Memorable Back-To-School Moments…

The back-to-school departments of our local stores have been ransacked.  It’s quiet and peaceful to shop around town once again.  These things signal only one thing–school is back in session! 

In honor of this time of year, this post will contain some memories forever engrained in my brain…from my fourteen years of being a school employee during back-to-school time.

Pre-planning…Those first crazy days of coming back to work after having a leisurely summer!  We used to have five days of pre-planning–and spent at least three of them sitting in meetings!  Due to budget cuts, teachers now get only two or three days of pre-planning.  Which leaves very little time to plan!  The classrooms are in disarray from their summer cleaning, supplies have to be put away, bulletin boards and walls need to decorated, classroom lists made, etc…and the teachers sit in endless meetings!  Which means…we all end up working after hours–for no pay.

Fist day of school…Oh my word!  So many crying children.  Children dropped off,  who don’t have a clue how they are getting home at the end of the day.  The relentless heat of August in the south.  Keeping twenty-plus small children interested, and participating in class.  And explaining rules, rules, and more rules.

School supplies…What to do with all of those supplies that parents have packed in their children’s book bags???  Where do you store 20-plus boxes of kleenex?  How about 20-plus boxes of zip lock bags?  Why does little Johnny have 54 pencils and a box of 64 crayons in his book bag?  Liquid glue?  Oh no, liquid glue is a disaster waiting to happen!

The lunchroom…Oh my!  The smell of that lunchroom food…It’s not always a good thing!  The noise level!  You can’t even imagine…  Waiting in line forever while each child punches in their ”lunch number” into the computer–when some children haven’t even learned what a number is yet!  It takes so long to go through the line, there’s no time left to eat!  Put those trays up, finished or not!  Wait, little Susie just dropped her entire tray in the floor…No!  Tell me little Johnny isn’t throwing up in his tray!!!  Yes, he did.  Once little Johnny even threw up in the substitute teacher’s lap!  Sometimes little Johnny makes it just outside the lunchroom door before he loses his lunch in the school lobby–on the carpet.

The playground…It’s 110 degrees outside in the shade.  Which means every little boy and girl coming back in from the playground will smell exactly like Fido’s butt!  Really, is there anything more smelly than a hot, sweaty child?  I think not!  Try spending the rest of the day closed up in a classroom with twenty-plus smelly children!

Then of course,  somebody eventually ends up getting hurt, despite everyone’s best efforts to keep it from happening.  Little Suzie  quietly sitting on the Eagles Nest, when little Johnny falls on her from above, and breaks her leg!… then Johnny trips while walking in line–on his untied shoelace–and falls, suffering a concussion from the fall.  Yes, it happens.

Sick children…How do you determine who is sick and who is just sick of school?  So many headaches or tummy aches, especially the first few weeks of school.  A fever or throwing up is a certain ticket home–if the nurse can find a parent willing to come and pick the child up.  It’s amazing how many people do not have transportation to pick up their sick children!  Really?

Irate parents…Never mind that little Susie wasn’t paying attention to the lesson because she was playing with her headband.  How dare I take your child’s headband away from her?  Never mind that your child’s report card looked like the dog ate it when she returned it–I didn’t give her a sticker for bringing it back!  How dare I “diss” your child!  Yes, sadly, these are the types of issues which seem important to some parents.

School pictures…Nothing like 50 plus kids, waiting in line to get a photo made.  Trying to comb each head of hair–with a new comb–then throwing all of those combs away in an effort to prevent the spread head lice!  Fixing this one’s belt or that one’s sash, straighten those shirt collars…No recess or snack until after pictures!  Sorry kids, the photographer is running behind.  So much effort goes into those crazy school pictures, even if the end result doesn’t always show it!

Wow, I’m getting tired just remembering!  That’s not all, only the beginning, but I’m going to stop.  All of these things actually happen–year after year–and more!  Things never change.  Only the faces do.  Some years may be better than others, while some years may be worse, but for the most part, they are the same.

Best wishes to anyone who’s experiencing a new school year–as a student,  parent, or a school employee…and kudos to all of the dedicated people who put their hearts and souls into educating and taking care of our children.  There must be a special place in heaven for people like you!

More About Those School Days…

While Brandy’s first years of school were up and down, both of my boys had quite the opposite experience.  Neither boy was shy, they always had great teachers, and excelled scholastically.

Brad was reading quite well in kindergarten.  I really don’t know how he picked it up so fast and easy, it was like he always knew how to read.  Brad was given the gifted test in first grade and passed.  Brett scored 100% on his math and reading CRCT in the first grade, but failed to pass the “gifted” test.  When he scored 100% on the ITBS in the 2nd  grade, he was automatically placed in the gifted class.    

When Brad got to the second grade the school day consisted of a lot of ”center time” which is another word for “play time”.  I compared his school work with the work that his older brother did in the second grade, and I wasn’t happy.  I knew that he shoud be doing more work, less play.   

In the  meantime, Brett, the older son, was doing great in his classes, but I was getting concerned about his social life.  It seems that 1982 must’ve been the year more girls were born than boys.  There just were not that many boys in that grade, and the ones that Brett liked to  hang around with, were not my friends of choice for him.

Brandy was in the eighth grade and would be going to the high school the following year.  Our county had just consolidated and built one large high school in the middle of the county that year.  There was some rivalry going on between the students from different towns, plus the high school was much larger than what we were used to in the past.  I just wasn’t sure how Brandy would fare in a larger school, with larger classes.

