School « Journals of Journeys

30Aug/09Off

Thou Shalt Schedule

CrazyCalendar

Our schedule is full. Our cups runneth over. Our plates are piled high. We are inundated. Dentist and doctor appointments, after school projects, assignments with long term deadlines, homework, baseball, swimming, basketball. Places to go, people to see, things to do. That snapshot to the left? That's our actual calendar, minus a much needed update now that the school year calendar is in. Much bigger, I'll give you, easier to read, but you get the gist.

For a long time, we've incorporated a scheduling system with the kidlets to help them organize their days, most importantly, their homework, using something that would help them visualize their time. We used to use blocks, but now have gone to using paper.

schedule

First they'll write down everything they have to do after school, estimating the amount of time it takes to do each thing (the columns to the left above). This includes each homework assignment, chores, bedtime routine and even dinner.

They'll total the estimated time and then move over a column and enter their start time and end time (bedtime) and come up with the total amount of time they have to do the things they've listed.

After they're done with those tasks, they'll use the "blocks." There are four for every hour, each block representing 15 minutes. In the example above, the bottom right are the blocks, each column representing an hour, therefore a total of five hours are available to them. The colors match up with the tasks they've already identified so it's easier to glance at it and know what they're "in for." In this example, the yellow-gray blocks represent free time. They were amazed to see that they were going to have almost two hours of free time, which was enough of a motivator to get cracking on the less desirable aspects of the schedule.

It may sound a bit anal retentive, but in truth, it's become a wonderful motivator. Without us having to harp on them, they're able to stay on task, get the job done quick and efficiently. They've learned that if the task isn't done right the first time, not only do they have to do it again, right; but they've learned that they've doubled up on the time it takes to complete the chore which means it takes away from free time.

We started doing this about the time they were starting fourth grade. As the system progresses to match their cognitive levels, we still have to work with them initially to make sure they're using the system routinely. They seem to like it and I can tell you we sure do! I especially like it because when my husband steps in to oversee their jobs (believe me, he's very much a hands-on dad, but in this instance, I'm more hands-on for this), it's easy for him to pick up and keep going, like he'll need to do in a few weeks when I'll be away for a few days.

Interested in this system for your kids? Leave a comment and I'll be happy to share!

Filed under: 2009, Education, Family, Information, Journals, Kathie, Parenting, School, Thoughts 2 Comments

26Aug/09Off

Back-to-School Shopping – Part Two

I love shopping for school supplies. Hundreds of spiral notebooks, thousands of pens in every color imaginable. Gadgets for fastening, adhering, sealing, flying, pushing, pulling-- Maybe I should stop there.

Yay! School Supplies!

If you're responsible for hiring at somewhere like Office Depot or Staples, you'd be wise not to process my application, I'd go out of my head being surrounded by all these yummy things day in and day out!

So when the kids are getting ready to go back to school, as much as I try to get them to give me very specific lists in an earnest attempt to curb my overwhelming need to take all those homeless items back with me, the kids don't quite get the importance of being specific. And whose to blame them? The lists they come home with from their teachers seem to grow to a ridiculous size whenever the budgets go wonky.You can probably imagine just how crazy the lists are now, given how strapped the school's resources are with the massive budget cuts.

This year my husband stepped in to save the day, offering to grab up what they needed provided they came up with a list. Did I happen to mention how they're not very good at that? Yeah, I think a bit of my adoration for the stuff has rubbed off on them, too. You'd have thought they were writing out their wish list for a birthday or Christmas by the time they were done!

I thought it was way too much and began comparing what was on their list to the list their teachers had handed out and what I knew we had on hand. It went something like this:

Stuff on Their Lists	Stuff on Teachers' Lists	Stuff We Have on Hand	A Glimpse of Mom vs. Son Conversation
Notebooks	Journals/Notebooks and/or Loose Leaf Paper	Notebooks, Loose Leaf Paper	"Mom, I am not going to take that Tinkerbell notebook into class!"
Scientific Calculator	Scientific Calculator	Scientific Calculator	"I haven't seen it since Christmas last year." -Z. Dude
Pencils - lots (Ry-guy)	Pencils and/or pens	Pencils, Pens, Crayons, Markers, Sharpies, pin to prick finger so you can write with your blood	"You keep stealing our pencils, Mom." Me: "I have straight pins if you prefer."
Graph paper	Graph paper for later in the first quarter	Rulers and lined paper for a fun, DIY project	"You can not be serious." (If you're envisioning a roll of the eyes at the end of that, you've nailed it!)
Locker Buddy stuff	Three scans later, nothing at all was said about locker "gear."	Drawers full of fluffy pom-poms from a 2nd grade project, glue sticks, colored wooden popsicle sticks from a 4th grade science project, beads and string from some Christmas gift projects a couple of years ago, and much more.	"I'll use my own good grade money you still haven't coughed up and buy my own." Momzilla's response: "Negatory, rubber ducky, that 'good grade money' was lost when the bad messy room didn't become sparkling clean."

