Back to school update

[mommax3]

He is looking at Cedarville University in OH, which is about 2 hrs. and 20 minutes away, and Grace College, in northern IN (and further away than Cedarville). He qualifies for merit scholarships both places, and I am fine with either, but probably prefer Cedarville. He hasn't visited Grace yet, but will be going there with DH in three weeks. He is still undecided about a major, but wants to do something with worship music and hasn't ruled out med school OR seminary.

[moonlight]

How are our educators doing with the new school year?? I'd love to hear some updates from our teachers.

[ides]

This is so funny to me becuase I had such the opposite experience there. Everyone I knew was either Catholic or Atheist, lol.

That is so not the norm! Where did you work?

[alison]

My dd started preschool this week. She has only gone one time thus far, because they split her class in two so that the teachers could focus on just 5 kids on the first day. Dd loved it! She didn't cry when dh dropped her off, and apparently was trying to comfort other kids who were sad when their parents left. She also didn't eat a single bit of the snack that I had packed for her! . That's my girl!

[mommax3]

Not sure you really want to get me started, lol! This is my first year working full-time since my oldest was born in 1995, although it is my 7th year at my job. Last year, I taught 4 periods + a homeroom and had a prep period. I had 2 sections of 8th grade choir and 2 sections of 7th grade choir. I saw about 200 kids a day. Full time teachers taught 6 periods a day + a homeroom and a prep, and saw about 180 kids a day, for comparison's sake. This year, I have three sections of 7th grade choir, two sections of 8th grade choir, a section of general music, a homeroom, and a prep period. I see about 220 kids a day. The band director teaches one class period of band at the high school, and two sections of band at the middle school. No homeroom. That's it. He is full time. It incenses me! I have to *make* myself not think about it every.single.day.

Indiana has adopted a new teacher evaluation system called RISE. It is far too complicated to explain here (and I don't understand it well enough to explain it, anyway) but there is no way that our administrators are going to be able to observe all of the crap on this rubric for every teacher, so what it boils down to is that I am going to be required to document every freaking thing that I do so that I can prove I did all these stupid indicators on the rubric. Never mind actually teaching! Time that could be spent planning rehearsals/lessons is instead going to go into this assessment process. Part of the evaluation is based on test scores, and depending on what you teach, your evaluation is figured differently due to there being state evaluations in some subjects and not others. Every assessment I give to kids has to be approved by an administrator ahead of time. It is a nightmare of epic proportions and I am sure my explanation is not doing it justice. In addition, my district is moving toward a "mass customized learning" philosophy, in which students will all be able to advance at their own pace. There are elements of it that sound great, but without additional staff and a huge infusion of technology, it will never work. So that adds to the time suck....all teachers are supposed to be participating on various "transformation" committees, which meet outside the contract day, but if we don't participate, we run the risk of an administrator deciding that we don't meet the criteria for the "professional collaboration" indicator on our evaluation rubric. I enjoy my students, but I don't know how long I can put up with the rest of it. We (at the middle school 5th-8th) have had huge teacher turnover in the past five years, due to a new principal (in waaay over his head, but very malleable so the superintendent likes him). Some really good teachers have left, and others are sure to follow. It is heart-breaking. I would love to teach for four more years after this one, to be in the same building with my youngest as he goes through middle school, and get through the one year that we will have two in college at the same time, but we will make it fine if I don't. Not so for my friends....it is a very tense place to work so far this year.

[niener]

That is so not the norm! Where did you work?

At the medical center in one of the research depts. Though very few people I knew there actually grew up in that area, so that may have something to do with it.

[ides]

At the medical center in one of the research depts. Though very few people I knew there actually grew up in that area, so that may have something to do with it.

Maybe. Pretty much everyone I wired around was from TN. I was in an executive office at the medical center.

[Auspicious]

Wow, I can't believe we've completed three weeks of school here already!

Both of mine are going to preschool MWF from 9-12 this year. This is my work time for my freelance stuff. Last year we had an afternoon babysitter a couple days a week for work time, but this year it's simultaneous preschool for both girls instead.

