she HATES math. She can do it, she just hates it. I think it is because her school is all about timed drills and math facts. They are not good at the application part. She said something to me once that made me realize she doesn't know WHY she does Math--she hasn't learned the application part.

I am considering Edu-prize in Gilbert.

This is what I know/heard/think so far:

Pros:

• Colorful classrooms (fun stuff on the walls)

• They integrate science, art, and language (I saw on their walls a project that was a representation of the kids learning about Arizona for science, so they painted an Arizona landscape, then wrote a poem about it and overlayed with with velum over their painting)
• Small student/teacher ratio
• High Parent involvement
• They are an excelling school with high test scores
• Nice facilities
• Seem to encourage creativity
• They have fun events for school where the kids show what they do, and get to do it creatively (her current school has NOTHING fun or creative)
• I've talked to a parent at Edu-prize and they LOVE it.
• It has tons of great reviews on greatschools.net
• They have a garden
  

Cons:

• No one in my ward/neighborhood that I know goes there. (right now I have it so easy, I know everyone at the bus stop and can have someone else get my kids if I need to)
• No bus system--would have to drive every day
• It seems too colorful and happy which I interpret as not serious about education--I am a very back to basics school theory sort of person, I just think their current schools is TOO much like that. I would really like to find a happy medium. I know I sound contradictory--that is why I need your help.
• They have combo classes. 3/4, and 5/6. Annabelle is a lazy kid and I think she would regress/not challenge herself and just go with whatever is easier so I fear she won't be pushed. She is pushed at her current school and does well because everyone is doing the same thing.
• My friend told me a story of when she worked at a public school a few years ago. She got a transfer student into her classroom from Edu-prize. In the child's folder he had excellent test scores and was supposed to be very smart, but she said he wasn't even reading at grade level. She said that other teachers in her school had had the same experience. They had discussed it and thought that Edu-prize shady and fed their kids test answers (or something like that). So that freaked me out.
• Parents that have kids their LOVE it. And the scores are seriously unmatched. All of their performance is at 94% or greater for all of the subjects in the school. So that makes me question it--how do THAT many kids do so well, it seems to good to be true. And if I was a parent and my kids came home with those scores, why would I know any different? I would think my kid was doing great. I want to have a parent compare their Edu-prize kid with another kid that is at a good public school. Does that make sense?
• They don't do Spalding Phonics which is how I learned and how my oldest two learned and they are so good at reading. And good with really difficult large words. (to be fair I don't know what they teach in their Kindergarten)

So what do I do? This may sound random, but I don't want my kids to have TOO soft of an elementary school experience. I don't want them to be so used to small focused classrooms that when they go to Junior High in a large public school, that they FREAK. Would that happen? Am I crazy?

See why I am so stuck? So what do you know? Who do you know? If you know anyone with a good or bad experience at Edu-prize send this link to them.

Or do you have any other suggestions?

Seriously, anyone with an opinion, good or bad, whether you know me or not.

Lengthy comments welcome.

I have got to make a decision. It is drivng me C-R-A-Z-Y.