Monday, March 14, 2011

Just when we thought the school staff respected us...

If you look at my "About" page, you will see that I send out a long, obnoxious Christmas letter every year.  It was actually brought up by someone at a church function the other day.  I thought I would tell you about a highlight story in this year's letter.  


First, a backstory:
When we had been in this house a few months, a stray showed up at our friend's house.  It was a nice dog, got along with her kids, but they had a dog and weren't wanting another.  We ust happened to be looking for another dog to keep our current dog company.  She was a great dog.  Never touched the chickens, came when  I called, was great with the kids.  We thought she was fixed, but two years ago she ended up giving birth to 9 puppies.

We found homes for seven of them.  Then one day, Brownie jumped the electric fence and killed our neighbor's two goats.  It was horrifying for both families.  In the end we put Brownie to sleep, kept one of the puppies, and adopted out the other.

A full two years later, the nine year old has an assignment in school to write a story about a bittersweet experience, and the kids were to use a thesaurus to come up with more interesting words.  It was done in school, so I had no idea what he wrote until it came home graded in his folder. He chose to write about our dog having puppies, but then having to be put down.  His opening sentence made me laugh so hard, I forgot what a horrible story it was.  Keep in mind that he had no idea that the words he chose had a different meaning.  He began:

                                        "I was melencholy when the vet killed my bitch."

The only comment the teacher made was, "Use paragraph form next time."  That sent me into another round of hysterics. 
At pick-up the following week, the assistant principal came up to my car.  She informed me that she had met with the fourth grade teachers, and they discussed our family.  I immediately cringed, of course.  Apparantly, the teacher was completely perplexed as to how to handle the situation.  Should she talk to my child about it? The assistant principal's take was, "Well, they live on a farm.  Maybe the word is used correctly at their house."  I couldn't help myself.  I actually laughed while she stood there.

Yes, my family has started using many new words since moving out to the farm.  That is not one of them. 

Now it is has become the funny story all teachers and parents tell.  Oh, and we did have to tell the nine year old what was so funny.  We're all more careful when someone pulls the thesaurus off the shelf these days.




 


18 comments:

  1. I now have tears running down my cheeks. Thanks for the giggle!

    I was on the other end of story like that once. On the second day of school, I always gave my first graders the task of drawing their families. One year, I asked some extra speedy finishers to "just add more details" (several times) while their classmates finished up.

    Later in the day, I glanced at each page and jotted an encouraging word at the top so they could take them home.

    That night a mom called about her son's picture. I had written something across the top like "Very Nice!" and she was horrified.

    Apparently, when I told him to add more detail, he had run out of things to add, and so he had added the anatomically correct parts of the male figures in his family! Lol! All I could do was laugh when she told me! She was SO relieved that I hadn't noticed. But I'm sure it also made her wonder about my "checking" skills!

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  2. Yep you got some laughs out of me. TOO FUNNY. That's one for the memoirs for sure.

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    1. I still laugh when I think about it.

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    2. Different reaction to this story since I just read the FTSF - forgot what happened to Brownie :-( Let me finish reading so I can laugh again.

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  3. Oh no!! I'm a third-grade teacher and guilty of asking kids to pull out the thesaurus to spice up their writing a little.

    I've never had anything so funny happen, though.

    Visiting from the TALU... I think you have a few follower. What a bunch of cute kids you have.

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    1. No!! I meant a NEW follower, not a FEW follower. Sorry! :)

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    2. I student taught in third grade. That age was such fun. Keep having them use that thesaurus. You're bound to get lucky with a funny story some day :)
      Thanks for stopping by!

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  4. a HYSTERICAL outcome from a sad story! You've got a pistol on your hands! Can't wait to read about more of your adventures. Thanks for linking up from TALU.

    www.livelafelove.com

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    1. The whole event was just terrible. I'm so grateful that he gave us a reason to laugh when we think about it. Thanks for stopping by!

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  5. I just choked on my Pepsi from laughing when I read this. That's one of those "be careful what you ask for" moments LOL. On a more somber note, I can't even begin to imagine what it must have been like having Brownie jump the fence and kill those goats! That must have been horrifying! :(

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    1. It was terrible. Especially since our neighbor watched the whole thing and took photos. I had to go through the photos with her. They had raised those goats from a bottle. Horrible.
      Hope the Pepsi didn't come out your nose :)

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  6. I can imagine something like this happening once my son is in school. Yes, it's things like this that I simply KNOW will happen to me one day. lol. TY for sharing! Stopping in from TALU :)

    -Jessica
    www.sugarinmygrits.com

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  7. Oh. My. Word!! I can't stop laughing!! That is awesome! I imagine it will be hilarious to him when to tell him that story when he is older. So funny. Again, visiting from the TALU today.

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  8. That is hilarious! And the story in that first comment made me laugh pretty hard too. I'm looking forward to those years with my kids, embarrassing as they will be. Note I said "will," not "may". There's no doubt in my mind that my daughter in particular would do things like this.

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  9. Great story! Too funny, I had to call my wife over to read this!

    -@PregoForMenBlog

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    1. The ultimate compliment! Sharing with a non-blogging spouse is always the true test of whether a person likes a post. :)

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