Spark Notes' Lank Family Schoolweek #1

Answers to Review Questions:

1. The gift bags on the second graders' desks each contained a newly sharpened pencil with eraser cap, a pack of tissues, and a small bottle of hand sanitizer. Edith had been speculating that the gift was an iPad, but she seemed perfectly content with hygiene supplies and an old-fashioned writing implement instead. Future gift-givers, take note.

2. Alice began three weeks ago at a daycare that provided care for the requisite hours but felt like something of a disappointment to us after the great childcare situations we had in New Jersey and Colorado. Nothing egregiously wrong, just a relatively young, inexperienced staff who seemed more like babysitters than early childhood development experts...as evidenced by the disarray in which we found the classroom every afternoon, their propensity for losing our labeled Tupperware containers, and their shyness about speaking to parents. But the dagger was that Alice told us every day before and after school that she hated it and never wanted to go back. We were trying not to read too much into that, knowing that 3 year olds are given to hyperbole and that new situations take adjustment, and noting that she never seemed acutely distressed at pick-up. Nevertheless, her declarations amplified our own misgivings.

Meanwhile, I'd had a thought one day about a month ago that the single mother of three on our faculty who gave me childcare recommendations probably had the same need for extended hours that we did and wasn't recommending morning-only programs. So I called the Montessori school she had mentioned, and sure enough, they had a REAL extended day option, from 7:30am - 6pm. What's more, they had openings in the three-year-old slot. I toured the place and it seemed fantastic, but it was also insanely expensive, at least for us. The admissions director explained that this late in the summer, they'd already pledged all their available financial aid dollars but that it looked as though some families who had been offered aid were making last-minute decisions not to send their kids, which might free up some monies. So we put in an application and waited to see. We hadn't heard anything by the time I needed to start work, so we enrolled Alice at the daycare mentioned above.

Then this weekend the financial aid director at the Montessori school called...with enough aid to meet our need! School began for three year olds today, so with a sense of whiplash and some guilt at yet another transition, we sent Alice there this morning to see what would happen.

She came home declaring, "I LOVE my new school! I'm going there for always."

Her teacher emailed this evening to touch base, offer us a private orientation in case we feel behind the eight ball being admitted so late, and say that "everyone was charmed by Alice today."

I was trolling the school website and saw that her teacher is a PTS M.Div.*

I think it's meant to be.

Yay!


Key Theme: New Beginnings
 
Edith and Alice also both tried a gymnastics class today. True to form, Edith went in shy, sulky, and hanging back, but within 15 minutes she had relaxed, and within half an hour she was beaming and racing through the various stations at full tilt.

True to form, Alice went in 110% eager and stayed that way, running over to tap on the glass window to make sure we were watching as she performed at various stations. When I asked her afterwards which part she liked best she told me,

"All of it. Especially the polar bear bars."

"The polar bear bars?" giggled Edith.

"No, I mean the parable bars."

And He spoke to them saying, "Two girls went out unto the mat..."


Surprise Twist

For whatever reason, the Shy, Sensitive, Sullen Seven Year Old stayed home when we attended a wedding this weekend with old family friends. Instead the little-known Carefree Dancing Queen put in a rare and delightful appearance. She inspired multiple Medicare-eligible adults to get out of their seats and join her on the dance floor, so infectious was her enthusiasm. Photos and video to come.


Reversals of Fortune

 Holy cow, do they raise the homework ante in second grade! Twenty minutes of independent reading every night (twist Edith's arm...), addition flash card drills every night, spelling/phonics assignments every night, a math worksheet every night, and optional math enrichment problems every night. It took me 15 minutes just to read through all the paperwork and figure out the regime. We better hold the extracurricular line at gymnastics.

On the other hand...

I am once again quite busy, my to-do list long, and my planner full. I am up late prepping and up early being mom. But relatively, it is So.Much.Easier. The big difference: Even if I'm once again just a step ahead of my students, somewhat breathlessly preparing lessons as I go, I now sit down each night to read the 9 pages I assigned them for homework rather than the 90 pages I assigned them for homework. The tenfold workload reduction in that part of prep time is a glorious, glorious thing. My pillow and I are getting reacquainted.

*Princeton Theological Seminary Master's of Divinity. We know some such folks and think they're pretty special.