On Catching a Break

blue red and yellow chalk
Photo by Viktoria Goda on Pexels.com

Monki has not had a great track record when it comes to school attendance. She started her kindergarten* last year just before the pandemic closed everything down, briefly returned in the summer of 2020 until we chose to pull her out for a variety of reasons and our hope was that she’d be able to get into an actual preschool for the 21-22 school year. Continue reading “On Catching a Break”

How did you get to school as a child?

school busesAs we move through these questions, they become harder and harder to answer, not because the questions are more difficult, they’re not, but because it seems like they’re more generic. Also, a lot of them seem to be slight variations on other questions so it feels like I’ve already answered things. Continue reading “How did you get to school as a child?”

Did you ever get in trouble at school as a child?

I love this question. The fact that they have to clarify “as a child” makes me wonder how many people got in trouble at school as an adult, which, honestly, could be a whole different kind of trouble than I think they were actually thinking of. But okay, let’s give this one a go.

Getting into trouble in school* was a no-brainer for me. I got in trouble all the time. But I also got myself out of trouble. I was the Ferris Bueller of my friend set. My locker held a treasure trove of hall passes, student requests, and whatever other bits of official documentation I could snag from the desks of secretaries or others in official capacities. Thinking back now, though, I’m struggling to remember more than a few specific incidents.

Continue reading “Did you ever get in trouble at school as a child?”

Who was one of your favorite high school teachers? What made them great?

08m-sxHigh school was such a long time ago, I’m not sure how this answer is going to come out. I graduated in 1985, which basically means that most of the folks I graduated with have kids who have also already graduated from their own high schools (and have probably already celebrated their own 10-year reunions and started to forget about their own experiences, so what chance do I have of having actual coherent memories, all of which is just crazy to think about.) Anyway…this is about my own favorite teacher(s) so let’s see what we’ve got. Continue reading “Who was one of your favorite high school teachers? What made them great?”

Your Presence is no Longer Required

IMG_4958Last August, we figured it was time and signed up our relatively freshly minted three-year old for a public kindergarten (which is pre-school in America – the terms are flopped here). And so, on the second of September, when school started for everyone, Monki was ready. Off we went to her new school, dropped off a crying little one with her new teacher, and went about our business for the morning. Continue reading “Your Presence is no Longer Required”