Tag: school (Page 9 of 13)

On The Courts

February 17, 2015 / DB

Long weekends suck. At least when the weather is crappy and you have nowhere to go.

St. P’s annually stretches out President’s Day weekend to build some snow make-up days in the schedule before spring break. Since we’ve had no snow days this year, we’ve been lucky enough to have a five-day weekend. When the temps have been stuck below freezing with wind chills below zero the entire time. And no snow to play in.

I was sick of my kids 48 hours ago and we still have another day to get through.

Serenity now…

Both Saturday and Sunday had nice, short diversions, though. M. had volleyball games both days.

Her team is good. Really good. Coming into the weekend, they had swept every match 2–0 and only once had the other team made it to even 19 points against them.[1] They have several decent players, but one girl in particular is kind of kick ass. She serves overhand, and hard. With some swerve. In a sport where at least half the players can’t get an underhand serve from a box inside the main court over the net, having a couple girls who can serve is huge. When you have someone who has pace and movement on the ball, you’re tough to beat. And this girl is also athletic, so she can get around the court and return balls not hit directly to her. A week ago, she nearly blocked a girl at the net and came close to spiking.

Again, she’s a fourth grader. Although she is, by far, the tallest kid in her grade at St. P’s.

Anyway, she was gone over the long weekend. So there was some nervousness as the team had two games, and one loss might be enough to knock them out of the post-season tournament.

Should have not worried. They crushed both teams they played, easily. They were actually behind 5–0 in one game and still roared back to win without much effort.

There are just two games left in the season. The standings are a week behind for some reason, but it looks like one of the teams they will play was still undefeated as of a week ago. Win that game, and our girls will go to the city championship tournament. Which would be pretty cool. St. P’s won a couple city championships in boys basketball last week, including the fourth grade team. So it would be awesome if the volleyball girls matched them.

M. has done well. She served out the match Saturday, winning the final two points. She’s typical of most of the girls on her team. Sometimes the serve gets over the net; sometimes it doesn’t. She’s made some good returns. She’s not super aggressive, but that fits her personality. I think she likes volleyball better than kickball since it’s less dependent on strength.

It’s been really frustrating for me to watch the games, though. As a few readers know, from being on a team with me, I played a lot of volleyball back in the day. In my final few years in Kansas City, I generally played on two teams at a time — both 6-on–6 and 4-on–4 — in my employer’s rec leagues. I’m not going to pretend I was great, but I was a pretty solid player, better on defense than offense at the net, decent serve, and able to chase down and return just about anything that came to me in the back line.

So when four girls stand there and watch the ball hit the floor between them, it kind of drives me crazy. I know, they’re fourth graders playing the game for the first time. Still, I do a lot of muttering under my breath during games.

Fortunately, they get better quickly. We can already see improvement in M. and her teammates. Sunday all the games were running behind and we got to watch a 5th/6th grade game between two good teams. It was fun to watch, as just about every serve made it over the net and most girls could return the ball. The St. P’s team was even passing to the middle then setting the ball for outside hitters, although the hits were decidedly below the net. Still, good, fundamental volleyball.

If you haven’t played volleyball since high school gym, all games are rally scoring now. Which means the team that wins the point, gets a point, even if they were receiving the serve. First two games are to 25, win by two. If a third game is needed, they play to 15, again needing to win by two. ↩

Not A Routine Start

January 13, 2015 / DB

Today is school day number six of the new calendar year. Thus far, we have had two normal days.

Four times we have had two-hour delays, thanks to a combination of snow (last Tuesday), extreme cold/iced over roads (Wednesday and Thursday), and just ice (yesterday).

Today we were back on normal start time, but C. is home with me sick.

And even one of those “normal” days has an asterisk next to it since I was out-of-town that day and S. was getting the girls ready and off to school.[1]

Still, a far cry from the beginning of 2014, when the first four days were cancelled completely and day number five featured a delayed start. Several schools in our area have had to cancel classes a couple times already over the past week. Once again, not having buses pays off when the roads are in decent shape but the windchills are well below zero.

