Mercy will follow me, I'm told.

[same_sky]

I just found out that Evie's soon-to-be elementary school starts at 7:25ish. I noticed this because I have a few different pre-k tasks to do today involving scheduling an appointment for her physical, etc. I was looking at the school's website and noticed that the bus route by our house picks up students at 6:32. And I was thinking, geez, I am not putting my child on a bus an hour and a half before school starts, guess I'll be driving her. (Which.. I most likely would be anyway.) I don't know why I assumed that schools always start at eight but mine pretty much always did. It was pretty cool because as I was looking at this chart, I noticed that the bus should go past here at 2:56 in the afternoons and it was 2:55, by coincidence. So I turned my head toward the front windows and waited. Sure enough, the bus drove by a minute later. I am dork but I thought that was pretty cool timing.

Miss E is with my parents today. She hasn't been as wild about staying with them lately, but she pitched a royal fit last night to stay for some reason. Actually, I found out today that we had some misunderstandings about this decision to let her stay. What *I* heard was heartbroken sobbing to M about not wanting to leave, and therefore, when she came into the kitchen and my mom asked her if she wanted to spend the night, I let her stay. What I didn't hear was apparently a royal-brat meltdown before the tears began about how she was NOT going home, which is exactly the sort of thing that always makes us deny her request. So, kind of a parenting mistake there because that is one rule that we are pretty firm on, that she can't just start crying and demanding to get her way, as she is a drama queen girl child and I fear the results of bending on that. However, having said that... I am pretty darn happy with how that worked out because I have been in dire need of a day to myself to get things done in peace. I have a backlog of things to do, plus a need for a little quiet time. We've had a rought time the last few weeks and it's good to have a little time at home without someone prone to break out in a fit of moodiness. :)

So, today I have done our taxes and scheduled a physical and eye exam for Evie, and vacuumed the house and put away a ton of toys and other things out of place, and ebay auctions and laundry and sheets and dishwasher, and I had a healthy chocolate breakfast. (Two Hershey's kisses. See, it was even low-cal.) It feels so great to get things crossed off the list, and to know that the rest of the week will not be spent catching up on things like this. I even put lotion on my feet. It's a banner sort of day. ;)

M has just spent the last ten minutes doing a monologue about how (in summary) it is okay that my eyesight is horrendous because neither time travel nor banjos are something I will need to worry about. I'm reading Outlander currently, or rather, the seventh in that series. helloheather mentioned it favorably at some point and I finally got around to reading them. I am really liking them except I am pretty sure that she creates plot lines and characters solely because she wants to do weird accents in her dialogue. Also, I have been using the word "wee" a lot. ;) I was trying to say that I would be totally screwed if I accidentally went back in time because I am blind as a bat without my glasses. That explains the time travel part but the banjos...ahh, well. That's a manolin guy for ya, always ready with a slur on banjos. Anyone else read them?

Comments

[e11en.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is super early! At what ungodly hour must highschool begin? The highschool bus goes by our house at 6:25am, which is my clue, in the midst of my snooze-button hitting, as to what time it actually is. Middle school bus is at about 7:15 and the elementary school bus picks up our kids, the first on the route, at 8:12am. School starts at 9am which is the same time elementary school started when I was a kid. All three seem way too early to me, of course, since I'd prefer to still be asleep at 8:12. ;-)

I feel for you on the misunderstanding about letting Evie stay. Things like that happen to us now and then, though it's usually about buying a toy or some candy. Guess who said no and who said yes?

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

I know, I really can't believe how early that is. The high school bus comes later. Judging from the bus schedule, middle school and high school starts at around 8 or 8:30. I can't remember exactly. One of the schools I went to when we were moving around had a normal 8 starting time but the high school started early like this, and they got out at 2:30ish. THAT makes more sense to me for a lot of reasons. We would be close to the first stops on the bus route, hence arriving at 6:30. An hour on the bus in the morning is just too long, in my opinion, especially for a kindergartner... that's not even to mention how she would have to get up insanely early just to make it to the bus.

I think our daily schedule is going to change quite a lot, come the fall. ;)

[carrieb.livejournal.com]

That is just an insane time to have little kids get on the bus. Who thought of that? What the hell? I would be so angry, but of course there is nothing you can do about it.

There has been research to show that teens do better with a later start time, so some more progressive school districts are moving the high school start time back to 9 or so and having the elementary schools start early. I have never heard of a 6:30 bus stop for an elementary kid though!

I have a drama king boy and totally understand about not letting a fit win the day. Mistakes happen, though, and you win a nice free day out of it.

[e11en.livejournal.com]

Yes, I have read those same studies and totally concur, teenagers are worthless in the early morning. The homeschooling mom I'm friends with (whose daughter was in 1st grade w/Ingrid before her mom decided to homeschool) is a super early riser and so her kids are too. She wondered why they didn't flip the schedule (her husband teaches at the high school and always complained about groggy teenagers) since her kids were up for hours before school would begin.

The obvious reason is those after school activities, sports, clubs, etc., that most teenagers do. I sort of think they could shift those to the morning hours so only those kids who really want to have to get up early.

I think middle school should start first because they're not full-blown teenagers yet but are old enough that you don't have to do everything for them. Elementary school kids need too much parental involvement getting them out the door for them to be first up, in my opinion. But second would be fine, then the high school kids third. Not like anyone's asking me for input though.

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

I bet participation in activities would go way down if they had them in the morning. Grade-wise, that might not be such a bad thing either, though! ;)

I wonder how long it will take to get a kindergartner ready to go in the morning? Half an hour?

[e11en.livejournal.com]

Depends on what you mean by "ready to go." Does that include eating breakfast and getting dressed, brushing teeth and hair, using the toilet, organizing backpack, etc.? We try to allow for an hour from wake up until the bus but we are not up and at 'em types.

It's only half-day K, right? So you'll only have a snack and not lunch to worry about I presume?

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

No, there's nothing much I can do. Of course, this was the schedule for the current school year, but I expect that next year's will be the same, or at least similar. Ahh well. My mom always took me to school. I guess I'll be taking Evie. At least I'll be up and dressed by seven... should be good for errands and grocery shopping.

Cannot believe I am talking about kindergarten already.

[courtesy.livejournal.com]

I love that you turned your head to check for the bus :)