Flashback Friday…More School Memories

I’m joining Linda at http://www.mochawithlinda.blogspot.com for a few more school memories.  That was  long time ago for me, and I don’t have many memories left–but I can always improvise!  Actually, my own extra curricular school memories are few and far in between, so today  I’ll talk about my children’s school memories instead!  They’ve all been out of school for a while, so they still count as a “flashback”, too! LOL 

While growing up, I didn’t participate in a lot of  “extra curricular” activities myself, but I got my fill of those kinds of activities through raising my children!  My daughter was like me, and didn’t participate in many activities, but she did take dance lessons for seven or eight years, which meant many public performances and recitals.  I was  very proud of her the last year that she took dance, when she and a friend performed a duet together!  I still remember it–they danced ballet to “Almost Paradise”.  I’m not ashamed to tell you that I still have all of her little dance costumes–and her dance shoes!

When my daughter was a sophomore, she was elected as a member of the homecoming court.  This was a strange and unsettling experience, because of how it came about.  That year there were two girls in the sophomore class with the same name (Brandy)–my daughter was one of them.  When the votes for sophomore homecoming representatives were being cast, some students neglected to put a last name on their ballots, so there was some confusion about which” Brandy” was the actual winner.  The other Brandy then made some snide comment   about how she knew she was the intended choice”– which may have been true, but it made the other students mad that she said that.  The students revoted and– my Brandy was elected–probably out of spite.  Not exactly how she preferred to have been selected, but none the less, she enjoyed the experience of being selected, and she represented her class well.

 Now, my oldest son is very smart, and made wonderful grades.  He rarely brought home any books, because he didn’t need to.  I always wanted to fuss because he never studied, but his report cards were straight “A”s.  He always managed to get his homework done at school, and fortunately didn’t require much studying for tests. 

 He also participated in various activities.  He  played the saxophone for a year in the middle school band, was in cub scouts for a year, and played soccer for a year.  He also played basketball from seventh through the eleventh grades.  He worked his way up from a “scrub”, to “most improved player”, to a “starter” in the eleventh grade–then he quit playing during his senior year!….Leaving  us to “shake our heads and wonder what was he thinking?” 

The youngest son participated in a spelling bee or two, took some guitar classes, and even tried playing basketball in his younger years, but didn’t like it.  He switched over from private school to public school for his last three years of high school–against our better judgement.  Fortunately, parents can sometimes be wrong, and it turned out to be a very wise move in his particular case.  He got re-enrolled in the “Galaxy Class”, which opened all sorts of doors for him.  He got an internship at a local bank, and worked there during his last two years of high school.  Through this internship, he became actively involved in various community functions, and he became the youngest member of the local Lions Club.  Brad was also a member of the FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America, and won the regional and state competitions for Banking/Finance during his Junior year. 

Our family attended our share of ballgames over the years.  During our daughter’s last years of high school, we attended almost every football game that her boyfriend played in.  He was a large fellow, and played as an offensive lineman.  He went to public school, while she went to private school.  About the time football would be winding down, we would begin to follow our son’s basketball team all over the place.  His team actually made it to the “State Finals” during his sophomore year.  The school had a terrific basketball team that year, but unfortunately, most of their key players graduated that same year. 

As for me, I never liked sports of any kind in school, so I attended very few ballgames.  I attended a couple of football and basketball games through the years, but I was always bored.  I remember attending one homecoming game while I was in high school, I think it may have been in my junior year.  The parade was always the best part of homecoming to me! 

I didn’t join many clubs, except for the Spanish Club.  I was, also,  a member of the Junior Beta Club for one year–in the eighth grade. I was voted as an “Outstanding Senior”, but I don’t remember what that was all about…and that pretty much sums up my school experience.  Now you know why I chose to write about my children!

I’m also linking up with Java at http://www.nevergrowingold.blogspot.com for Bloggers Over 40 Follow Friday.  Thanks for stopping by…Have a great weekend!