School Days: Then & Now

I am so thrilled B, M and L love school.  Out of the three of them, B most definitely loves it the most.  She is the child who wonders out loud why school can't be year round.  When I explained to her that while she doesn't need a break the teachers most certainly do, she came up with the idea that teachers should work in 3 month cycles, thus, school could go all 12 months.

L is in Kindergarten and it's been a real adjustment for her.  We learned last week that today's Kindergarten is yesterday's first grade.  Aside from Play-Doh there are no toys and lots and lots of work.  She really likes her teacher and she enjoys seeing her friends, but I know if I told her she could stay home, she'd take me up on my offer in a heartbeat.

M is the perfect combination of the two others.  She loves school.  She loves her teacher and her friends and just like B, she loves learning new things.  Unlike B, however, she lives for weekends and school breaks.  When B starts talking about how she thinks school should be year round, M always chimes in with a rousing, "No way!"

As a child, I wasn't anything like them!  I loathed school.  With the exception of third grade, elementary is a giant blur of dejection.  I didn't have many friends, math and spelling weren't easy and I was an easy target for bullies.  Every time I'm in my daughters' school, I think how much different things would be if I were a student there now.

Would they really be different for me?  Probably not.  But as an adult, I love- no adore!- their teachers.  I love how they are learning in the classroom.  Things have changed in the last 30 years and all of the subjects seem a lot more hands on than they were when I was in elementary school.

As much as I hated being in school years ago, I absolutely love being there now.  I tend to volunteer quite a bit mostly because I love it so much.  I have always been Room Mom, well except for last year. Last year, while I filled out the volunteer forms for B's and M's classes, I completely missed the box potential room parents were to check.  I found out later, when I realized neither of their teachers (one of them a good friend of mine!) didn't pick me for Room Mom.  My friend called me to find out why I didn't check the Room Mom box and I felt like a complete heel.  B was pissed that I wasn't as involved in her class but M didn't really know the difference.  While I wasn't Room Mom, I made sure I was present for just about everything.

This year I promised myself I wouldn't miss that box.  Every day I anxiously awaited the arrival of the forms in the girls' backpacks.  Finally, after 2 weeks, they arrived in M's backpack and I received L's at her open house.  I eagerly checked the "I would like to be Room Parent" box on both forms and I  was so eager, I checked every "yes" box after the first one.  After I turned in the forms, another friend pointed out that one box was volunteering to be the Room Parent Lead for that grade.  

"Wait, what?," I asked incredulously.  "I thought it meant I wanted to be the head Room Parent in the class!"

"Nope," she said.  "Room Parent Lead is something new the school is doing this year.  That person is the one all the other Room Parents for the other classes in the grade go to for help and advice."

She told me this while The Doctor and I were leaving L's Open House.  My jaw about hit the floor and The Doctor started laughing.

"Well," he said, as we were walking to the car. "Last year you were upset that you didn't check the box at all and this year you've signed on to be the Lead for everyone!"

Honestly?  All I could do was laugh.  This is so typical for me.  The only grade I didn't sign up to be the lead was B's and that's because we just got the forms tonight.  As soon as I saw the form, I cried excitedly to The Doctor, "Hand me a pen!"  I had gotten to thinking that perhaps B's teacher didn't want a Room Parent and I was thrilled to see she was just waiting for the upper grades Open House to hand out the forms. Knowing what that second box meant, I purposely didn't check it.  I promised The Doctor I wouldn't overextend myself this year but here I am on the Yearbook Committee, possible Room Mom for 3 classes and possible Room Parent Lead for 2 grades.  

As busy as my life might get this school year, you won't hear a complaint fall from my lips. . . about that, anyway.  The elementary school is one of my happy places, my home away from home.  Whenever I walk into the office, I instantly feel happy.  Most times, as I'm walking through the door to the office, I think about the great turnaround I've had from when I was a student and dreaded walking through the doors of school.  Back then, had you told me that one day I'd love being at school, I would have said you were crazy as I walked to my class wishing I were any place but there.