I Really Did Learn All I Needed In Kindergarten

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week. If you’ve got a kid in school, you probably couldn’t miss it, with all the hoopla about celebrating your kid’s teacher.  And, don’t get me wrong, it’s all well-deserved. I mean, sure, we parents got them through the ABCs and how to count to ten (and the over-achieving parents made it to 100) but spelling, explaining why “rough” and “through” do not rhyme, when to use a comma, carrying the 1 (though it’s not called that anymore) and long division?  And then the harder stuff like chemical equations, ancient world history, and math involving area under a curve?  Yeah, home-schooling is not an option for the sanity of this household.  Summer workbooks and homework is about our limit. So 

THANK YOU! to my kids’ teachers.

During this week, I came across my kindergarten report card. Wow. What a difference some years make in the expectations of our kids.  I actually was evaluated on properly using scissors and my ability to skip and hop.  These are such important skills for life!  I don’t hop much these days, but I might skip a little bit more than a woman my age is expected to and I definitely use scissors a lot.

Here’s a few other life lessons I learned in Kindergarten.

• I claim only my share of attention.  Obviously, I was in the pre-selfie and reality show generation.
• I enjoy books, stories, and poems. This has never changed, thank goodness.  As well, this is  crucial for a writer.
• I take care of my personal needs.  I need to do that a little bit more these days and make myself a priority.  Not all the time, but sometimes us moms need to remember to put ourselves first.
• I express myself with art materials.  The hundreds of skeins of yarn and shelves of craft materials is proof that’s still a key part of my life.
• I am courteous and considerate of others. I do my best.

On the explanation of the report card to parents, it notes that “kindergarten introduces [students] to school as a happy place.”  I know school has changed a lot since knowing your colors was considered an accomplishment for 5-year olds, but I do like to think that children can look to their school as their happy place. And thank you to the teachers that make it so.

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How to Kill Your Teaching Career

We want our kids to learn the basics of English- spelling, grammar, punctuation – all that “boring” stuff.  All the more better if the teacher comes up with an interesting way to involve those lessons, more than a worksheet with “circle the noun, underline the verbs” instructions, the way I learned it way back in the ink-smelling copies and pencil days of school.  And for an English class, you’d think there would be a lot of options, whether an essay about a book that the class is reading or a creative writing topic. What you don’t expect is for your kid to be doing their homework and ask “mom, what do you think I could get a hold of easier, a machete or a gun?”

Currently...Counting Down 'Til Summer

Only 4 more days of rustling folks awake early in the morning, trying to get lunches packed, cajoling folks to drink a glass of milk before running out the door, rushing people out of the door, and then breathing a deep sigh once they've all made it to the big yellow school bus and finishing my half-cold cup of coffee.  Then wait 6 hours to begin the afternoon routine.

Not to say things get drastically calmer in the summer. No, the routine just changes.  Rustle up a couple swimmers, remind everyone to get some math exercises and reading done, cajole folks away from their little teeny screens to enjoy the big yellow sun outside, cheer at summer league basketball games, eat ice cream and Rita's. Repeat the next day.

The "deadline" of the last day of school is finally looming over me and I figure I need to spend the next few days preparing for summer.  Maybe these are some of the things you need to get done, too.

Write Thank You notes to my children's teachers. I have to deal with four of them each day; I empathize with the teachers who spend their days with my 4 and 29 others. A note is the least I could do; especially since I haven't figured out yet if sending teachers a bottle of wine is appropriate.

Re-set-up my home office space. My computer crashed, my schedule has been crazy hectic, etc. etc. and my work-at-home-space is not as organized as it should be. I need to take a day and put everything back where it belongs, wrap up a couple projects, and prepare my retreat for when the kids are here all day long.  If you work at home, in a professional sense or as mom-in-chief, it's helpful to have a clear, designated workspace to stay organized. It might be a corner desk in the living room, a rolling file cart in the dining room, or a separate room altogether - find somewhere that works for you.

Get the pool passes.  What's summer without the pool passes?

Buy a stack of math workbooks and clear our library fines.  Math skills are the set that seems to slip in the summer, at least in my house. Right now, the girls can graph multi-variable equations, without a little math maintenance over the summer, they'll barely remember how to turn on their calculator. So for them, I like to have workbooks at the next level (the one they are going into) so they can get a look ahead. And now that my son is going into middle school, we'll start on a little bit of pre-Algebra over the summer. Especially since with this new Common Core, I'm not exactly sure what he knows.  For my youngest, we'll keep up with the Kumon workbooks and drill those basic facts - gotta know your times tables!  If you can't find any to purchase, ask your school teachers for handouts or website references.

