Archive for the ‘school’ Tag
November 24 2010
With my son in school now, it’s almost a given that he would have homework.
But why do I have homework?
Jedi came home last week with a family project in his backpack. We were to construct a Thanksgiving turkey together from whatever we can find lying around the house; fabric, paint, strips of colored paper, crayons, etc. Let your imagination run wild. I am not Martha Stewart, nor do I strive to be, thus I do not own many supplies of this nature.
I managed to gather a few items, though, along with some markers. We sat together, Jedi’s growing bulk precariously balanced on my lap, while he specifically told me how it should be done. He chose the style, I did the work.
“Do you want to color him in?”, I asked Jedi.
“No, you can do it.”
Turkeys, the both of us. But a turkey worthy of an A+ if I do say so myself. Man, I am awesome at 1st grade.
Happy Thanksgiving!
November 03 2010
Last Thursday was my oldest son’s very first school picture day. This was a big deal to me, a bigger deal than I realized. I’ve taken plenty of digital photos of my kids over the years, but these are like a milestone. I remember back to my school portraits and while some of them can make me cringe, it’s like a timeline of my childhood. Some of which are still hanging on my parents’ walls in blaring 8×10 form.
The night before, in an effort to avoid the dreaded, if hilarious, “cheese face” distortion he exhibits when confronted with a camera, I went over with Jedi the proper way to smile. Like you’re laughing, I stressed, showing the gaps of teeth he’s lost recently.
That morning, I made sure he was dapperly dressed in a green and white polo shirt, to compliment the blue background we chose nicely. Both of his favorite colors represented. We even tamed the flyaways out of his hair. The envelope of money with our selected package option was placed securely in his backpack. I made sure he knew exactly where.
When he came home that afternoon, I was anxious to ask how his picture session went. “Good”, he said, a man of few words. I then had him illustrate the smile he posed with, which was more of a goofy grin. OK, not what we had practiced, but my excitement wasn’t thwarted. Until I dug through his backpack, retrieving his lunch box and pile of daily papers. And the envelope stuffed to the bottom, still full of money.
Oh, hell.
We get to try again in December, on my son’s very first picture re-take day. At least it gives me another month to teach him how to smile for the camera.
October 27 2010
Monday afternoon, Jedi came home from school with an invitation for us, his parents, to an all school assembly. Apparently, he would be receiving a certificate and special prize for accomplishing his first semester math goals. Seeing as how this was his first class award, I wouldn’t think of passing it up.
J even took the day off work for the festivities.
Of course, upon arriving, we noticed we were one of very few parents actually in attendance. They set up not even 20 chairs for the limited number of moms and dads who were able to make it, and most of those sat empty. I understand, there wasn’t enough notice and it was a work day. To be fair, they didn’t miss much. Still, we waited proudly and when Jedi walked into the cafeteria to see us sitting there, he was ecstatic. “That’s my mom and dad!”, he pointed and beamed to whoever would listen, practically pulling his teacher’s hand.
Until he started to cry, because he soon realized he wasn’t supposed to sit next to us.
His tears quickly disappeared, though, as they called the names of his kindergarten classmates. One after another, the short stacks were handed colorful certificates and prized pencils. When it was Jedi’s turn, we were “those” parents taking picture after picture. For a math certificate. For counting to 20.
While the goal for this semester was just to count to 20, it turns out my son was the only one of his class that can count to 100. That’s the thing with being the oldest kid in kindergarten, it makes you feel really smart. But it also makes you look really tall.
October 25 2010
My son is a very good reader. As soon as he could talk, he’s just always picked up and memorized words. So reading time is a favorite of his school days. Every morning, he’s allowed to select a book from their shelves to bring home and read at night, which he does before bed. Except he likes to choose the same crop of 4 books.
I think we’ve read How Do Dinosaurs Go to School? at least 20 times. And he hasn’t even been attending kindergarten for 2 full months yet.
As you can imagine, while Jedi could continue on with old reliable each and every night, the rest of us are getting a little tired of hearing the same thing read over and over. Both his father and I have made it a point of repeatedly telling him to pick something new, something different, not this again.
The other day, Jedi returned home from school with his normal backpack attire. Inside was his notebook, a bunch of crumpled worksheets, and the protective bag used to store his book from the class shelf. I pulled it out, expecting the familiar dinosaur-graced cover as always. But there was a calendar instead.
My son brought home a 2011 Illinois Power of Coal calendar.
“Why did you bring home a calendar?”, I asked him.
With a smile, he replied, “You told me to bring home something different and it was on the shelf with the books”.
Well, it’s definitely different. Smart a…
September 09 2010
Kindergarten is hard, people.
Or so I’ve been told.
On Wednesdays, Jedi comes home with a folder in his backpack. This folder contains general school papers for the parents to read and a homework assignment that needs to be turned in. Of course he missed last week, but the week before he had to trace and write all of his letters. Simple, really. It’s easy for him, too, though he grumbles the entire time because he’d rather be doing something, anything, else. A hatred of homework begins young. The assignment this week consisted of coloring in a few yellow items, along with a separate large red apple to scribble in as well. He also had a library book to read, but that wasn’t a problem. At least he loves to read.
Coloring, however, is just not his forte.
“This homework is SO HARD!”, Jedi complained while coloring in a yellow duck.
I was afraid to tell him that in the not so distant future, there will be classes like calculus and biology and chemistry, most of which I still don’t understand. When those subjects come along and he’s bringing home intricate equations and talk of dissections or periodic tables, then he can complain about homework being hard. I’ll even agree with him.
Until then, just color in the yellow duck.
“Ugh, am I almost DONE?”, he asks, still whining. No, no you’re not. Not for another 12 years, at least.
I'm Crystal. A 30-something mom to 3 young kids living in the Midwest USA. When I'm not chasing my children, I'm a freelance writer and web designer. I like to tell stories from our days and share what we enjoy...
