Well,

 I voted and my husband voted, so we can at least feel a part of a system we aren't really a part of.  I've been pondering the whole voting thing.  All throughout my neighborhood are signs to support Prop 2a, (a property tax increase of $200 per house) for public school.  I haven't seen one 'no' to prop 2a sign, yet a lot of people I've spoken with, including myself are voting against it.

There is such a fear out there that being 'politically incorrect' and having a 'anti-children' sign will ruin you.  The worst part is, those that would label one against a tax increase 'anti-children' are your neighbors all around you.  I just don't think the way we vote and the way things are phrased and pushed down our throats is very American.  I'd love to have a "NO to prop 2a" but I worry about all of our neighbors blackballing my children more than they do already.  Speaking of phrasing things... there's another ballot measure that starts with the phrase.  "The state shall not discrimate against any person based on race, gender etc. etc."  Well, my husband immediately assumed, just from that first line that he (being a good republican) should vote against it.  I laughed and told him that what he was actually doing was voting to keep affirmative action initiates where the state discriminates against white males. :)  He sheepishly whited out his vote and tried again.  I wonder how many white men voted against that initiative just because of the language.  How many blacks and women voted for it because it used the catch phrase "shall not discriminate"?

Either way, voting feels really manipulated and I'm sitting here wondering how many of my neighbors actually realize their little Yes on Prop2a will hit them with a huge tax increase that will probably not help the kids in the slightest.

So my little 7 year old has been the target of some bullying from some mothers in the neighborhood.  His only friends 'were' the boys of these women, so we were worried about how this school year would go.  After things escalated with these moms, I felt it was important to protect my son and pulled him from public school.  The principal actually agreed with me because she had been warned by another principal about how vicious the woman was being about my son.  That said he was supposed to be starting 2nd grade.  The private school tested him and placed him in 3rd and they are using 4th grade books.  This private school is amazing!  They only have 30 students from 3rd to 8th grade.  My son is in a class of three 3rd graders and four 4th graders.  He has periods like in middle school with 6 different teachers.  They are really pushing him and doing activities I could have only dreamed about in public school for second graders.  (welding, knitting, karate, history, latin, spanish, math, language arts, technology, science and current events.)  Just yesterday they looked at their own cheek cells under the microscope and knitted a hat for preemies in the hospital.  The teachers started this school because they hated the public school system and the red tape to learning.  They give him tons of interesting homework and he's learning so much- (for example: he has to write a small report on the life of Buddha for history this weekend.) So I'm kind of thankful those damn women made me look into other options for schooling.

The cost is the hard thing and that's what my rant is about.  Why is it that I have to pay for the local public school when I"m paying $6500 a year for a premium education for my son?  Frankly, if none of us had to pay for public schooling, we could all afford to choose a school for our kids.  I'm all for vouchers and think the idea that I have to subsidize a school that is so lacking bugs me.  If we could make schools a free market, the best would win and cost could be kept reasonable.  So much of our taxes goes to public schools, if they would just allow us to pick public or private - better schools would appear and be successful.  Right now, I'm paying for both public school (taxes and property tax) and private (our of my pocketbook).  The whole thing bugs me.  I understand the argument that all children have a right to an education.  My question is why is it that the goverment should dictate which education comes out of my pocketbook?  Frankly, no child left behind ruins it for gifted kids.  They get 'normalized'.  Too many brilliant kids get lost in the shadows and that just sucks - why should I be forced to support a system that fails children when a better option is out there?