Enjoy the last few days of an empty house and finishing my cold coffee in relative quiet.  We all love our kids, no doubt, but gotta admit, there is a balancing calmness to have a few hours of not refereeing, feeding, and chaffeuring.


What's on your last days of school to-do list?

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Parents' Rules for Back to School Night

Kids off to school? Now, the next ritual of the new school year - Parent's Back to School Night.  We're down from 4 nights at 4 schools, to 3, so there's a little something to be thankful for.

As a teacher, Parent Night used to make me so nervous! It's one thing to talk to classrooms full of kids all day, but for the most part, they were harmless. Maybe someone wouldn't turn in their homework or would fall asleep or not stop talking. I could handle that. But on Back to School Night, the parents were coming and - whew - parents can be a mean bunch with some hard questions.

Now, as a parent, I try not to scare the new teachers who just got their education degree last spring and so proudly are stepping into the classroom with their newly sharpened pencils. Neither do I want to upset the more seasoned teachers who know their way around a busy-body parent.  Because really, who is going to suffer from my bad behavior? My kid. And then we've got to go to the Principal's office and nobody wants that.

I'll have a snack before I go so that I won't be cranky and take my favorite flask coffee cup so that I can pay attention.  And I'm now going over my rules so that I don't get a red card in class.  Interestingly, they are similar to the ones I hope my kids are following.

• I will not take up class time for my personal issues.  This is not the time for private conversations with the teacher about my kid.  I should ask for an appointment to discuss any concerns later.

• I will not be disruptive in class.  Tonight is not the time to debate whether I like the new math curriculum and explain how confused I am about decomposing numbers. But I might ask if the teacher has a cheat sheet for parents.

• I will be on time for class.  As much as it feels like reunion time with my school parent friends, I will be sure to not be late, talking in the hallways.

• I will do my homework.  I am collecting my PTA dues, cafeteria money, and all the other papers I was supposed to send back to school over the past week.

• I will be nice and respectful to my classmates.  I will not roll my eyes at the parent in the first row who explains to the teacher (and us) how her child is so smart and asks what she should do while the other kids are trying to catch up with the lesson.  I will not cough while the parent in the back row explains why her child should be exempt for two weeks of school because she's going on a prestigious recorder concert.  (Note to self - pack my sunglasses, don't worry that it will be 8 o'clock at night.)

• I will not make smaller kids cry.  Do not leave an embarrassing note about how proud I am of my kid with big frilly hearts in my kid's pencil box for them to find in front of all of their friends tomorrow.

Alright. Off to brew some coffee and then I'll be on my way.  Enjoy your back-to-school night!

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If your child can read this...thank their teacher!

I spent the better part of the day going to school Open Houses, 5 in all, from elementary to high school.  The unique mix of magnet options and school structure that has my neighborhood as it's epicenter puts my 4 children in 3 different elementary schools and a cross-town middle school, with the choice of 4 potential high schools.

Starting at 8 am, I learned about: building community in a high school at the top of such a pyramid; the difference in the various types of quadrilaterals (don't forget the "h" in rhombus); simple addition, Christopher Columbus, and purple meat-eating crocodiles; proper finger placement for the flute; and the physical and chemical properties of matter.

Wrangling the children into their seats, pulling answers as if pulling teeth, and excitedly explaining angles was a representation of the army of teachers and administrators that is required to educate my small gaggle of children.  Sitting in the back of the classroom, I appreciated the hours of preparation, the energy, and the patience that these people have to muster each day to prepare our next generation.

There's been a lot of public debate about the value of teachers and what they should be getting paid.  Balancing the teacher salary budget versus the cost of keeping libraries open on Sundays, it's a hard call.  There's also been a lot of focus lately on bad teachers and I would agree that there are some of those around.  But I'm happy to say, that I didn't see any of them today.  Instead there were teachers and administrators who looked at the range of skills, diversity of backgrounds, and spans of interest that are embodied in the children before them and worked hard to teach every one of them something. 

Whether your child's classroom is equipped with a dusty chalkboard, an overhead projector, or a shiny Promethean board, if they came home today and said they learned something, you should thank their teacher.  (And if they didn't, you should find out why not.)