Exploring Options

Annabelle on a recent afternoon, sharing some shoes with some of her stuffed posse

RECONNAISSANCE MISSION: We've had a busy-busy-busy past couple of days and today was no exception.

I spent the past weekend doing more research online about resources available to help us do what we're trying to do here, which is provide the kids with a top-notch education. That said, one of the realities is that we're trying to do all this without paying the $6,000 to $10,000 a year per child a good private school would cost; and right now, for a myriad of long, complicated reasons, Seattle Public Schools isn't an attractive option for us.

I have been looking at a couple of alternative learning programs (which are almost entirely online courses) administered by a couple of school districts in Washington. Upside: curriculum for free and the chance to have some independent classes we take reimbursed; downsides - might be a bunch of busy work we don't want/need, might be more geared to the grade rather than where the kids are at (to use bad grammar).

I also spent time looking at homeschool resource centers of the Seattle and neighboring school districts. They each have some pros, some cons, and some have a whole lot of hoops to jump through. It seems like they might be more "trouble" than they are help.

However, in my research I did come across the Highline Homeschool Center, a program of the Highline School District which is just south of Seattle (it's right by Seatac airport). I almost couldn't believe what I was reading on their site. In part, it said the center offers "a variety of no or low cost classes helping children meet their educational goals each year. In addition, various curricula and educational resources are maintained for parent use and checkout."

Sounds good ... plus there's a computer lab, they do field trips, spelling and geography bees, social events, workshops, testing. And unlike other districts' centers where all sorts of strings are attached, "Students who register with the (Highline) center are not registering with our school district."

As luck would have it, I saw on their Web site that they were having an open house on Sept. 15 (today).

I have always perceived the words "open house" to mean a drop in situation. I wanted to get there closer to 11 than 1, and we did arrive at about 11:15. I was really surprised when we walked into the building, followed the voices and found that a meeting for parents was underway. Yikes! I was not prepared for that (no notepad and absolutely nothing to keep the kids busy/entertained) while big people talked about stuff remotely interesting - at best - to them.

I found a pen and a crappy old scrap of paper in my purse and the kids entertained themselves by playing tic tac toe and taking pictures of each other with my digital camera. While they did that, I listened. ...

And I liked what I heard. Frankly, it sounds almost too good to be true.

After the meeting, I asked the teacher (a bona fide district employee/educator) a couple of questions and sure 'nuff, there are no strings attached. It us open to us, even though we don't live in their school district. Center members can reserve classrooms for meetings, projects. They're open to ideas for classes, field trips, etc.

I didn't hesitate a bit in signing CJ & Annabelle up for the weekly (Wednesday morning) hands on science class. The cost? A $10 suggested donation for the WHOLE QUARTER. And I had CJ and Annabelle sign on the dotted line (so they can use the school computers and other resources).

We start next week! I'm looking forward to seeing if/how this evolves. SOCIAL HOUR: This afternoon a matinee at Safeco Field was on our schedule. Since Christian and his car were already downtown, the kids and I decided to just hop a bus and meet him at the stadium.

As we waited for the bus, CJ struck up a conversation with an older gentleman who was at the stop with us. CJ offered a bit of advice to the man. "You shouldn't just hop on the first bus that comes along. You need to get on the right bus. Last night before the Storm game, my dad hopped on the first bus and it was the wrong one."

The man got a chuckle out of that. :)

So as the bus approached, CJ and Annabelle were careful to check the number on its marquee. It was one of the two buses on our, "This will work" list. It wound up being the perfect bus for us.

The driver was probably in his 40s and he was a big baseball fan. He knew who was pitching today and asked the kids a bunch of questions about the Mariners and baseball.

When someone pulled the cord letting the driver they need to get off, CJ said, "That sounds like a Wii" of the signal's tone. The driver then asked CJ, "Do you know who Mario is?"

Hahahahaha ... that's like asking the Pope if he's Catholic.

Of course CJ launched into a comprehensive but concise list of every Mario game ever made, in order. At that, pretty much the front half of the bus became his audience. It was funny. When CJ was done, I noted that yesterday was Mario's 25th birthday (it was the anniversary of Super Mario Bros. being released on the NES). That got several people chiming in with reminiscences of playing Mario in 1985 or shortly thereafter. Then the bus driver asked CJ, "Do you know how Mario got his name?"

CJ was stumped! The bus driver told him that in the neighborhood of 30 years ago, a farmer in the Kent area either leased or sold some land to Nintendo for their first American division. The farmer was a hyper Italian guy named, of course, Mario. Who knew?

It was amazing how a bunch of strangers age 5 to 50 or so wound up engaged in conversation all thanks to a video game character named Mario.

BAD NEWS BEARS: I suppose I should say something about the Mariners' game. Let's start with the "good" - because the Mariners are so GODAWFUL, we practically had the stadium to ourselves. (Actually, it was us and about 15,000 Red Sox fans. ...)

Because of the lack of crowd, the kids had the run of the playground ...

And there was absolutely no waiting in line to meet the Moose. ...

And I even happened to be standing next to the fountain in centerfield today in the first inning when Russell "the Muscle" Branyan hit a home run. What makes this significant is that when there's a homer by one of the Mariners (a rarity, let me tell you), the central jets shoot water high into the air.

That was the beginning and end of the Mariners' offense today. What a horrible game. Between Casey Kotchman getting picked off on third by the catcher (and for the first out of the inning - moronic!), Chone Figgins going Bill Buckner, and then the Ms' catcher had a chance to gun a Sox runner stealing second - but the shortstop didn't cover the bag to take the throw. He just stood there, in the center of the infield but a million miles away mentally.

Horrible, inexcusable, awful. I guess the kids are learning lots about the game this season - unfortunately it's mostly what NOT to do what you're playing baseball.

PRICE IS RIGHT: Saturday, Sept. 25th is free museum day! This event is sponsored by the Smithsonian. Their Web site has a (long!) list of participating museums from coast to coast in the U.S.