Having rediscovered my old blog while trying to get out some unrelated frustration, I read a post or two about going back to school when back-to-school meant I was going to be teaching and the children were going to be in child care. And while I do miss the newness that is the beginning of the school year, and I hate that the job simply goes on and on and on now, with no beginning, no end, and very little change, I emphatically do not miss the uncertainty of who was to go where, trying to avoid putting the very young children in child care for longer than I thought was good, and the guilt of not doing the things that I thought I should be doing with them while they were young. So looking forward to the beginning of the school year, which starts on August 25th here, I will attempt some reflections.
Doodle and Chiclette, as they were named many years ago on the blog, are now going into 3rd and 1st grade, respectively. Looking at this blog, that's a bit surreal. They are attending a lovely school, where Doodle has been going for 4 years, Chiclette 2. But there are changes afoot! The school has a new principal and a new assistant principal, who will hopefully leave well enough alone. A beloved coach (I can't believe I used those words together) will be a classroom teacher this year. And who knows what else awaits us?
Doodle has many friends from previous years, but each year, several move away. Because it is a college town, and we are living in one of the areas with less stable population, many people graduate and move away. So we already know that at least two of her best friends will not be there in the fall, which is sad. Last year, none of her friends from her previous years were in class with her, which was also a disappointment. Luckily, she makes friends easily. She also has a high tolerance for torment as we learned from her teacher last year when we approached her about a boy who seemed to be tormenting Doodle consistently. She didn't tell the teacher because even if she is annoyed, she does not want to get others in trouble. *sigh*
I worry a bit about Doodle, because she is proficient enough to easily make good grades, but not needy enough to get extra attention. Meaning, she is not always noticed--whether she excels or not. And I worry that she will not be challenged. She did not make G/T last year, though she was placed in an enrichment class (G/T - lite). The gifted and talented program in our school district identifies only children who are academically gifted, and also has to represent all races equally, leaving some to be excluded because of overrepresentation. By 3rd grade, if we do not have her working a year ahead, she will not test into G/T. Last year, her art teacher, who noticed Doodle in particular in Kinder and 1st, did not seem to pay any attention at all to her, which was disappointing. She will do well, and she values that--which is good. She simply doesn't get the recognition she deserves for being smart.
I have enrolled her in 4-H, which is exciting! In June, she took a 1-hour class every weekday for a month in archery. It's a "summer enrichment" in the public school, and both girls were enrolled in 3-4 different classes. She enjoyed the archery, and would like to continue, so we're going to try that out!
Chiclette is involved in the Dual Language program, which is an immersion English/Spanish program for native speakers of both languages. It is inherently challenging, which is good. Again, though, Chiclette flies under the radar a bit. There are high-maintenance children, and she is not. She also seems to learn without much effort. She also did not test into the Gifted program, but by a much closer margin--3 percentage points or thereabouts. What I worry about with her is motivation. She only read 5 or 6 of the take-home readers all year--she simply wasn't interested. And I have a hard time enforcing reading. But she advanced several reading levels nonetheless.
I have some reservations about the Dual Language program. Chiclette is amazingly attuned to language, and needs a challenge, so it is very good for her. But it is literally its own little separate community within the school. The teachers cultivate that--trying to create a bond between the families, in part so that we will have a support network when homework gets difficult, and so that the kids (and parents) will form friendships and will not want to leave the program before the "mandatory" 5 or 6 year commitment. What this means is that there are events for Dual Language only. And what THAT means is that during these events, the children run wild in the school while the parents socialize. I disapprove of both forced socialization with other parents and parent neglect of their ill-behaved children. I also disapprove of the air of priviledge that this gives the teachers, children, and parents in Dual Language. I have a child who is not Dual Language, so I am attuned to the differences. Many of these families--or the non-native speakers of Spanish--are Dual Language "dynasties" with multiple siblings passing through the program. Those parents are very well known, and chat with the teachers at events to the exclusion of newer parents--particularly those who work and have less time to volunteer. These are also the parents who spend summer vacationing in Mexico. I have also been on a field trip with Doodle's grade, during which the Dual Language classes were grouped with Doodle's non-DL class for the field trip. I was unimpressed by the snobbery of the 2nd grade DL teachers, the parents, and the behavior of the children--who were rounded up by whistle at the end of the lunch period because they were "bonding" so vigorously with each other, running all over the lawn. Even more unfortunately, the male DL 2nd grade teacher was arrested later in the year for inappropriate conduct with past students at a different school--which is not the fault of the program, but contributes to the overall bad feeling. However, Chiclette is social, so she does "mingle" with other children at other times--particularly after school.
Perhaps because of Dual Language, Chiclette--unlike Doodle--seems to be completely overlooked by the nonacademic teachers--art and the like. (I get the impression that the DL group is high-maintenance.) Well, the coach I mentioned earlier, seems to like both girls--and seems to be one of the few who links the girls together. Doodle is sunny and friendly. Chiclette is very friendly as well, but she's a little bit wry in her sense of humor, and she will protest things that she doesn't like, and state her opinion (as will Doodle, but differently). You can imagine that I'm proud. But she is devoted to her friends (one in particular!), and adores cute things. Sometimes, it's easy to forget how young she really is when she states that she is "infuriated" by the video game, but then she coos and makes goo-goo eyes because she thinks a baby toy or a stuffed animal is cute. At those times, something inside me cries for her innocence in a fallen world.
In her manner, she resembles her brother, who I believe was unnamed on the blog previously! Hmmm... Big brother is cynical, but makes goo-goo eyes when we watch Too Cute on Animal Planet. He also has a rather encyclopedic knowledge of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, without being a "Brony" (a casualty of babysitting two small girls). He is 17, and entering--drum roll please--12th grade. And that is completely surreal. So we are readying ourselves for college applications--he is trudging a bit, not really comfortable with the unknown, and not really wanting to leave home. He is also staring down about 5 AP courses this year--not a "blow off" year, by any means. I don't expect him to take that many AP tests--those are simply the courses that are available to him. He is entering his eigth year playing the cello, and his third year in Varsity Orchestra. I believe that at this point, music is what interests him the most in school. There have been years when I have felt that orchestra was easily the most valuable thing that he has done during the year. He has also mentioned graphic design and (heaven help us) ENGLISH as possible areas of study, though what English departments have made of literary study is not something I think he would enjoy.
So that's what the year looks like. It is nice to know that they have a routine again, though I dread the routine. I will miss having them at home, because home feels like a territory that I can control, and I hate being out of control. I'm trying not to think of that. I will also miss having lunch at home with them--a little bit of "normal" in my workday. (No, work is not normal. It is completely artificial.) After school, they have an after-school program which is a good program, but it is still too much time away from home. They should ideally be off no later than 3. But in spite of my dissatisfaction and concerns, they long for the other children and for their teachers, so it is a time of excitement for them. And really, I don't want to end on a sad note. It should be exciting. But I'm never quite ready to send them back.
