School Days

We went to meet The Boy and the Princess's teachers last night. The school, in its infinite wisdom, thought it would be a good idea to have an assembly beforehand. So, some 800 people crammed into a room with a sign posting max occupancy at about 620. Since there weren't enough chairs, about 500 people were left standing, trying to listen to the new principal and her spanish translator over the din. This half hour assembly then released all the children and families to mob around the school trying to find classrooms while looking at the 3 bulletin boards next to the cafeteria that had the classroom assignments for the students. We also got to buy all the school supplies for the year (113 dollars for two kids, not including school uniforms. So much for free public education) and lug those around while trying to keep track of which three kids belong to us.

The daughter was excited to see her classroom. Her teacher is young (younger than I), and has a baby of her own. She seems to have the right personality for teaching kindergarten, and seemed friendly enough. The Princess even has a friend from pre-k in her class, so she's got a head start in the friend department - not that she needs any help in that vein.

The Boy will have three teachers this year, plus teachers for art and music. His second grade teacher was "promoted" this year, so she will be teaching third grade science, and then he has a math teacher and a language arts/social studies teacher. I actually kind of like the idea of teacher "specialties," even at this young age. I think the teachers should be able to be a bit more effective.

All in all, the kids seem to be a bit excited about school, including the Apple, who was practicing being the hall monitor, I think (or he was in training for the indoor track and field world championships). I think this year should shape up to be a good one, especially since I won't be a student along with them.

Now if only I had a job (three rejections this week, but at least they got back to me). Anyone need a landman or an assistant general counsel for a school district?