They came back with notebooks, mechanical pencils complete with extra 'lead' and erasers, and I believe I saw two bright yellow highlighters. It was just the silly string that kept me from permanently assigning the hubby to the task next time.

But I might reconsider. I got these:

Eight New Notebooks!

from their trip to the store.

Happy back-to-school supply shopping, y'all!

Filed under: 2009, Education, Family, General, Journals, Just Wrong, Kathie, Parenting, School, Thoughts, Twisted, money No Comments

20Aug/09Off

Scheduled Failure

May as well have been the bus that picked the kids up! It started when no one woke to their alarms, save the husband who waited too long before waking the Witched Witch of the West from her slumber of exile on the couch. Frantically the children scrambled to wash themselves into a presentable, girl attracting version of their former camp-ready selves, debated why their mother, who was commanding her team of flying monkeys, hadn't completed packing their lunches and backpacks. No one thought to call her on pretending to be a fellow eighth grader when she rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue, snorting that they should have taken the time the night before to complete those tasks.

Magically, the Wicked Witch transformed into the Bat out of Hell Lady as she navigated the black batmobile out of the quiet neighborhood and rammed it down towards the bus stop. She slurped the hot coffee then cursed when the telltale yellow bus lumbered onto the road several cars and feet ahead. The bus was early - very, very early.

Yes, she knew she told the children the night before they were to have their cell phones off until after they boarded the bus on the way home, but she needed the number to the school which was in their address books, not hers.

Ignoring the punishment for breaking California's laws when using a cell phone without a hands-free set (she'd put it on speaker if she saw any signs of law enforcement officers on the prowl), she left her first terse message of the day and of the school year. "I know you probably don't want to hear this, but if you note the time, which is ten after seven in the morning, you'll note that the bus was not supposed to even arrive at the stop my children were supposed to board for another nine minutes. Currently I'm chasing it down the road several stops beyond. Please contact the transportation person and have him get in touch with me. Thank you."

Finally, the bus turned and she swung in front of it, blocking it from exiting the turn-about before her children could board and she could go share her venom with the driver. Ten minutes later (the rest of the families can thank her at Back to School night seeing she managed to put them all back on schedule), she finished her conversation with the driver, then hurried home, her own personal needs schedule pressing down on her relentlessly.

Oh hey! She had the district phone number because, for some silly reason, the interim superintendent was calling her cell phone to pass along - what? monthly? - highlighted recaps of the board meetings starting a week ago while she was on vacation, dancing about the Rocky Mountains overlooking the Mile High City. She broke the law a second time and called in, leaving another message along with her home phone number.

The children will either be carried by the yellow monster or the black batmobile, but rest assured, the district employees will be pushing themselves home in the little red wagons she'll be fixing by day's end.

Filed under: 2009, Education, Family, Harsh, Journals, Just Wrong, Kathie, Rants, School, Slam, Thoughts, Twisted 2 Comments

9Oct/08Off

Jog-a-Thon

The Pie Dudes are looking for sponsors for the upcoming annual Jog-a-thon on Friday, October 17th. According to the handout they came home with:

We will be having a major fund raising activity, a Jog-A-Thon, October 17, 2008. It will involve all children in the school as participants. We are encouraging our students to participate by signing up sponsors and running/walking for one hour around our playing field. This will be our most important fund raiser of the school year! We hope you will be supportive of your child's participation.

Purpose:
Money raised by this activity will be used to help defray costs toward 6th grade environmental camp, a natural science school that 6th graders attend for one week; 7th grade medieval feast, 8th grade end of the year trip. [It will also help fund] the school recognition program, athletics, dances and many other school-wide activities.

If you'd like to help out and sponsor either of the Pie Dudes, Z-dude or Ry-Guy, please get in touch with me (leaving a comment is sufficient) and I'll send you the details.

I'm duly impressed with Ry-guy's quest for sponsorship. He's an avid fan of Ellen Degeneres and has been wanting to go to a taping of her show in Los Angeles. As such, Dadzilla is planning on taking them to San Diego to visit their grandfather for a few days and seeing that it's not that far away, we looked into whether that could be something they could go do. As it turns out, audience members must be 14 and older. Major disappointment. So Ry-guy came up with a creative idea. He had me email (again, there are age rules for even contacting the show) with a proposal. He'd like Ellen to help him get some sponsors, maybe even sponsor him herself and upped the ante by saying that if she does, he'll dance around the track for an hour instead of jogging or walking!

In discussing this and my resolve to posting a request to all here, we had another idea that even Z-dude agreed to. For anyone sponsoring either of them for $50, they'll dance at least one lap during the Jog-A-Thon. For $100 each, they'll dance at least 5 laps and for $500 a piece, they'll dance the entire way! As a note, last year Z-dude did the second to highest number of laps in his entire school: 18!

The line starts here..... V