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Loading ...Back2School
First day of school here in San Antonio. Where did their summer vacation go with those crazy, lazy days of my sleeping until 6 a.m. and eating sandwiches at the pool for dinner? (sigh)
This year – four kids in four schools.
Hannah – 8th grade, her last in Middle School. Julia – 3rd grade, she has to take the TAKS test this year (we’re already thinking about it). Rachel – Freshman at UTSA. She was there today to buy books; her classes start Wednesday, but her job in the KIN program (after school care) began today. Lois – Sophomore in high school.
Homework started today, too. Check out Lois’ pre-calculus pre-AP math assignment. Good thing she doesn’t need any help. College calculus was the only class that ever made me cry. I was soooo lost – the term “standard deviation” still makes me shudder. I came home from UH that night and sobbed to my mom that I’d never understand calculus, I’d have abandon the whole BBA thing and become a ditch digger.
Sarah’s daughter – my great niece Laura – started kinder in Pearland today. Nothing cuter than the kinders!
Send Sarah some Kleenex, I think she’s out now…..
As I was making breakfast for Hannah and Julia this morning, Keith reminded me – “This is your 14th year of doing this.” Wow. I guess it is. Here’s what I’ve learned:
1. Have all maintenance items current before that all-important first day. Laundry, mail, bill pay, errands – all of it. Be ready to punt.
2. Backpacks packed and ready to go the day before.
3. Fund the lunch accounts online and early.
4. Mondays are hard. The first day of school is doubly-hard. Plan on a good dinner to soothe the re-entry. Tonight we had tacos with all the fixings. Why? Because we all like them. And let me tell you, our dinner table rocked.
5. Take a first day of school picture every year. These were so, so handy when I created a graduation book for Rachel of all her school stuff.
6. As soon as school is out – get next year’s medication administration forms to your pedi, all filled out and ready for signature. Then hold them until August, when you deliver them to the school nurses w/the appropriate medications the week before school starts. If you wait until August to consult your pedi – forget it, he’s on vacation or tied up in physicals. If you wait until the first week of school to deliver the forms and medications – you may miss the nurse, or your kids may call for the Advil before you get it up there.
7. Really important: Have your pen, check book and clear return address labels ready. Huh? You don’t know about that? READ THIS!
We’ve only been back in school one day, and just like Ferris – I’m ready for a day off. How about you?
Anyone? Anyone?
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Laura informed me this afternoon that she had “done crafts, helped with the flip chart, gone to the cafeteria for lunch, made four new friends, and had a ‘one minute rest period.’”
Not bad for the first day!
I have also learned a good first morning does not mean the rest will be like that
I really needed your list last week. We started our prep work three weeks ago including meeting with the disabled student counselors and working out logistics with the equivalent of Viatrans in Dallas called Paratrans. Turns out the planning was for not b/c Paratrans can take up to 10 days to approve Tyler’s use of the service. Apparently, they need to be sure he is disabled – a side ways glance by a nearly blind man could tell that in a second but they need 10 days. So guess who is transporting Tyler to and from school this week while we wait for our letter from Paratrans. Then the counselor told us that they do not provide aides for Tyler to help him get his books and note paper out in class nor are they required to open doors so he can get into buildings. San Antonio College did this for him. He can ask someone to do that but they don’t require the notetaker or scribe to do this for him. Tyler has to ask the scribe to help and it is up to the student to decide if he wants to help or not. Thankfully, Tyler has more faith in humanity than the counselor b/c he said no problem, he would ask people to help him. His faith paid off b/c he had no trouble on his first day of school – whew!
Oh, I dread the day when I have them coming home asking for help with calculus! 6th grade math killed me last year! All that showing your work…I can tell her the right answer, but that doesn’t get the point. You have to show all these crazy steps! (And I got an A in college calculus…but it darn near killed me. lol.)
it’s also good to have a fun/happy breakfast for the first day – i.e. donuts & cocoa or some other treat that you don’t usually serve.
what is TAKS?
Thanks for sharing the exciting back-to-school news from your house. I know you’ve been doing it for 14 years, but the day will come when they will go back to school on their own and all of this will be a warm and fuzzy memory. They’ll wake up on their own, roll out of bed, maybe drop by the dining hall for breakfast, and then drag themselves to class. At night, they’ll eat with their friends, text each other at the same table and hopefully call their parents later on. I enjoyed hearing about the special meal together on the first night. That sure reminded me…. Pass the kleenex Sarah.
My back-to-school has been surreal this year. I know I’m leaving my little-bitties so soon! So, this class that I’ve been waiting for since they were in kindergarten is getting a slightly different start than other classes. But…they’ll be in good hands when I’m gone. And when I’m back, I’ll be BACK!