All of these factors played a part in our family’s decision to move our children out of the public school system and into a private christian school.  I can honestly say, that was one of the toughest decisions that we’ve ever had to make, but when we weighed our options, it seemed like the best thing to do for our children.  It was a sacrifice, to say the least.  It required almost my entire salary to pay monthly tuition/bus fee for three children.  Looking back, I know that we did the best thing for Brandy, and probably for Brett, too.  He would’ve done fine academically, anywhere, but he would’ve never had the experience of playing basketball on a team that was runner-up for the State Championship in our public high school–he did at PCA. 

Brandy's class her first year at PCA(she's marked with a sticker)

We transferred the children for the 93/94 school year.  Brandy was in the 9th grade, Brett was in the 6th grade, and Brad was in the 3rd grade.  It was a whole new world for them.  I know that it was toughest for Brandy.  High school is tough for anyone, but to leave behind everyone that you know makes it ten times worse.  Brandy became friends with a couple of other new girls, but they moved after that first year.  She was devastated.  She and her long-time boyfriend, also broke up that year.  Tenth grade was awful, she cried off and on most of the year.  Finally, by the eleventh grade, things were looking up and the last two years were a whole lot better than the first two!  All’s well that ends well???  I know that we did the right thing for Brandy, educationally, even though it was tough emotionally.

The thing about private schools is they eat, sleep, and breathe sports…Brandy doesn’t have an athletic bone in her body, so sports didn’t interest her.  Brett only liked basketball, but he worked hard and eventually excelled at it.  Brad was sort of like Brandy, but he did try basketball a little while, but lost interest.  One out of  our three liked sports–but only one sport!  We became a traveling, basketball-watching  family.  The games were held all over the state of Georgia!

Brett's class the first year at PCA (he's marked with a sticker)

Brandy and Brett graduated from private school.  After they graduated, Brad just wasn’t  happy anymore.  He begged to transfer to the public high school in the ninth grade.  We refused.  It was a rough year, he wasn’t happy and didn’t apply himself.  Finally, we made another tough decision to let him transfer to public school for the tenth grade.

Brad's class the first year at PCA (he's marked with a sticker)

We were very unsure of our decision, but it turned out to be the best decision that we could make for Brad.  He got reinstated in the gifted/galaxy program.  Because of that, he was eligible for an internship– take classes part of the day/work in a local bank part of the day.  He did that for over 2 years, and retained his job at the bank after high school.  He also was eligible to take a college english course in high school to “jump start” his college education.  None of those opportunities were available at the private school. 

I’m very proud of all three of my children and of the education that they have received.  Both boys were honor graduates.  All three children,  qualified for our state’s HOPE scholarship(B or better) for college upon graduation from high school.  Brett received a full scholarship for his first year of college.  Both boys earned college degrees.  Brad earned his 4 year accounting degree while holding down a full-time job.  Brandy attended college for a while, but decided that college wasn’t for her.  She’s had several interesting jobs in hospital-related work,  but is currently working at her most challenging job yet,  being a stay-at-home mom.

I Don’t Want To Go To School….

Brandy's first day of preschool in'82

After the birth of my second child, I decided to enroll our daughter, Brandy, in a half day preschool program.  I based the decision to do this on the fact that Brandy had no playmates and school was a good place to find some.  I was also looking forward to having three hours a day to spend alone with the new baby.  It’s not always easy to divide yourself into two different directions…

Brandy started to school and it was the best thing that we ever did for her.    She learned a lot that year and seemed to enjoy herself.  Since she  missed the cutoff date for kindergarten enrollment the following year, we re-enrolled her for preschool with the same teacher.

The second year of school progressed fine until the last six weeks of school, when something happened at church that ultimately affected Brandy at school.

The children of the church were putting on a program for the church.  Brandy had a little part in the program.  She messed up on her part.  I think she walked the wrong way or something like that.  The church laughed as people sometimes do.  Brandy got embarrassed and cried on stage.  It was after that experience that things went downhill…

We had no idea that the church program had affected Brandy so deeply and thought nothing of it.  The following Monday Brandy began to cry and tell us that she didn’t want to go to school.  She couldn’t give us a reason why.  She’d always enjoyed school before.  At first we thought that she just didn’t feel well.

The next day was the same scenario, and the next.  Neither the teacher nor I had any idea what the problem was.  The situation grew worse.  Brandy would start crying in the evenings as the sun would start to set.  She would start worrying about having to go to school the next day, crying, and saying “I don’t want to go to school.”    Sometimes she made herself so upset that she would throw up.  I was a very worried and frustrated mom.  Many times I took Brandy to school, walked her to the door, left her crying,  and went back to the car and cried myself.  Eventually, during this awful time, my husband and I put two and two together and decided that the embarrassing experience at the church had affected Brandy deeply  and made her want to retreat and stay home– in her “safe place”.  Nothing helped, we talked with her daily, and sometimes I lost my patience.  Eventually school got out for the summer and that solved the problem.  I’ve never been so glad to see summer in my life!

My husband and I spent the whole summer worrying about school in the fall, but by then, whatever Brandy had been going through was over–Praise the Lord!  She had a fabulous kindergarten year…except for P.E., but that’s a story for another time!