Back to school....

[disneyseniors]

My wife is an elementary school teacher who starts back with pre planning this Thursday the 24th of July.

Needless to say the mood is turning from glee to sadness as the reality of the end of her summer off is rapidly coming to an end.

A few years back the district added extra days to pre planning because the staff complained they didn't have time to get their rooms in order with all the mandatory meetings that were scheduled during pre planning. So they added a couple days bringing pre planning to 7 working days and more mandatory meetings! The end result is going back on a Thursday and losing out on the last weekend of their summer break.





On a different but related subject, I started thinking about this back to school season and it is the first one since we have had kids that we are not helping one or both of them get ready for some sort of school. Last year my youngest and oldest both graduated from college, one with a bachelors and one with a masters. Neither is going back this year for more education.

A 20 year back to school tradition has come to an end.

First, congratulations to your wife for being an elementary teacher I respect teachers for all they do above and beyond their job descriptions.
Congratulations on your "kids" graduating college with those degrees.
It seems like a job well done
Now you are entering another phase of life, which is a good one

 

[brockash]

My wife is an elementary school teacher who starts back with pre planning this Thursday the 24th of July.

Needless to say the mood is turning from glee to sadness as the reality of the end of her summer off is rapidly coming to an end.

A few years back the district added extra days to pre planning because the staff complained they didn't have time to get their rooms in order with all the mandatory meetings that were scheduled during pre planning. So they added a couple days bringing pre planning to 7 working days and more mandatory meetings! The end result is going back on a Thursday and losing out on the last weekend of their summer break.





On a different but related subject, I started thinking about this back to school season and it is the first one since we have had kids that we are not helping one or both of them get ready for some sort of school. Last year my youngest and oldest both graduated from college, one with a bachelors and one with a masters. Neither is going back this year for more education.

A 20 year back to school tradition has come to an end.

I cannot wait until we're not dealing with school stuff anymore. I only reall have 1 left. 1 is starting college this fall, but it's a lil different and much less day to day on my part. Our oldest graduated college last May, so def. feeling a bit different this time of yr with only 1 really going to regular school.

On the other hand...totally feel the mood change from glee to ugh with summer ending (mmy first day back is today). I love summer anyways and get a bit of the winter blues so this time of yr is a bit blah as I know it's all coming to an end. lol

 

[Luv Bunnies]

DH works at a charter school and had to go back yesterday. His summer break was only six weeks long. The thing is, they won't have kids for orientation until August 5 and actual classes won't start until August 11. They have two solid weeks of training and professional development, which seems to be the same every year (this is his fourth year at the school). It's a lot of reviewing the school's goals, vision, etc. Each staff member has to answer a prompt and give a presentation about themselves. This year it's something about how their favorite quote relates to their philosophy on teaching. He also has a bunch of mandatory online training modules, but no time to do them during work hours so he has to do them at home. Since he's salaried, he doesn't get extra pay for work done at home.

I, on the other hand, work for a public school district. I'm a teaching assistant so my back-to-school schedule isn't has heavy as the teachers'. Classes start on August 14. No one (teachers included) is required to be back until August 11. Teachers will have three days of meetings and classroom set-up before students arrive. I have to attend an all-district breakfast on the 11th and work for about 3 hours on the 13th. I also have to complete online training modules, usually at home since there's no time during work hours. But I will get paid for those extra hours. Plus I get three more weeks of summer vacation than my DH. I much prefer my schedule!

 

[VandVsmama]

Our youngest is a high school senior this fall. 1st day of school is on 7/31. Then 3 weeks later, we're driving to TX to move our college sophomore into her dorm.

Walmart is chock full of school supplies at the moment, which is great because it's all on sale and cheaper than usual prices the rest of the school year.

One epic year when our youngest kid was in 5th or 6th grade, 1 of her teachers required you to have a yellow folder inside a yellow binder. HAD to be yellow. But we didn't receive the supplies list from that teacher until 2nd wk of the school year and by that time, everything had been picked clean. I went to 6 different stores looking for a flipping stinking yellow binder and folder. Nobody sold them.

That's because nobody WANTS school supplies in that color!

Friend of mine at the time suggested I order online from Amazon. No. Forget it. On the principle of the matter, I refused. Kid was worried she'd get in trouble w/the teacher for "not being prepared" with the right school supplies. I sent my kid to school with a used binder from the prior year that we ALREADY HAD and put a folder in it which was blue (but TOTALLY usable & fine). Labelled both with the subject/class name.

Got an email from the teacher expressing concern that kid wasn't "properly prepared for class." So I calmly, professionally, but firmly explained in an email reply that I'd driven to 6 different locations looking for the blessed binder & folder in yellow, that none were for sale, and I'd already spent $300 between my 2 kids for school supplies that year, and this is what we had available to use and that was going to have to work.