Even if the weather holds, next Monday is a holiday. So it’s going to be awhile before I feel like I’m back in a routine again. First world problem, I realize. But I’m still looking forward to having the girls in school for seven hours, four-straight days next week.

Knock on wood.

Fortunately it was her day off, so no big deal. ↩

Holiday Cheer Notes

December 16, 2014 / DB

Nine days out, the holiday tension is getting thick at our house.

Shortly after our tree went up, the girls began making presents for each other and putting them under the tree. They were mostly paintings and drawings, but everything was placed into a gift bag or wrapped in a box so they looked like any other gift.

They decided last week that waiting until Christmas to open them was dumb, so they tore them all open. I’m not sure what happened, exactly, but a few minutes later C. was up in her room crying. Did someone make fun of the gift she made? Or did her sisters not put the same effort into her gifts that she put into theirs? Either way, feelings were hurt.

There’s a lot of that going around, unfortunately.

L. brought home her school-made gifts for us last night, along with a note suggesting we open then right away so they can be part of our decorations. She made us the obligatory tree ornament, a little piece of pottery, and brought home some hot chocolate mix that included marshmallows she decorated as snowmen.

Wound up by presenting those to us, she and C. decided they wanted us to open the gift they had put under the tree for us two weeks ago. They were jumping up and down and yelling they were so excited. So we were very happy to receive a bag full of individual Starburst candies that they had taken from their Halloween stash. Such sweet little girls!

I’m really not sure why they even bother with school this week. Just about every day is filled with holiday activities, homework has been ratcheted way back, and most of the projects they have are fairly small. I guess that would be the case no matter when the last day of school was.

In Elf-related news, I’m pleased to report I’ve stepped up my game this year. Instead of just hiding, Elfie has been doing more silly things this year. Riding horses with Barbie. “Zip-lining” from the window treatments to the dining room chandelier. Playing cards with some of the other stuffed animals in the house.

But my favorite was when I stole an idea I found on the Internet and sat him on the toilet and dropped some peppermint candies into the bowl. I set him up the night before and was careful to use some double-sided tape to make sure he didn’t fall in. Luckily I gave him a quick check in the morning, because he had flipped over and was hanging by his feet over the floor. I quickly replaced him and woke the girls up.

They screamed! Unfortunately, he flipped over again before we left and I had to just remove him from the seat for his safety, or so I told the girls.

Each morning L. has a writing project in class where she draws a picture of something and then writes a descriptive paragraph. She wrote that she found Elie “…on the tolit…” and he “…poopd mintz…” I can only imagine what kind of things other kids write that her teacher has to keep a straight face about each day.

Fun With Editing

December 8, 2014 / DB

Over the weekend C. brought home a story she had written in class with instructions for the weekend. We were supposed to read it with her, then rewrite it to take out grammatical errors so she could record it in class on Monday.

Which is a good thing.

Her story, which was based on the Nutcracker, featured one very concerning spelling error. After Princess C.’s brother broke the Nutcracker she received for Christmas, C. took it and “…raped him with cloth.”

When S. read it, she covered her mouth and handed it to me with wide eyes.

When I read it I said, “Hmmm. On top of just being wrong, I bet that would be uncomfortable.”

C. went back to class today with an edited story that featured a Nutcracker that had been “…wrapped with cloth.”

Much better.

Some Kid Stuff

August 18, 2014 / DB

After that two day, mini-week to begin the school year, we’re diving right in this week. Five full days of school. An athletic event every afternoon or evening. In the next five days we have two kickball practices, two kickball games, and one soccer practice. We could add another event, too, as we’re still waiting to hear when L.’s soccer team will practice. And high school football begins this week.

Our neighbors, who are empty nesters but spent many weekends when we first lived here shuttling their boys to games and events all over the area, warned us of this. I guess there’s no turning back now.

S. took the girls for a bike ride Saturday. Just around the corner, on their way home, one of L.’s training wheels fell off. Sunday night, I was standing in the driveway talking to a neighbor when I saw L. go cruising by on a training wheel-less bike. Wait, what? Yep, she mastered riding on two wheels in about five minutes. It took a week or so of intense effort with M. two years ago. C. was on the verge last year then lost interest, but figured it out quickly this spring. And now L. has beat them both.

