Back to School...

In a very short week schools will reopen here in North Alabama. We are already hearing people complain about the early start and, “Back when I was a kid we didn’t start until after Labor Day!” And there is a group trying to lobby to “Save our Summer” to get the start date pushed back. They’re key point is that the state is missing out on all the tourist revenue that would be generated by a later start date. I don’t know about that, but I do know that summer boredom has some of us firmly in its hot, humid grasp.

We are, however; excited about the coming school year. We are leaving our old school which is K-5 and going to a new one for middle school. It really seems hard to believe that Evan is starting middle school now. Seems like just the other day I was taking him for his first day of Kindergarten.

And then there are school supplies. Why are they so exciting to buy? Even kids who don’t like school or are not good students seem to get pumped up with new supplies. I had to run to China-Mart on Saturday to pick up some things and there was total chaos on the school supply aisles. I was glad that Evan & I had already shopped for his stuff a couple of weeks ago when they first put it out. There is a tax free weekend coming up but stuff is usually so picked over by then and it is often a mob scene that I am just not equipped to deal with anymore! So the few pennies I would save are sacrificed for my mental health. I am sure that there will be some things he will need that weren’t on the supply list or that he will think that he needs.

So next week we will have orientation at the new middle school and he can get his locker assignment and we will get that set up and learn how to work the combination lock. I know we can meet the homeroom teacher but I don’t know if we will get a schedule at that time or not. In any event we shall endeavor to get Evan organized which should help make transition less stressful. I think he will be excited to see his school friends and make some new ones.

As for me I shall return to my job as everyone’s favorite substitute. I expect to be at Grissom a lot this year which is good. I enjoy the high school kids, I can be sarcastic and they get it…well some of them get it, and I am certain that it will provide much fodder for this blog. I don’t expect to get anything as good as the note I got for a students absences last year…I was subbing a long term assignment for one of the 10th grade English teachers who was gone on medical leave. A kids in my 3rd period class was absent for 2 days. Upon his return I asked him if he had an excuse which he said he would bring the next day. The next day I asked for the excuse again and he produces a full page letter from his mother explaining to me that on the first day he was absent he had not set is alarm properly (or at all I bet) and missed the bus. Due to injuries from a car accident, she was unable to drive him and so he missed school. But, he would have really only been tardy. The second day he woke up on time but was having a problem with his hair. Yes, you read that right, he was having a bad hair day and she felt sorry for him and let him stay home to try to fix his hair. So after reading this I looked at him and said, “You know, if I stayed home every time I had a bad hair day, I would never leave my house!” I look forward to school starting back, and before any of you start inundating me with emails and phone calls to get my teaching certificate so I can do this “for real,” the answer is NO! I am not going back to school!