Giving You the Best of School

I know this late week post is usually light with pictures of fun to be had, but today I have a different purpose. I read A Call to Moms! We Make Schools Better blog earlier in the week and felt a need to act. The blog is assisting the Mom Congress and Parenting.com in raising awareness about parent involvement in our schools. They are asking mom bloggers to write and open letter to their kids telling them what they will be doing to help them get the best education possible.

Dear Bean and Chicken;

There is so much out there to learn and experience; and school is a huge part of that beginning process. School is where you will develop the foundations of learning that hopefully will take you to wherever you want to go.  School is where you spend a huge portion of your day, and will for years to come.  School should be a place of adventure and curiosity, a place where there is always enough paste to go around and enough adult attention to get your questions answered. 

Right now you may not know that your school is lacking, and I want to keep it that way. I want you to know that even though our state may not be making an investment in you, we are. The parents and teachers at your school are committed to you and your future. I will again make our families annual tax deductible donation to the PTA, and though it may not be as special as lunch with you it is important in it's own way. It buys the supplies that are lacking in the art room, the books that are needed in the library. The money donated and raised helps, maybe not in a way you can see, but hopefully in a way your teachers see and need. 

There are nights that I leave you with Dad to run to a PTA Meeting or set up an event, I do that because of you. No matter how busy my schedule I will make the time to volunteer in some capacity at your school. Your school is where one of the first sense of community will come from, where not everyone will think the same.  It is important to me that you have the chance to experience that community and sense of self there.

I want your teachers and principal to know me, and if they think of me as 'that mom', sorry I love you too much to not be.  I commit to being at all the parent teacher meetings, to raise my concerns and ensure your education is what you deserve and need.  This doesn't mean I won't have to email your teachers a million times to figure out the class homework, or forget the paper you are suppose to take back, I will.   When my nerves are frazzled from too many spelling words I will remember my commitments to you and strive to get through one more spelling assignment.  You are my light and my smile and to me there is nothing more important than ensuring I am helping to give you the best education possible.

LOVE
MOM

First Day of School 2011