The teacher replied back...she wanted us to go out and buy YELLOW CONSTRUCTION PAPER and cover the binder and folder in yellow paper. I ignored that advice. The teacher, thankfully, dropped it after that.

And every since, the kids & I laugh about it.

 

[soccerdad72]

In theory, this August will be our last big college move-in day. Younger son is a rising Junior, but he has his off campus house leased for the next two years, so we shouldn't really need to move him out next spring or in next fall. He'll have his car, so he should be able to move himself out and back in, unless there's something big he needs taken back and forth in the spring / fall. Now, we're going to have to furnish this house, so it's probably a two day move next month, but hopefully with Amazon, we can mitigate how much we have to haul down or buy when we're down there.

 

[georgina]

My 3 year old grandson is starting Pre-K next month! We are taking him to a playground meet-up tomorrow. DD is thrilled she won't have to pay for full-time day care in the fall, just a few hours of after care. It was an interesting process, they had to rank their top choices and he was accepted into their 2nd choice. I have no idea how much DC relies on federal education dollars to pay for pre-K for all 3 & 4 year olds, it may not last.

 

[Buzz Rules]

My wife is an elementary school teacher who starts back with pre planning this Thursday the 24th of July.

Needless to say the mood is turning from glee to sadness as the reality of the end of her summer off is rapidly coming to an end.

A few years back the district added extra days to pre planning because the staff complained they didn't have time to get their rooms in order with all the mandatory meetings that were scheduled during pre planning. So they added a couple days bringing pre planning to 7 working days and more mandatory meetings! The end result is going back on a Thursday and losing out on the last weekend of their summer break.





On a different but related subject, I started thinking about this back to school season and it is the first one since we have had kids that we are not helping one or both of them get ready for some sort of school. Last year my youngest and oldest both graduated from college, one with a bachelors and one with a masters. Neither is going back this year for more education.

A 20 year back to school tradition has come to an end.

 

[DodgerGirl]

I have never ever figured out why Back To School already is getting promoted when Summer Vacation has barely begun and it used to be that once September arrived the stores would promote Back To School sales on notebooks pencils school supplies and backpacks and the department stores would advertise Back To School sales on clothing for teens and college students and school uniforms for elementary school kids. But when I went to school when I was a kid myself I always got out of school in June and then returned in September and then my school would be closed for Thanksgiving and I would get Thanksgiving weekend off and it would be on the Tuesday of Thanksgiving Week and for Christmas my school would close a week before Christmas and I had Winter Vacation until January. But in my eyes I think schools are changing because I think they are concerned about the kids getting the school supplies in time and they seem to hire more new teachers school nurses cafeteria workers and school bus drivers because that's what schools seem to focus on these days. But if we had traditional schooling like it used to be and school always starting in September it would be a whole lot better

 

[PollyannaMom]

I have never ever figured out why Back To School already is getting promoted when Summer Vacation has barely begun and it used to be that once September arrived the stores would promote Back To School sales on notebooks pencils school supplies and backpacks and the department stores would advertise Back To School sales on clothing for teens and college students and school uniforms for elementary school kids. But when I went to school when I was a kid myself I always got out of school in June and then returned in September and then my school would be closed for Thanksgiving and I would get Thanksgiving weekend off and it would be on the Tuesday of Thanksgiving Week and for Christmas my school would close a week before Christmas and I had Winter Vacation until January. But in my eyes I think schools are changing because I think they are concerned about the kids getting the school supplies in time and they seem to hire more new teachers school nurses cafeteria workers and school bus drivers because that's what schools seem to focus on these days. But if we had traditional schooling like it used to be and school always starting in September it would be a whole lot better

It's just different in different parts of the country. (I'm in a September area like you.)

Back in the day, we probably only saw local ads, but now content is coming from all over.

 

[leebee]

It's crazy to me to see how many folks are about to go back to school, or already have gone back. DH and I won't go on our summer vacation until August 16-23! Granted that is just before I have to be back on campus (meeting on August 29th, classes start September 2 for the University) but still... It seems like summer has barely begun for us and folks are going back to school already!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

A couple weeks ago I was in Walmart and was looking for more sheet protectors and the one I was at only had 1 type and only in 50 count left in stock, they had a good amount of dividers but not the sheet protectors which normally is not an issue to find in stock. They had their Back to School display up front and I saw a good amount of people already looking at it.

Schools start back up early to mid-August here depending on how the day of the week lands.

 

[Nayan]

School starts here August 11th and supplies were put out the day after the 4th of July. In my area of Florida we've always started early and I hated when family would come down to visit, especially when they were going to Disney because I couldn't go .