Violin lesson rambles

[same_sky]

So I have joined the early 2000s and finally have a smart phone. That means that I am sitting outside of Evie's violin lesson and I am looking for an excuse to play with my phone. Umm.. I mean, I am excited about posting to my journal while I am away from home. Yeah. No, but seriously, I am kinda loving my new phone. It is a Samsung Galaxy S4 and it is my new Life Companion. (At least, that's what it calls itself....) M is a little jealous because he believes that he previously held that position.

Summer is flying by much as usual. Next week we are camping again, next weekend we have Swedes visiting and the Wednesday after that, Evie starts school. First grade! Pretty sure she was just born a few months ago. Or a lifetime ago, I can never decide. The school makes finding out who your teacher is this bigger super secret, for whatever reason, so we won't be even know who it will be until the Monday before it starts. I hate that. Not that it really matters anyway because I don't particularly know any of the 1st grade teachers. You know what else I really dislike? "Community supplies." Don't put your child's name on anything! Ugh. Way to steal all the joy of of school supply shopping. Really, I think that is just code for "buy the cheapest crap you can get by with cause your kid won't use it anyway". Our maybe that's just me. Maybe I should be more zen and consider it an investment in today's youth beyond my own front door. But... No. Fifty cent scissors it is. Her scissors from last year, after all, had her name on them. And also, why on earth does the teacher need 25 pairs of scissors per year in that case? Where do they go? Do they send a random pair home with each kid at the end of the year?

I hear them winding down the lesson so I probably shouldn't write much else since this is taking a while to type as it is. Everything is pretty good here. How are you?

Comments

[helloheather.livejournal.com]

My experience has been that yes, they send a random pair home with each kid at the end of the year. For first grade, Nathan had some things that were "his" and were to be labeled, but most of the supplies were communal. At the end of the year, a big ziploc bag of unused crayons and stuff came home. Nate has zero interest in his school supplies, so he does not feel gypped at all by the system.

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

That is just so weird. I don't get the point of this although I have seen on the internets that many teachers prefer it for some reason.

See, I could live with some of the stuff being communal, but I think they should have been labeled. For example, a pair of individual ear buds are on the list. I don't have a problem sending ear buds. I have some, floating around. I can't bring myself to believe that these are going to be shared since everyone in the class is supposed to bring their own, presumably for hygiene reasons. So why make a big fuss about community supplies? Three composition books. If every kid needs three, I assume they're going to use them for specific purposes, which is fine, except why not let the kids pick out their own books that appeal to them if they want to? I am violently against stacking them all up and then handing them out randomly, which is what I imagine happens.

Oh, and I may have implied that Evie was interested in her school supplies. What I meant was the joy had been stolen for ME. Because I am secretly a child budding with excitement when it comes to new school supplies. ;)

[helloheather.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I get you there. IIIIIIIII love shopping for school supplies. I want to shop for school supplies for ME. But dragging Nathan along has basically spoiled it for me. He cares so little, and hates shopping so much, that it becomes un fun.

Now that I think about it, I know there were some things where he had to bring, say, two boxes of crayons, one labeled and one not. I suspect the unlabeled ones got doled out over the course of the year, or stocked a writing center instead of the kids' individual work boxes, or something.

[carrieb.livejournal.com]

Fifty cent scissors tend not to last, plus there is no telling what crazy thing first graders will do with them.

I can't believe you have a first grader! And I have a second grader! Where are our babies?

I gotta say, I love my smart phone. It makes life so much more entertaining when I'm stuck somewhere boring.

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

Ahh, but I don't care if the scissors don't last. I'm not going to end up with them at the end of the year anyway, right? :)

I am not sure where our babies went. E hit another growth spurt this summer and keeps saying, "I am almost as tall as you, Mommy!" Not yet you aren't, kid....but she only has another fourteen inches to go. Eep.

[e11en.livejournal.com]

I still can't get over how soon she goes back to school. Nuts! Our school doesn't go in for the communal supplies for things like notebooks, pencils, scissors, etc. Buy your own bring your own, buy your kid more if they run out. That said, the "centers" are stocked with stuff that I sure didn't buy but I have always assumed we are a pretty well-off school district, it must be our tax dollars at work. Maybe your school doesn't work that way and you are actually contributing to the general classroom supplies?

As a holdover from my own youth or perhaps in solidarity with my children (though I think they may actually like going back to school), I loathe back to school shopping. The fact that the stuff is already out in Target when school doesn't start for at least five weeks, almost gives me hives.

My smart phone. I could never go back to having an ordinary phone. If/when I leave this job and have to start paying for it myself, it will be a sad, sad day.

[jennifleur.livejournal.com]

lol... poor M - usurped! Glad you have a smart phone, though they're rather addictive.
I'm not ready for school to start. I don't even have the supply list. (My own fault for waiting so long to decide where to send her) Ah well, guess I'll find out mid Aug.