Hazel is starting out in the 2-year-old room but should move up to the 3s at her early-December birthday. She is thrilled we thick-headed adults are finally giving her the recognition she deserves as "a big gurl" by understanding that she deserves to go to school. In Hazel's mind she is four and she and Cora are twins. The girls do already share some friends, it's true. I'm of course really glad she's had such a seamless transition to school so far. She was always my difficult baby and toddler, but not right now. Her only "extracurricular" (ha ha) is her My Gym class, which we both love. I think I see gymnastics in her future.

This is Cora's last year before kindergarten. I fretted a bit about choosing three mornings a week of school instead of five for her, but I think it'll be the right choice. (Maybe . . . I hope . . . ) She seems to be well on track for kindergarten readiness, and the couple things that I think need work are fine motor and independence-type skills like zipping her own jacket and her handwriting needs work. Fumble-fingers! I think we can work on that at home, though. Also, Cora flipped right over into disequilibrium just as the school year was starting. So right now her attitude kind of stinks, and as in the past, it was like someone flipped a switch and she was a different kid overnight. She seems sad and almost kind of cynical. I've done plenty of gentle prying to make sure nothing else is wrong or going on, but I think it's just . . . classic disequilibrium stage. Historically she gets headed back in the right direction quickly, so hopefully that will be the case this time, as well. And even the Mr. Hyde version of Cora's not really so bad, though.

Activities-wise she's still doing swimming lessons, which she liked last December-May (thanks to scrub-jay's excellent advice on here about getting started on the right foot!) but now it's back to being a problem (see sudden personality change, above). I'm going to drop the group lessons at the end of Sept. and get back in the pool with her one-on-one myself, back to basics, and see if that gets things back on track. Also we've dropped her soccer in favor of ballet. That was another decision I fretted about and frankly I'm still not convinced. We'll see how it goes.

All in all we're off to a good start here! Thanks everyone for posting--always good to be warned of what's down the road, and to hear what's working for other same-age kids!

[samssugarmomma]

My oldest has been in school since the beginning of August and loves it. This is her third school in three years due to various reasons (one of them moving) and I'm so glad that she is easy going and adjusting well and making friends. She reports that sometimes school is "challenging" and sometimes it is "too easy" but hopefully we've found a place where she will continue to be challenged. She loves that the school has a "real" playground and they don't have to have recess in the parking lot. She hates that on Wednesdays the school goes to Mass and they have to wear dress shirts with peter pan collars. She hates those shirts! LOL

My two littles ones started preschool right after Labor Day. DD4 goes every day and DD2 goes two days a week. They both love their teachers and their classrooms and so far both are adjusting well. They are both going on a field trip in two weeks to a farm and very excited about that. DD4 was the calendar helper last week and I haven't seen her so excited about something as when she told me that she was the calendar helper!

[ladymoreta]

I get to participate in this thread! Hehe! DS is in "preschool" now. It's really just a Mom's Day Out type of program, but they don't call it that here. He plays and does a craft. I signed him up for MWF, and I think that's a good schedule for him. He needs it often enough that it's predictable for him, and also DD's morning nap has gotten so solid that she needs to be home in her bed instead of catnapping around town, so he was getting really bored hanging around the house all morning every day. From the brief conversations I have with his teacher at pickup, he seems to be doing fine. I can't tell you how much I wish I could see him while he's there. I'm so curious what he's like and who he is when I'm not around...

[BonBon]

Ours are off to a great start (except for the Everyday Math crap ). They've only been there a week and a half now, but so far, so good. I have to say I am LOVING having a routine again.

Auspicious said:

All in all we're off to a good start here! Thanks everyone for posting--always good to be warned of what's down the road, and to hear what's working for other same-age kids!

Reading about the future has me scared! I didn't get what people meant when they said parenting was harder as they got older. I'm starting to get it now, and I've only seen the tip of the iceberg. I hope those of you with older kids won't mind the rest of us keeping you on speed-dial! (is there such a thing anymore??)