Each year it is the same thing and each year it seems to get worse and worse. The first day of school each of my children walk in the door and hand me a HUGE envelope with homework to be completed by me. Trent loved letting me know that the only homework he had last night was making sure I completed mine. UGH!! You would think they could get their act together better and only make us do "one" paper per family and just let all the children sign their name on it. But NO! 4 children, 4 papers exactly the same over and over and over again!! It's not quite as bad for the elementary ones, but the high school ones... now that's another story! Each class wants the parents to read and sign each class syllabus for their class. I actually had to stop last night for a little while because I started getting loopy and misspelling my own name! Then it was time to pull out the checkbook. Two PTA's wanting my money, Athletic fee's, directory fee, SOS fee, (Spartans out Serving) basketball shoe order money, (they require everyone on the team to have the same shoes) Elizabeth's choir fee's, Trent's 5th grade choir fee's, time trackers, etc. etc.... It just keeps going on and on!!
This picture doesn't do justice to how bad it is! A few of the papers are actually stapled pamphlets.
While I was busy working on the paperwork, Elizabeth and Eyn were busy putting together their supplies for each of their classes. They came home with their lists of what supplies they had to have for each individual class. Luckily, I had stocked up on tons of supplies I knew they would end up needing. We get a list before school starts, but each teacher always wants their individual items. We went to the store last night to try and pick up a few things we hadn't gotten and it was crazy in there! We ended up walking out with nothing I planned on getting. I need to go attempt a different store today to pick up a few things. Elizabeth and Eyn both had homework last night and of course Elizabeth was up too late working on it. She came in and asked me for help with some of her English homework and I had never even heard of it before! That's not a good sign!
Just a quick first day of school update: Amberly: She "had to" ride the bus home from school. She has watched her siblings ride the bus her entire life and couldn't wait to do it. So, we're letting her for now. She came off the bus and declared that she had had the BEST day of her life! She absolutely loved school and had made 2 new friends. She loved absolutely everything about it and loves her teacher! I am so happy for her! I just want that feeling to continue! She came and woke me up this morning wondering ready to get up and get going! Now if only we can keep that feeling for the next 12 years!
Trent's first day: He thought it was great! He really likes his teacher and thinks she will be super. (So do I!) They didn't change classes yesterday so hopefully he'll like all the other teachers today. He will have all 5 of the 5th grade teaches plus PE, Art, and music teachers as well. He absolutely loved riding his bike to school. He got home really fast!
Eyn: He said high school was okay. He didn't like that the bus was so crowded, but that should thin out once all the extra curricular activities get going. He seemed to like his classes okay and was excited for basketball. The doctor has put him at 100% as of yesterday so he can play again. They start today so we'll see how it goes. He has an extremely early lunch and hated that. He said he wasn't hungry. Seminary starts today so that will add another hour before he eats lunch so hopefully he will be hungrier then.
Elizabeth said school was okay. She said being a senior is great. She said the teachers aren't as strict with them and don't treat them like babies and she loves that. She is still trying to figure out if she wants to keep her schedule the same or not so that has been stressful. She just wants to enjoy her year. She loved lunch again because they have a big group of kids from church that all sit together and that's great for them. She's looking forward to Friday night because the seniors in our ward are going to start getting together and having their own parties. It was initiated by one of the parents in our ward and I think it's great!
Great first day all around I must say!
I know how you feel about the first day of school paperwork! I spent about 6 hours on permission forms, syllabi, medical records, even a form that confirmed that we were in fact not homeless and that my children do have a place to sleep. My husband didn't believe me that, after we put the kids to bed, I still had a dozen more forms to fill out, so I pulled everything out and he realized that I wasn't exaggerating! Thankfully, he pulled up a chair and started filling out student information forms. It made me laugh - he kept on asking "Christie, what's Caeden's favorite color? How about his strengths? What's his favorite type of book? Does he have weaknesses that we should list? Is there anything else his teacher should know about him to be a better teacher?" He finally got a taste of why I have a love/hate relationship with the first day of school...
ReplyDeleteI hear ya! Man, this is my first year to have two kids in school and I was overwhelmed. I can't imagine 4. With all the programers in the world you'd think someone could come up with a program so that the paperwork would only have to be done ONCE per family. What happened to saving trees and all that "green" talk?
ReplyDeleteI wish I could say it gets better, but it doesn't. They do need to come up with a better system. Eyn has to have a physical each summer before school starts and this year we had to include a copy of his birth certificate and a copy of a utility bill to prove we live here. Um, lets see... He has been in the same school district since kindergarten and we have lived in the same house. What a pain! I'm just glad that my homework is done for now!!
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