Here we go again...

First day of school today. Is it just me or did summer FLY by? Normally I'm anxious as anything to get the kids back to school and get a normal routine happening again. Not so much this year. Not that I'm wishing summer would continue on for a few more weeks, really...it's just, school snuck up on me.I just noticed as I was putting these pictures up... how funny is it that both girls have similarly colored shirts but Rebekah's is a Washington D.C./America shirt and Julianne's has a British flag on it? Makes me laugh...

Rebekah and Julianne headed off together this morning to catch the bus to the Jr. High. Rebekah is in 9th grade, Julianne in 7th. A few days ago when Julianne was over at the Jr. High decorating her locker, she says she got a lot of "Hey! You're Rebekah's sister!" sort of comments. The friend she was with asked Julianne how everyone seemed to know Rebekah, and therefore, her. Julianne replied that it had to do with Rebekah being in 9th grade and popular. :) I don't think Julianne minds the association. Rebekah has been giving her all sorts of advice. Some wanted, some...not so much. I had to step in and remind Julianne that she should give heed to Rebekah's advice...this is, after all, her 3rd year over at the Jr. High. But also, that the two of them were quite different and that if Rebekah says "Don't be that girl who wears a skirt on the first day of school..." and Julianne really wants to wear that cute, cute skirt that she just bought...well, that is totally okay. (When it comes to fashion, Rebekah plays it safe and is more of a fashion follower where Julianne loves to experiment and is more of a brave fashion starter.)
For posterity sake....their schedules:
REBEKAH:
1. Algebra
2. Earth Systems
3. Choraliers (show choir)
4. Georgraphy
5. English
6. Computer Tech.
7. Seminary

JULIANNE:
1. P.E.
2. CTE (Career Technology Education)
3. Science
4. French
5. Women's Choir
6. English
7. Pre Algebra


Ummm....I always forget how little Brandon is until he stands next to his friends.

So, I'm going to rant a little bit now. During this rant, keep in mind that I am a big proponent of public schools. I have absolutely no desire to homeschool my kids or send them to a private or even charter school. That being said, I am annoyed this morning. Our little town is growing like gang busters. Which means our elementary school, even though it's only 4 years old, is overcrowded. This past year a new school was built nearby, supposedly taking the burden off of our school. I was excited about this. 1000 kids in an elementary school is a lot. So a couple of weeks ago the class lists went up. Brandon, in 4th grade, was listed in a class with two teachers, Mrs. Green and Mrs. Fitzpatrick. I wasn't too overly thrilled with the two teacher thing but I'd heard that it was a pretty good teacher combo and that Mrs. Green especially was really good. Okay. Fine. Then last week I got a letter in the mail telling me that because the 4th grade was still really large they needed to add another teacher. But they didn't have enough budget for a full-time teacher, just a part-time one. So they were creating a funnel class. A class where a group of kids would go to this part-time teacher for the first half of the day and then after lunch they would funnel all the kids from that class into the other 3 for the second half of the day. As of letter writing time (less than a week before school starts) they still hadn't hired this teacher but wanted to inform me that Brandon was in this class. Umm. Okay? Rebekah had a class like this in 1st grade and it turned out fine. She did the core subjects...math, reading, spelling, etc. during the morning and then when she funneled to her afternoon class she went to library and P.E., art, music, etc. Not a problem. But still, this means that Brandon would have THREE teachers!! Sheesh. So I took Brandon to the school today still not knowing even who his teacher was. Couldn't find any classroom in the 4th grade area with his name on the list. Ah! Because he's in a portable. Seriously? I don't mind portables, really. But we just spent hard earned tax money to build another school and Brandon is STILL in a portable? Whatever. So I meet his teacher. Mrs. Souther. She seems nice. A little frazzled seeing as this is so new of an appointment that she still doesn't have her classroom totally put together. And then she tells me that she is teaching Brandon's 4th grade class in the morning and then, when the class gets funneled to the other classes, she goes off to teach afternoon Kindergarten. WHAT?? Big, big difference between 4th grade and Kindergarten. She has to come up with two completely separate lessons plans every day for two very different groups of learners. Sigh. I'm not really happy about all of this. I hope it all turns out okay. I'm assuming it will. I'm just really glad that Brandon is a very happy-go-lucky kind of go-with-the flow kid.So here we go again...another summer over, a new school year started.