Meet the teacher night

Last night was open house/meet the teacher night at both schools. Chris went with Hannah and Matthew and I went with Rebeckah and Austin. I only thought I was pumped and ready for school to start, but now I am REALLY pumped and ready!

Fist I will tell you what little I know about Hannah and Matthew’s classes and their impressions. Hannah is excited because a girl she went to cheer camp with is in her class and they sit close together. She also has a girl that lives down the street in her class and a boy that is in Matthew’s Cub Scout Pack is also in her class. She can't wait to start. She has already planned out what days she will bring her lunch and which days she wants to buy her lunch based on the calendar they handed out with the lunch menu printed on it.

Matthew is getting a bit more excited about going to school. (He still wants to be homeschooled. For those who don’t know he went to that school for kindergarten, was homeschooled for 1st grade, and now is back at that school. So he knows both sides of the coin.) He has a friend from kindergarten in his class this year, so that helps things out a bit. He also saw his kindergarten teacher and she remembered him and gave him a big hug. She is a great teacher, but the only thing that I don’t like about her is she always brings up the socialization issue when homeschooling is mentioned. When she saw he was returning she said something about it being great that he gets to be around other kids again! PLEASE…..he is around 4 other kids all day every day!! That socialization issue is a huge pet peeve of mine.

As far as Rebeckah and Austin go I am SO excited about this new school!! It is a very small school. In the ENTIRE 6th grade there are 17 students and in the ENTIRE 7th grade there are 12 students!! The same teachers teach 6th through 8th grade, so Rebeckah and Austin will have the same teachers. That will make things easier on me….less teachers to meet and less names to remember.

We first met the science teacher who is also the guitar teacher. Rebeckah and Austin both want to play guitar. The meeting with the science/guitar teacher was pretty uneventful, but they now know who he is, where the class is located and somewhat what to expect the first day.

We then moved on to the language arts teacher. She is also Austin’s homeroom teacher. So it was in there that Austin got to pick out his locker. They don’t assign a locker, the kids pick which one they want from a block of lockers and sign up for it. I asked if we were to provide the locks and they told me most kids don’t even put locks on their lockers! We learned that his teacher has a son that is in 6th grade also and his name is Austin too.

Next we went and met the social studies teacher. When I introduced Rebeckah and Austin she immediately knew their last names and grades. As she was talking to us about her classroom policies and such a group of young boys (6th graders I am guessing) poked their heads in the room and said, “There is the other Austin!” We hadn’t even been there 30 minutes and Austin is already known around the school!

We move to the math teachers room (which is also Rebekcah's homeroom) and wait in line to talk to her. As we were standing there a boy piped up and started talking to Austin. He said; “I know you. You are the other Austin. You are in my class!” At that point the teacher is finishing up with the parents ahead of us (turns out to be that boy’s parents) and the math teacher said; “Since you are “the other Austin”, you must be in 6th grade and this must be your sister Rebeckah who is in the 7th grade.” I was just floored that we were already known by the teacher without introducing ourselves. By the way, I think I am going to love their math teacher (as well as the social studies teacher).

Our last stop was to speak to THE coach. He coaches boys flag football, girls volleyball and boys and girls basketball. We told him Rebeckah is wanting to play volleyball this year and asked some questions. Practice will begin the second day of school.

Here are some more reasons I love this school:
~It is small so there is more one on one time with the teacher.
~They seem to genuinely care about the students.
~Even though it is a public school, we found Scripture quotes on the walls!!
~They want the students challenged.
~Detention doesn’t consist of sitting in a room. It is 30 minutes after school and they have to clean any room or hall that needs cleaning! (Rebeckah hates that!)

Anyway, I think it is going to be a good school year all the way around. Now if I could only say that about Pop Warner. We are still working on that and I don’t want to ruin my good mood with typing out the details right now. When it is all said and done, I will give a final report.