School?

I was, initially, excited to finally have this year's school photos to post this week.  Look at those kids!  Linden's ridiculous "smile".  Juniper's "fancy" velour dress. The hard-won backgrounds (both kids had petitioned for the "Peggy's Cove" background, which would have featured a lighthouse sprouting out of their shoulders).

 As of this weekend, however, to have these photos front and centre is actually more of an exercise in irony than a celebration.  For those of you not following Nova Scotia politics, the provincial government announced on Saturday (as in, with less than 48 hours for frantic parents to make arrangements) that they would be locking the kids out of school starting today.  That's right, the KIDS.

I will not get into the nitty gritty details of the politics behind this bizarre (and in my opinion, unconscionable) decision, but the basics are as follows:
1. The McNeil government tells teachers that they will be offering them a new, crap contract.
2. The teachers vote almost unanimously to strike.  They will not be fully striking, however - they will be imposing a "work to rule" scenario, whereby they essentially fulfill only what is in their current contracts, but nothing extra. (No after school activities, no Christmas concerts, no working or monitoring of students prior to 20 minutes before the start of school or 20 minutes after the end of class etc etc). Paid before-and-after-school programs will go on as usual.  The school board gives parents a week's notice of this decision, which is to begin on Dec. 5th (today).
3.  On SATURDAY, the government announces that they believe this decision is "unsafe" for the students (ie, that teachers actually fulfilling their contract to the letter is not enough to keep our kids safe), and that kids will not be allowed to go to school on Monday.  The teachers are required to go to school, but the kids must not. Meanwhile, they have called a legislation meeting for this morning.

So.  Who knows what the government is actually trying to accomplish?  Bullying the teachers into accepting the contract, no doubt, but this whole scenario is just... weird. They can't legislate the teachers back to work, as they are currently working (only... with no students to teach).  Perhaps they are just trying to make parents mad and pressure the teachers.  But unless you are completely daft, your anger and confusion will surely be levelled at Stephen McNeil, rather than the teachers - so, that will no doubt backfire as well.  I really don't understand.

For now, it is, I suppose, a very early Christmas vacation.  This is not a huge deal for us, as I am not currently needing to be at a job, and therefore we are not in a childcare panic.  But I am also still (STILL) sick (I think the amoxicillin did not quite wipe out this bronchitis), and the kids are both coughing and sniffling, so it should be a... trying week.  Or month,  Or however long this lasts.

Decorating the first gingerbread cookies of the season

Finished products!

In the meantime, however, we are trying as hard as we can to still do fun holiday stuff (the Solstice Fairies and Starlight, our "gnome in the home", have been out in full force since Dec. 1st), and to sneak in some of our own educational activities in the meantime.  For instance, check out this battery-powered lego car that Linden and Clark constructed over the weekend (with some arduinos and coding and whatnot).  Pretty cool!

The beginning stages

Constructing the vehicle (Linden's particular specialty)

Hooking up the wires

The finished product

As it turns out, while it worked, the car and battery were too heavy for the little motor, meaning it became more of a drive assist than a fully functioning autonombile.  But it was a pretty successful first attempt! And of course, Linden produced a JuniperandLinden.org video about the whole process.  Enjoy!