The funny thing is L. was begging me to help her ride C.’s bike the other day and I told her just to stay with her bike for now and we’d work on riding on just two wheels in the spring. She sure showed me!

Last night we were going through the list of things L. needs to master this year. Basic information like her address, phone number, birthday, days of week, etc. There’s also a short list of religious facts she needs to learn as well. S. asked her if she could make the sign of the cross. L. nodded and stuck her fingers up, making a cross with them rather than, you know, actually crossing herself. I had to look away so L. didn’t see me cracking up.

Later, when she was out of the room, I told S., “That’s my daughter!”

Finally, one thing I forgot to mention from a couple weeks back. We were all working hard to get everything packed up to head to the LVS for the weekend. The girls have a general rule that they can take as much stuff as they can cram into a backpack or book bag. They know to throw some books, their DSes, a stuffed animal or two, and maybe a game in. As I was trying to cram all the food and drink for the weekend into the back of the car, M. and L. walked out with their bags.

“Where’s C.?” I asked.
“She’s upstairs. She has seven bags,” said L..
“What?!?!”
“Yeah,” nodding, “Seven bags.”

I went upstairs and C. walked out of her room with, yes, seven bags draped over her shoulders, around her neck, and across her arms. And then she had the nerve to act surprised when we told her she could only take one.

Sometimes I don’t know what’s going on in that kid’s head.

End Of An Era

August 14, 2014 / DB

St. P’s kicked off the school year today. The alarm went off at 6:30, the girls were roused,¹ uniforms were donned, bags were packed, and off we went. Drop off was easy.

M., as is her custom, quickly dismissed me so she could start digging through the box of supplies sitting on her desk and chat with her friends. C. quickly found her seat and did the same.²

And then we were went to the end of the hall and L.’s room.

We missed her ice cream social so this was her first meeting with her teacher, who is new to St. P’s this year. I think she was pleased that she got a teacher neither of her sisters had before her.³ We found her desk, settled her in, said hello to her friend from preschool who is in her class, and then I left her to do her thing. I could see a little nervousness in her eyes, but she’s never had a problem on the first day. She’s been so excited for school to begin, I think the reality of it was hitting her a little hard.

And since everyone has been asking me if I thought I would be emotional dropping her off for the first time, I decided to high tail it before that became the case. Surprisingly, perhaps, it was a less emotional day than a year ago, when L. burst into tears when she realized she was coming home with me rather than staying with her sisters. I hustled her out of the coffee and donuts welcome breakfast trying to keep from crying myself that morning.

This year I left dry-eyed, came home and immediately went for my first outside run since late June.

Thus ends an era in my life. I don’t know how to exactly define when I became a stay-at-home parent; was it the day M. was born, the day I turned in my resignation for my old job, or the day S. went back to work? Regardless, for the first time in just over ten years I don’t have a baby, a toddler, or a preschooler in the house with me. Today is an early dismissal day, but beginning tomorrow, I’ll have seven hours when my kid-related activities will all be laundry, grocery, and cleaning centered rather than directly keeping them busy or supervising them.

As I’ve told many of you, I’d like to find something to do with this time. Preferably something that allows me to use a keyboard to put words into documents or onto paper and helps pay the bills. But I’m still the parent responsible for picking up, dropping off, getting to and from practices and games, and dealing with inevitable sick days. In other words, I’m not looking for a 40-50 hour desk job. I’m sure I’ll start small, and hopefully sooner rather than later. But for the time being, I’ve got some time to make sure our house isn’t a complete disaster and knock out some more books each week.

Oh, and I got suckered into being the head coach for C.’s soccer team this year. Rather than run on the field with them and give them general direction, as I’ve done helping with the girls’ U8 and U6 teams, for U10 soccer I’m going to actually run practices and figure out how to coach from the sideline against other coaches who know what the hell they’re doing. So I guess I’ll be spending time ramping up my soccer knowledge and figuring out how to get kids to do the right thing without making them cry.

