first day of school

I love the first day of school.

It's a new year, fraught with potential. New teachers are like new crushes. Shiny and perfect. Maybe this year the kids will discover a passion for a new subject or rejeuvenate interest in an old one, try a new sport, read a book that completely captures their imagination, realize their potential, gain confidence, grow taller, find a direction for their life. The possibilities for new experiences are endless, shimmering in the air like sparkly dewdrops.



Even for me the possibilites are spread out like a banquet. With all this extra time I'll be able to clean out the garage, write an an additional book, paint the laundry room, lunch with friends, cruise into the city to go shopping, do some hands-on research, whip my garden into shape, finally get the house clean, write more blog posts, cook healthier more nutritious meals....

But the first day is the sweetest. The house is silent. I can do anything I want to for a few whole hours and no one will interrupt me. No one will need a ride, or money, or lunch, or to show me the funniest video EVER on YouTube. I have the whole house to myself. So I'm going to enjoy the solitude while it exists and then savor the chaos when the kids get home...ready to tell me about *their* first day of school.

Lisa

the journey's the thing

i'm fresh from back to school night at the high school, sitting through quick ten minute presents from the teachers about the class and i was struck by a very sad fact. most of the teachers made sure to tell everyone how they grade and the weight of tests vs. homework and meeting the benchmarks and yada, yada, yada.

example: honors chemistry. i was a chem major in college (for a year and a half anyway) and i LOVE chemistry. i would have liked to have known what kind of experiments they are going to do, what cool stuff they might learn. sure i'd like my kids to get good grades but i'd rather they have enthusiasm and a joy for a subject than an A.

parents here (and maybe it's everywhere but definitely the case in my little slice of california) are so focused on the end, on putting that A or B or weighted grade on junior's report card so they can get into Harvard (yeah, probably not, and definitely not in our house :) ) that very few teachers discuss what they are going to teach. and to me that makes for a sad day.

to me, learning should be the absorption of new concepts and ideas and the steps along the way, the journey's the thing.

TGIF!

It's Friday! The end of the week and the end of summer. School starts on Tuesday and I can't wait.

It's funny how much I long for summer, envisioning lazy days lounging by the pool, the sun sizzling along my skin, an ice cold glass of water at my fingertips and a steamy novel ready to be devoured.



Maybe a weekend at the beach, listening to the sea gulls squawk and the tide crash along the sand, the screech of kids as they run from the cold (West Coast :)) ocean, the salt in the air, and later, the scent of burning wood from the raging bonfire and moonlight rippling on the water.

The idea of summer with nothing to do and nowhere to go. Except these days, that's a fantasy rather than reality. Instead it's swim practice, water polo practice, running practice, swim meets, water polo tournaments, movies, sleepovers, barbecues, shopping, and on and on and on.

The summer may just be more tiring than school because those lazy days (ha!) mean no set schedule and no time alone for me. I can't wait until school starts and I can sit down to write without being interrupted twenty times a day to drive someone somewhere....

Until about mid-May when I'll start longing for those lazy summer days once again. :)

Lisa