Back to School, Me Included

It's that time of year again.  For most North American parents the end of August means an end of one season and the beginning of another.  Lazy mornings, mid-morning smoothies, afternoon trips to the pool, and late evening strolls are over.  Instead we will be making lunches, overseeing homework and enforcing early bedtimes.  The mood in our house has varied greatly from one individual to the next.  When I suggested a shopping trip to buy clothes and supplies last week, each of our four children displayed a different reaction.  If you know them at all, you can probably guess which description applies to which kid.

Child number one was ready to hop in the car and go shopping immediately in spite of the fact that she has had her backpack ready to go since mid-July. Her back-to-shool shopping, in fact, began at some point in June, approximately one week after school let out. She has binders with color coded dividers for every class.  Outfits are organized on brand-new hangers, pencils are sharpened, and her locker is decorated and filled with supplies.  The first day of classes can't come soon enough.

 

At the opposite end of the spectrum is one of her brothers, who politely declined the shopping expedition.  He needed absolutely nothing, he declared.  "Are you sure you have enough notebooks and supplies?" I asked.  He was sure.  "Don't you want to check?" I persisted.  No, he didn't feel the need.  I am aware that he must need something--something that will no doubt require an emergency trip in the near future--but I was more than happy to leave him at home relaxing and soaking up summer to the last possible minute.

The third one decided at first that I could do his shopping for him.  A few minutes later he was back to say that he had changed his mind.  Apparently he remembered that he wanted a particular brand name for his backpack and suspected that if this decision were left to me, I wouldn't spend the extra money (he was correct).  After failing the first round of negotiations, he suggested a trip to our local discount store.  Happily, he found exactly what he wanted for less money than I had budgeted.  Summer may be ending far too soon for his liking, but at least he can shoulder his backpack without shame.

Resignation is the word that comes to mind when I think about the fourth child.  She has not participated in either the enthusiasm of her sister, nor the groans of despair from her brother. She claims that she has done nothing to organize her school supplies (although she did jump at the opportunity to shop for new clothes).  While she insists that she is not ready to head back to the classroom, I have noticed a few quiet preparations.  She even brought along her copy of 1984 to the waterpark yesterday and worked on annotating it between trips down the waterslides.  

As for me, this year I will be joining my children as they return to school, on two different levels.  I will be teaching 7th grade English at the school they attend as well as taking an ESL certification course online.  Whether or not I can manage it all remains to be seen, but I am excited at the prospect of being both teacher and student.  

As teacher, It will be my first return to the high school classroom for many years.  I won't say exactly how many, but when I last taught, email was brand new and none of the teachers at my school had a laptop.  We taught with overhead projectors and recorded all of our grades with pen and paper.  Let's just say that I have lots to learn about incorporating technology in the classroom.

As student I look forward to learning more about how to help speakers of languages other than English develop their English language skills.  In the future I hope to teach non-native English speakers.  Living in different places around the world has given me an interest in interacting with people from different countries, and I look forward to doing more of that in coming years.

All this means that I will be updating the pages of this blog less frequently.  I am not ready to give it up entirely, however, as our story has not ended.  Indeed, just last night I heard these words from the backseat of our minivan: "Nothing has happened lately. We haven't done anything big.  I think we need to move somewhere."  It would appear that at least one of our kids has caught the expat bug.  I suspect she may be infected for life.

 

Comments

[marilyn]

Summers do end & fortunately we look forward to ours beginning! What an exiting time for you Christie , lots of work though. Once school starts the children will settle in quickly as they have already had a school year. How is Sophie's arm ----- Joyce was asking me yesterday. Just a little note about Joyce -- currently in hospital & will be going into care in a couple of weeks ---we bring her here from time to time to see the photos of your children which she loves to see. Have a good start to the school year. God bless . Marilyn.

[Christie]

Thanks so much, Marilyn, for the kind words and the update on Joyce. Please tell her that Sophie's arm has healed completely as far as we can tell and give her our love and warm wishes.