The district we live in started school yesterday. The girls and I made a trip to the library to do one final book exchange for the summer. It was eerie being the only parent with kids bigger than toddlers. The library is right between an elementary school and the high school, and I think a few adults gave us second looks as we walked around the deserted kids section. “No,” I wanted to say, “I’m not home schooling them. They just start tomorrow.”

So that’s that. If you have any idea what I should do next, please let me know.

I heard L., I think, open her door and peek out just after 6:00. It was like Christmas morning for her. ↩
I wish I had written down what C. wrote on the note she typed up for her teacher after getting her class assignment last week. It was something along the lines of she was excited for second grade, her big sister told her she would learn how to write in cursive and play Scrabble, and she couldn’t wait for First Communion. Then she signed it with her name and about 25 exclamation marks. ↩
Oddly enough, thanks to regular turnover in the kindergarten, each girl has had a different teacher to begin their St. P’s career. ↩

At Last…Summer

June 4, 2014 / DB

Three quick hours this morning, apparently to satisfy the state of Indiana, and now M. and C. are finally done with school.1 It’s been a long few days, as the district we live in wrapped up their school year last Thursday. So while the neighbors have been swimming and going to parks, we’ve still been on a normal school schedule. Not anymore, though.

As with the stomach bug hitting the house over Memorial Day, I hope the weather today isn’t an omen for the rest of the summer. We’ve had two waves of heavy rain, which just happened to coincide with drop-off and pick-up times. I ran the girls to the door and then back to the car three hours later, all of us huddling under a tiny umbrella to avoid getting drenched. I’m sure the mosquitos are loving it.

I think L. is especially happy to have her sisters home. While she was able to start swim team practice on Monday, she’s clearly been bored the rest of our week-and-a-half together. None of my suggestions for things to do seemed to interest her, and I could only drag her to the hardware or grocery store so many times. Sure, they fight constantly, but she also has someone to play with.

Tomorrow morning M. and C. will join in on the swim team practice fun. They hop in the pool at 8:00 for the rest of the week, then will likely move into the group that swims at 8:40 next week. So my alarm time won’t change dramatically for a couple more days.

We’re officially on our summer schedule. A hair over ten weeks that will include lots of time in the water, trips to the library, bike rides, exploring some parks, and whatever else I can come up to keep them occupied and me from losing my mind.

A three-hour school day? What a waste. Especially given that the last week or so had been pretty low key in school already. But I’m assuming three hours was the minimum they had to keep the kids in order to get that last snow day off the books. ↩

Weekend Notes

May 12, 2014 / DB

A few things about a few things.

After our endless winter, we finally got a blast of hot over the weekend. It pushed well into the 80s both days, with a healthy dose of humidity to make it feel a tad uncomfortable. I swore not to bitch about the heat after the months of cold…

This is the Midwest, though. The high Friday is supposed to be down in the 50s.

Part of being in a cable-free house means I have missed out on a few things. For example, I haven’t been able to watch the Pacers get their stuff together and suddenly be on the verge of advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals. I checked the score around halftime last night and, seeing they were well behind, forgot about the game. I was doing one last Twitter check before bed and saw that they had come back and won, taking a 3-1 lead over Washington.

Still not convinced they have all their issues solved. But they were built to play Miami. A boost of confidence from closing out the Wizards in five or six games and a chance at redemption against the Heat might just keep them on track.

Or they might not win another game. Tough to buy in to the turn around completely.

I realized this morning that L. is down to two weeks of pre-K remaining. That means these are the last two weeks of me running around the corner to drop off and pick up a kid. The last two weeks of not having all three girls on the same school schedule. It has gone quickly.

Of Bears And Lego

February 24, 2014 / DB

This weekend was L.’s turn with her class bear, Baxter.

If you’re not familiar with the concept, many classes send a bear or other stuffed animal home with kids for a weekend. They usually come with a book in which the adventures of the bear are recorded. When it’s your family’s turn, you take some pictures, write down the weekend’s activities, and send it back on Monday. C.’s class is still doing it, in fact. She had Tony, the bear their pen pals in Lithuania sent to the States, a week ago.

