Its a Monday, all day, dammit.

Its also the last day of our Spring Break, that tantalizing week of almost Summer Vacation. Tantalizing because it lulls you into that lazy summer routine, but after a seductive week of being on our own schedule, now its time to be owned by the public school system again. Have I mentioned how much I hate school? Really? I've never said how much I loathe the system? Curious...But I did tell you about how we like to blare Another Brick in the Wall when we pull up in carpool, right? No? Wow, I just don't tell you guys shit, do I?

Yeah, tomorrow we return to the prison schedule for another two months. Its very depressing; the packing of lunches, the papers that have to be signed, the incessant nagging required to get two not-so little boys ready and out of the house on time, and the ever repressive carpool/carpooze/carpoop, where not only do I have to queue up with retards but the kids have to undergo prison training (sit still, with your head down on the table and no talking) before they're released for the day. I hate how mindless the regimentation is; the need to control and stifle these poor kids who have had to be stifled all day, and the little boys who have high energy and kinetic needs that aren't recognized as such. No, little healthy, energetic boys aren't needing more physical activity, they're trouble makers - what? You didn't know that? Oh yeah, chile, public school is ALL about supressing your inner free spirit.

Thats why I go and volunteer - to stir up the underground resistance. I run in the halls, and crack jokes in class. I taught the 1st graders how to stick out your tongue without anyone seeing it (Bea taught me!), and occasionally, I like to do a Pete Townshend guitar jump, just to keep things lively. I'm lucky that the teachers I work with are much nicer than many of them, and understand that their kids need to be kids, even if its just once in awhile. I personally never learned doodly when I was sitting up straight, bored out of my mind. I think learning, especially in elementary school, ought to be fun. These are the pivotal years when a kid learns their study habits and is either turned on or turned off to learning - wouldn't it seem a no-brainer that it should be as fun as possible, in an effort to keep as many kids as possible engaged?

You would think, but "it ain't necessarily so."