scary Elves!

Check this out!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9638018433

and this one..

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1130573973

Down to two...

So, we have pretty much ruled out the BIG public high school. I have been to several meetings about the charter school and a parent meeting about St. Joe.... This is what we are going to do.. PRAY. Along with that, I will turn in the application for Orcutt Academy today. Her getting in is dependent on a lottery system, so God can certainly close that door if he chooses. Then Hannah will also attend all of the Pre-St. Joe stuff. They have a day for her to come to school. They have a dance with the 8th and 9th graders to get to know each other. They have a night time walk around school and see the classrooms. She will take the entrance exam in January. The charter school lottery is in February and St. Joe acceptance letters go out in March. So we will attempt both schools and see what happens. Again, God can certainly close doors here. If both doors remain open, then we will still need to choose...

Here is what our Pro and con list boils down to now.

Orcutt Academy: Pro- Small, Free, No religion Classes, opportunity to be involved in the FIRST graduating class
Con- no track record, facility is pieced together, little opportunity for sports.

St. Joe: Pro- Small, feels like home to us, GREAT proven history, every sport offered, lots of clubs
Con- EXPENSIVE, Elitist attitude, religion classes (not a HORRIBLE thing, but not a pro either)

Right now, Hannah is saying she wants to go to Orcutt Academy. I don't know about any of her friends. So, now we wait...

eeny, meeny, miney, mo....

So, Hannah is an eighth grader. That is stress enough... but WHERE will she go to High school???? THAT is the question of the year!
So, I am going to use my blog as a pros/cons place. I will write my pros and cons for the 3 choices. Hopefully it will help me to see it in writing. Please feel free to give any thoughts or advise... we need it all!!!!! Keep in mind, Hannah loves drama, music and such...

Pros-
Righetti HS-

• Public (read FREE)
• lots of activities and elective classes (lots of drama, choir, band, arts, etc)
• most of H's friends will go here
• lots of sports

St. Joseph-

• Familiar (I used to teach there, Tim coaches football there... we know the faculty and admin.)
• Small (650 students grades 9-12)
• closed campus
• very academic.
• Lockers
• Rich history of traditions
• All the sports offered... big sports school... I think that they require students to participate on at least one team.

Orcutt Academy-

• Public Charter (read FREE)
• brand new (H's will be the first class... they get to set the traditions, chose the mascot, colors etc. First graduating class)
• small 125 students per grade
• closed campus
• Very Academic
• Supposed to offer band, choir, drama etc... we will see
• Will incorporate the International Baccalaureate program... pretty inovative and rigorous higher level classes

Cons-
Righetti HS-

• HUGE 2500 students grades 9-12
• open campus (they can leave anytime)
• easy to get "lost" in the system
• some gangs
• no dress code (NONE, you should see what some of those girls are wearing or should I say NOT wearing!)
• you can get a good education but nobody is paying attention or pushing you
• No lockers- you have to carry everything all day

St. Joe-

• EXPENSIVE $7000 tuition plus books and everything else
• time committment for parents (bingo, working games etc)
• Cliquish and snooty (rich people's kids: kids getting brand new car for 16th birthday etc)
• Strict dress code (girls have to wear collared shirts.. those are not easy to find, etc)
• Religion Classes required (not that we mind them SO much, but we don't nessessarily want to pay for classes in Catholosism when we aren't Catholics)
• No classes offered in Music, drama, etc.

Orcutt Academy-

• NEW (I know that I said that was a pro, but they are also just working out the bugs... would the first class be a guniea pig class?)
• pieced together campus (sharing with the Jr. High the first year at least... no estimate on when they would have their own facility)
• Lottery to get in
• Dress code is unwritten so I will put it here until we see
• less offerings of sports and clubs etc in the first few years

So, that is what I have so far... I will continue updating as I think of things...

Halloween... and other stuff!

Mom and Dad always come down for a visit right around Halloween. The kids love having them around so they can see the costumes and everything. Bekah LOVES for Dadad to play games with her and for Mimi to do crafts with her. She gets things all ready for their visit, and practically has their time planned out from the moment they hit the front door. This year, I witnessed something that I never thought I would see... she got Dadad to play John Madden Football on the gamecube! So of course, I had to take a picture of Dadad playing video games...

This year, the girls carved pumpkins... no help from any adults again this year...


This is Hannah's masterpiece...

This is Bekah's Jack-O-Lantern...


Costumes this year were interesting... Hannah was going t0 be a pirate.. then a dead prom queen, then just a purple person... she finally decided on a "bad Fairy" she bought purple wings that were battery opperated and "flapped" and then put the rest together from what she owned. She did a pretty good job, I think.
Being an 8th grader, she didn't want to have anything to do with our festivities... she and her friends went Trick or Treating by themselves, so the only pictures that I have with her are the "before" shots... then I remembered that I needed pictures of the wings, so I got a shot while she was walking to the car!


As you can see, Bekah was a "Clone Trooper" from Star Wars... She found the costume and never looked back... I tried to talk her out of it, because I knew she wouldn't like wearing the mask... but she was determined to be a clone trooper... so, here she is...
We had the Ryver Family over for Chilidogs and went Trick or treating... here is the Whole crew.. Matthew Flores, Bekah, Austin and Andrew Ryver...

Our evening always winds up at the "Pumpkin Man's House" . A neighbor carves the most wonderful pumpkins.. about 20 each year. We have to go see them. (Hannah missed out this year... ) Here is Bekah's favorite of the year...


And here are some of the others...


And here is a picture of the Girls With Mimi and Dadad last night... They left early this morning to drive to Phoenix to see Aunt Dee.
The house seems very empty this morning... The kids don't have school today (a genius move on the school district's part, I must say.. they always schedule a teacher inservice day on November 1st.. that way, the teachers don't have to deal with the Overtired, sugar hangover kids!)