Tonight was "meet the teacher night" at Dillon's school. This is one of several changes in our schools I'm really liking this year. Instead of getting a letter in the mail to tell us who his teacher would be, they held this cool little meet and greet. Nice! They also gave us the gigantic yearly packet of forms to fill out AHEAD of time and actually, really, get this now... published school supply lists for junior high and high school on their website! Pretty awesome, huh??
Of course leave it to our school to change things up just when I'd almost gotten used to the old way. I mean, now they've jacked with one of the most holy traditions of back to school... the first day marathon. Part contest of athletic prowess, part skill and experience, and heavy on endurance; if you survived that first day insanity as a parent, the rest of the year was pure gravy. Our darn overachiever school people have gone and taken all the fun out of it.
Our elementary school always publishes its school supply list WAY ahead of time but just to keep things interesting there was usually at least one item on the list that was nearly impossible to find. Like something that you had to search dozens of stores for or order online? Maybe that was a pass/fail test for Mommys... to see who REALLY shops ahead of time for these supply lists and who (like me, ahem...) waits until the week or so before school starts to round it all up. A friend of mine has gone to unbelievable lengths to find white paper lunch sacks for her daughter's list this year. One year not long ago, I was on the infamous 'red checking pencil' hunt. Hello people... no one carries these any more! I finally found a stash at some store in Houston and bought every package they had for the future, thinking I would be the best prepared smartest parent ever. Yep, you guessed it... the next year they switched to red pens instead. Ha! This year our elementary even gave parents the option to purchase pre-packaged supplies. Ahead of time. Imagine that??
I of course passed on the pre-packaged supplies. That would just be too easy. Because I love the challenge. And I would have withdrawls. And I still have oodles of unused supplies in my school supply motherlode box (including a couple of new unopened packages of the red checking pencils, just lying there taunting me). Most Moms I know have a supply motherlode. Mine is in a big rubbermaid tub, mecca of all things relating to school supplies, usually purchased in bulk when on sale and/or carried over from previous years. Need a compass or set of notecards at the last minute? Check the box. 20 more packs of notepaper or a deluxe locker shelf? Check the box. It saved our bacon many times. The box also comes in handy for recyling the supplies which you buy faithfully in August, only to see them come home with your child again in June unused. No kidding, I still have the same 6 big pink erasers I purchased for Dillon in Kindergarten. They went into his backpack this year again. A big eraser? Psssh... my child never makes mistakes. He's good like that. Takes after his Momma. And I've got a bridge to sell you... LOL More like he's too lazy to get his big eraser out and use it?
Unlike the elementary, in years past school supply lists for junior high and high school were not divulged until the first day of school. I mean kept shushed. Top Secret. Total surprise. And so ensued round one of Moms craziness. When the bell rang after school, it was like the starting bell to the greatest scavenger hunt of the year. Most of us bought the standard stuff like paper, dividers, map colors, etc. before hand. But how are we to know that this particular teacher wants you to have three blue paper folders with brads, one yellow plastic folder with no brads, and a 2 inch purple binder with see-through cover and inner pockets. Unique lists times 6-7 teachers times multiple children and the adventure begins.... I mean seriously, let's hope either WalMart or HEB happened to order a few 2 inch clear covered pocketed purple binders that happen to meet this teacher's specifications but if she told 22 kids in five different periods to get the same thing, ain't no chance the store ordered 100 of that item. Whoever snoozes loses and has the pleasure of driving to the next town hunting for that item.
So the mad dash usually took us to both stores in Wharton where the aisles of course were clogged with your child's other 400 classmates and their parents, each person trying to squeeze through, inching their buggy over the mound of educational refuse scattered below, reaching over and around others like some sick game of Twister, all the while watching warily for that top shelf box of binders sure to come toppling down any second... people PLEASE. This is where you abondoned your shopping buggy and split up the team for a coordinated attack... you go down this aisle and check for the folders, I'll go this way after the overpriced calculator, then circle back for the folders... we'll meet back here at precisely 1800 hours. Remember now... dive through the legs, scale the shelves, be tough! Ready... on three.... break!
And let's don't even start on the choices available... boys are easy but my daughter on the other hand insisted on "cute" binders. You seriously want me to pay four times as much because you like the trendy design on this binder? (teenager rolls eyes with that "is she really stupid enough to ask that question?" look as she dumps a stack of them into your cart)
Eventually I wised up. I had the kids call or text me their lists before I left work on the first day of school (yes, this is the REAL reason I allowed them cell phones in junior high) and I could shop in relative uncrowdedness at Office Max before heading home. Yay me! It only took me about 10 years to figure that out?
Once you got past the school supply mania, saw that your precious babies had scarfed down their fast food dinner since of course there is no way in heck you have time to cook, finished homework (collective ugh!), and had them showered and in bed by their newly reinforced bedtime... there were still mountains of paperwork to fill out for each child before you can collapse into bed past midnight. I mean seriously, we've lived in the same house for 23 years - can the school not keep something on file with my address from last year? Noooo, of course not. We had to fill out name, address, contact info, and all matter of complete medical history no less than 10 times per child every single year. The stack of parent paperwork was daunting indeed. Actually, its a little known fact that first day of school paperwork is one of the leading causes for birth control. If you've ever done this for two or three kids, can you imagine doing it for eight or ten? I think my fingers would spasm beyond repair!
Of course now our schools have gotten all smart this year by publishing the supply lists for each teacher in junior high and high school and decreased that mountain of forms too. Go figure?? Look out though, now everyone might want to have 19 kids like that show on TLC. Oh wait. She homeschools. Well don't that thought just about melt your brain or what??? Have I mentioned lately how thankful I am for public schools? =)
So even if our overachieving administrators have taken the fun and adventure out of back to school for parents this year, I gotta love em. Our local schools really are top rate, the heart of our community, and have the best staff you will find anywhere! A big tip of the hat and good luck this year to all the wonderful teachers and school staff everywhere who keep things running smoothly. I know it aint all twinkles and fairy dust... but they do an absolutely awesome job!!
(And I hope Ms. Krenek, my 8th grade English teacher, never reads this because she'll fuss at me for saying "aint". And she may make me diagram sentences again... eeeek! Gotta love that good ole Boling education.)
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