The Kohlmans

Warning: this is a post with a LOT of pictures.  When we were little, my mom (and sometimes my grandma, dad, and/or uncle) used to take us on Kansas Day Trips. We went so many places - to the Seelye Mansion, Dalton Gang Museum, the underground city in Ellinwood, Monument Rocks, to name a few. (And we got lost so many times. This was before mapquest. Or GPS.) Some of my pictures are looking a little pixel-ated when I upload them. Weird. Brad and I have been wanting to go on Kansas trips for a while now, especially since we don't get many big vacations while we're both in school. So yesterday we loaded up the dog (crazy us!) took off. It wasn't really a tourist thing; we just stopped at a few random places. It was fun, though. Our first stop was Teter Hill / Teter Rock / Teterville . My dad used to pasture cattle out on Teter Hill, and I remember a couple picnics on the spot. We once caught a horned toad there, which became a class pet. I think in 4th grade. I ...

Today, Kansas turns 150. And while I sometimes have a love-hate relationship with the place, I am proud to be a Kansan. Maybe this is idealistic and naive, but my hope for the next 150 years is that we can strive to become a place... "...where seldom is heard / a discouraging word..." (we already know the skies are almost never cloudy for a whole day)

I always cringe when I see people do research about school funding in Kansas and take the total amount spent on schools and divide it by the number of students. The number seems great, anywhere from $11,000-$15,000 a kid. That would be fantastic. But it's a deceiving number. Disclaimer: I am no expert in school funding. It is incredibly complicated. This is just what I have pieced together. For a more complete picture, contact your local superintendent (right, Darrel?!).  The average Kansas general education student is "funded" with $4,012. (In Governor Brownback's budget proposal, that number dips down to $3,780 for next year.) Then, there a lots and lots of weightings for things like at-risk students, special education, free and reduced lunch students, etc... Money that goes into specific funds (capital outlay, technology, etc...) usually has to be spent for that specific purpose. Some of the money included in the total spent on education in Kansas goes to ...

I think we can agree that our future lies in our children. I think we can all agree that it's important to invest in our future. Sometimes reality hits hard.  Once again, our children are facing more cuts to their education. (No, I'm not being redundant. They are again facing more cuts.) You can read more about it here , here , and here ... here too.... I don't have kids of my own, but this crap wouldn't cut it if I did. I hope that all parents feel the same way.  It's hard not to stress or worry or feel angry about how I could be right back in the same situation I faced last year . My job this year has been difficult, but it's certainly far better than not teaching. It's certainly better than unemployment. But in the end, it's not just about my job. It's about how, by cutting the amount of money that goes to the classroom, we are cheating kids. They only get one shot at sixth grade. Shouldn't we give them the best we possibly can? ...

After being in Augusta for 2+ years I have found that people here take care of Megan and I. The Booster Club wants me to use them more for the girls basketball team. Business owners (usually parents of former/current students/players) give Megan and I a discount for just being us. I am not sure how I feel about this yet. I am very thankful for the community helping out a young couple, but I don't feel like I deserve any special treatment for being a teacher or coach. But, it is nice to be taken care of by so many generous people in a community that I wasn't sure about when I first moved here. The generosity of a few community members has changed my view of what Augusta is, and can be. Plus, my kids in my classroom just broke out into song on Friday ( we listen to a Beatles CD every Friday) and sang Yellow Submarine. It was one of my happiest moments in the classroom, I think it shows that my class will be a fun, and they get along. On Friday I got ticket offers for two differen...