One of our big activities for the weekend was taking Baxter to the Lego store. He had been to the Lego movie with one of L.’s classmates so we decided to do it old school.

Lego1 is quite the racket. They’ve gotten smaller than they used to be and somehow became crazy expensive at the same time. I think it’s impossible to buy a kit of any decent size for less than $30. Even some of those sets, once you’ve assembled them, can be held in the palm of your hand. The girls were grabbing things they wanted and when we flipped them over to check the price, saw three figures a couple times.

Damn!

My other complaint is how you can not buy just a set of random Lego, at least in the store. They have bins where you can buy individual pieces. But there’s no 200 piece starter set, or something along those lines, displayed. If you check Amazon you can find them. And I bet toy stores have the assorted piece kits. At at the company stores, though, everything appears to be a rigid set. Star Wars, super heroes, Lego Friends, famous buildings and vehicles, nature scenes, etc.

When I was a kid…

Never mind.

We also took Baxter down to the LVS to do some winter checking, had a visit from an aunt, and took him out to eat on Sunday night. Oh, and watched plenty of Olympics and college hoops. L. was sad this morning when she had to take him back, but she was happy when I asked her how sharing her stories went in class.

I’m going with the official view that when you make Lego plural, you do not add an S. That bugs me, though. I always called them Legos. But you know how I love to pronounce things correctly… ↩

The Lost Week

January 10, 2014 / DB

From January 25-27, 1978, the Indianapolis area got over 15” of snow, which came on top of 5” of snow from a few days previous. The winds howled at over 50 mph. Snow drifted to between 10 and 20 feet. The wind chills were below -50. People were trapped in cars on the highways. Amtrak trains were stranded on their tracks. The entire city shut down for three days. The pictures of that time, extra grainy as they came in the low-res, black and white newspaper photo era, are incredibly eerie. It looks more like Indy got bombed as the streets were completely deserted.

People who were alive for that storm still talk about it.

What happened here this week wasn’t quite that bad. We got a foot of snow, after getting 6” three days earlier. It got windy, but not 50 mph windy, and the snow was mostly wet and heavy so the drifting was mostly in rural areas. The wind chills did drop to dangerous levels. It was in the mid -40’s Monday through Tuesday. And the metro area did shut down for a couple days.

Schools and businesses have struggled to reopen. S.’s office was closed for two days. M. and C. are going to school today, delayed two hours, for the first time all week. Like a lot of schools, theirs lost heat and took and extra day to get open. L. was supposed to go back today, too, but the school district her preschool is tied to cancelled early this morning.

People have asked, “Is it really that bad there?” Actually most of the roads were plowed by Tuesday morning. Even our neighborhood was plowed late Monday afternoon, giving the girls a 6-foot mound of snow to play on in the front yard. The problem, though, was all that heavy, wet snow compacted and froze, leaving a thick layer of rough, slushy ice beneath that plows could not push away. Even Wednesday morning the interstates had only vague lanes. Neighborhood streets were like driving across the moon in a dune buggy.

And the big problem for schools is that buses are having a hard time navigating the side streets while the sidewalks are often completely covered up. Kids would have to wait extra long either standing on sheet of ice or in the street itself. Twenty years ago I bet most schools would have opened by yesterday. But between the need for basic safety and the imperative to not get sued, districts keep delaying/canceling classes, waiting for warmer temperatures to finally melt off this mess.

I guess it’s a good thing this happened immediately after Christmas break. But I know a lot of families are struggling to find out what to do with their kids. An extra, unplanned week of childcare isn’t exactly what family budgets need after the holidays.

I remember a couple huge snowstorms when I was a kid. But I don’t recall ever having more than two consecutive snow days. It’s been a crazy and incredible week. Somehow the girls and I haven’t killed each other.

It ended up being the second-biggest snowstorm in Indianapolis history. We had the second-longest stretch of continuous time below zero (56 hours). We had some of the lowest wind chills ever recorded in Indy. It may not quite stack up to the Blizzard of ’78, but I think our girls are always going to talk about the great storm of ’14, when the city shut down and Christmas break lasted an extra week.