the slo-life

Do you ever feel like no one is out there? Sometimes I do. Then I think about why I am blogging. Because I like it. I like writing about something I care about, and I really like it here.

I write about this town in hopes that someone will want to come here and see what I'm talking about. I think perfect vacations are few and far between, if you ever get one at all. Family or your sanity should be the most important things in your life. I want you to have the most relaxing, never ever will forget, time of your life. It can happen. All you got to do is email, phone or write me, and say, I'm comming to San Luis Obispo, what can I do when I get there? That's all.

Do you want to have your own adventures in our wine country? In San Luis Obispo there are over sixteen wineries. You can stay in SLO town for a weekend and have a great time with a minimum amount of driving, or go up the coast and have a taste of some award winning wines and see some beautiful scenery. I have maps and discounts available for the asking. I have connections with some great tour companies, where they will take you for a day or a half day. The rates are reasonable and the drivers a wonderful. All you need to do is email me at pennylane2@yahoo.com and ask. It might just be the highlight of your summer.

If I told you that SLO town has no faults, you would know I was full of something, so I won't. I have found one bad spot in my perfect little peach of a town, and they may be more. When my son had to go to a middle school, my choices were very limited. I started him at Laguna Middle School, that was a mistake. Imagine 750 pubesic teenagers together and hardly any supervision. It wasn't good. There also seemed to be quite a few burnt out teachers workng for the medical benefits, rather then for the joy teaching gives them. In fact, they seemed to have a chip on their shoulder for having to be there with all these wild teenagers.

Laguna is the only public middle school in San Luis Obispo, so my other option was to enroll him in Olive Grove Charter School. That is what I did about halfway into the seventh grade. Olive Grove is a nice home school program. If your child works well independently, or if you can hook up with a couple of families to create your own little study group. We finished out the seventh grade there, but it wasn't stress free for me or my son. I didn't want to do that for his eighth grade.

I did more research before he reached the eighth grade and found a private school. It is called The laureate private school. It is a good school with a small amount of children. I think that is important for seventh and eighth grades. My boy needed some one on one when it came to understanding the homework, and asking questions. That need was met. He is now entering the ninth grade. I have enrolled him in classes this summer so he can hang with his friends and keep the brain sharp.

I am just not happy with the schools wherever I live.The best school he went to was in Colorado. I'm not sure why that is. He has been to school in Las Vegas. They put so much money in their schools, his elementary school had a Geo dome in it. It had a huge tropical rain forest in it and a waterfall. To top it all off, inside the rain forest was a cave with a computer lab inside. The children could do experiments inside the lab. It was way cool, but their homework program was over complicated. I just want my som to learn the basics. Math, english, science and history. I am finding that now schools are stepping over their bounds and trying to teach everything from morals and ethics to values and team spirit.

You can learn more about the schools by clicking on my link slochamber.org