Back to School Night
I’m supposed to be at playgroup right now, but Elsa is still asleep and shows no signs of waking up any time soon. No worries–she’s breathing! She’s just very, very asleep.
We all went to Back to School night last night, which was probably a mistake. It was deadly boring, though it was all information that was very relevant and good to have. Mike didn’t get to learn much because he was off chasing Elsa through the halls. Erik said the whole thing felt like it took 18 hours. Yes, son, it really did.
It was dark when it was over and the kids started talking about monsters in the car, which I hate. Erik does not know how to moderate his words around Elsa. Why would he? He’s six. Still, it’s not good for Elsa to hear about scary monsters and spiders and tigers all the time.
The kids went to bed about an hour later than normal, which led to an off night. Elsa woke up screaming in middle of the night for the first time in almost two weeks (shhhhhh! I wasn’t going to tell you she was sleeping through the night. Didn’t want to jinx it). Erik woke up on the couch in the basement with no recollection of how he got there.
Overall: not a stellar night’s sleep for anyone.
I really liked Erik’s teacher. His kindy teacher would always use a lot of education buzz words that no one understood. I used to be a teacher and I could barely follow what she was saying, so I felt really bad for the parents who didn’t work in the field. This year’s teacher was perfectly understandable and explained the curriculum really well. It is very different from what we did as kids, but on the whole I think it is good.
They use an integrated approach, which I like. For example, this quarter they are talking about living creatures. This week they have looked at bugs, read about bugs, written about bugs, counted bugs, added and subtracted bugs, and so on. All things bugs!
They also have a big push for critical thinking skills, which I like.
The thing I don’t like: they spend FOREVER on a concept. They say that instead of covering a mile of territory and only going an inch deep, they cover an inch of territory and go a mile deep. In the abstract I think this is a good thing, but Erik is already so far ahead on some of the concepts that it doesn’t work in reality. Having him sit there for weeks and “discover how numbers work” is incredibly boring to him. He knows how numbers work. Not saying he couldn’t use some more ground work, but he taught himself multiplication and division, for cripes’ sake. Sitting around at his desk with 8 blocks, discovering different ways to group them is not going to hold his attention for long.
They do have math groups, but have not started them yet. I am holding out a little hope that the math groups might give more advanced instruction.
What else is going on?
I’m just sitting here, waiting for Elsa to wake up. It’s 10 am.
I guess it’s good that we are missing playgroup. I have a lot of stuff to get done today, but didn’t know how I would fit it all in. I need to take the van in to get the exhaust inspected. Today is the deadline, of course. I kept putting it off, but can’t put it off anymore. There are no conveniently located inspection stations, which is the main problem. I will literally have to drive 30 minutes to get to an inspection place. The only good thing is that the inspection station is near the very nice, big Costco. I can take care of some shopping without having my blood pressure go through the roof. Our nearest Costco is about ten minutes away, but it’s always a zoo.
I guess I should also call the bowling alley and book Erik’s party. I filled out their online form over a week ago. It said I would be contacted by a “party specialist” within 72 hours. I guess the party specialist must have taken a bowling ball to the head and forgot to call me.
This year is going to be tough as far as invites go. I’m not inviting younger siblings. I can’t handle a bunch of kids with bowling balls swinging them around toddler heads. I’m letting Erik choose 10 kids and that’s it. Politics be damned. He’s old enough to know who he likes and who he wants at the party. I’m not going to make him invite people he doesn’t like, even if they do live 20 feet from my front door.
Ugh. Really hope I don’t piss people off, but by age 7 shouldn’t a kid get to have the party they want, not the party that makes everyone else happy? No one is obligated to host people they don’t even like on the day that is supposed to be all about happiness.
Erik is very much a social animal, but he is becoming more picky about his friends. This is a good thing, I think. I need to stop being a people pleaser. I was trained to be a doormat and am slowly coming out of that mind set, but it is still difficult at times.