Back To School

Sunday night we made our way over to Baker-Butler for our annual photo shoot.  It was so gross outside so we tried to be as quick as possible.  Normally I do it in the morning but since I am at work by 8:00 that was not going to happen this year.  So as a bonus Mark came along and had his pictures taken too. The next day we went back to Baker-Butler for Open House.  We dropped off their school supplies and met their teachers.  It was a long day for Mark as he also had his Open House that night from 5:30 - 7:00 and then worked at the airport. He's a trooper.

11th year teaching, 5th year at Burley Middle School.  Teaching 7th and 8th grade Social Studies.  7th grade: second half of US History.  8th civics.  This is not his school but both schools have a bear as their mascot and brick buildings so it works.

He was being silly and wanted to do Mug shots for the next two but there is some real truth behind this feeling.  Teaching is draining and frustrating at times and you have to make sure you don't let it get you down and keep you from being an effective teacher.

He gave his first day a 7.5 / 10.  Not bad.  He said his 1st block is really quiet.  His 2nd block is really talkative but not in a really bad way necessarily just a big contrast from his previous class.  He said his last block has quite a few characters and they will prove to be the most challenging group.  I hope it's a really good year for him.  Interestingly he told me that Albemarle County does offer teachers a one year sabbatical.  They can take a year off and their school will hold their position for them. We were very intrigued by this and would be interested in looking into it in the next 2 years or so. 

Lydia gave her first day of 2nd grade a 10 / 10.  She walked up to me and said that she thought 2nd grade was going be a great year.  She did not end up with the teacher I wanted her to have but seems to really like her teacher Ms. Borman.  Last year was Ms. Borman's first year teaching and different people have told me it was a really awful class.  Some were surprised she was even willing to come back to the school.  I so hope they did a better job grouping kids this year.  Lydia thinks she is great and even got some kids she really wanted in her class which is good for her.  I hope she feels challenged and happy at school. 

Lydia August 2019:  some of her current favorites are: reading, Barbies, and horses.  She read so many books this Summer.  It was great.  She read the first 3 Harry Potter books and more horse diaries, puppy pals and rainbow fairy books than I can count.  She loves sweets so much and wants to eat them all the time.  She is not terribly picky, but can be a stinker about eating her food.  She also loves screens and wishes we let her use them way more.  She still refuses to go in our basement by herself.  She can and does play nicely by herself, but she likes to be in the same room as someone.  She is taking piano lessons and rarely complains about practicing.  When she practices she is often singing along with the little words.  She really enjoyed swim team up until the last 2 weeks.  Then she started making up her own strokes and being more of a mermaid.  She mastered diving off the starting block and loves being in the water.  She decided she wanted to play JAG soccer this Fall so we will see how long it holds her attention.  She is trying to read her scriptures each night and loves to do it with Mark.  She and I are close and doing well, but she is super attached to Mark right now. The two nights he worked at the airport this week she missed him so much she cried herself to sleep.  It was so sad.  She and Jared are doing well and enjoy being together.  They have a variety of games they play:  Harry Potter, Doggie and owner (she is the owner), Legos, Jared will even play Barbies with her.  Overall they have a lot of fun together, but she definitely gets frustrated when they will be playing nicely and then she will do something different than what Jared wants and he just stops playing and shuts her out.  He will just get up and go to his room and close the door.  They definitely bicker, but Lydia is like the best sister one could have.  She goes along with his ideas and what he wants and doesn't often put up a fight so when she does have a different idea and he won't go for it she gets shut out which is really not fair. This she does not like.  She seems to either make an instant connection with someone or take a really long time to become friends with them. She is thoughtful and compassionate and great fun to be around. 

Jared gave his first day of 4th grade a 7.75 / 10.  He is so happy that he has his two best buddies in his class, Tyler and Marcus.  He and Marcus have been together since 1st grade and he and Tyler have been separated since Kindergarten.  His 3rd grade teachers (Shafran and Jeong) planned a class reunion the week before school started, they are the very best.  They met at Sweet Frog and hung out.  Mark and Jared went and while they were talking Mrs. Shafran mentioned that when she looked over the class lists (she is the new gifted teacher) she saw that Tyler was in a different class and moved him into Jared's class.  She and Mrs. Jeong tired hard to get Jared to branch out and befriend other kids besides Marcus but Jared was just not interested.  I think the 3 of them will have a great year together.  One of Tyler's good friends from last year is in there too so I hope the 4 of them can get along well together.  His teacher is Ms. Symoniak.  She has been teaching for a few years but this is also her 2nd year at Baker-Butler.  I think Jared will do fine with her. He gave the next 2 days 9 / 10 so things are going well for him. 

Jared, August 2019:  I asked him what his favorites are and he said: Orcas, school, and his parents.  He is in a pretty good place right now.  He loves reading, (I have lost count of how many times he has read the first 6 Harry Potter books, it's a lot.) soldiers (and ninjas lately,) Legos, and being with Marcus or Tyler.  He is lucky to have two really great best friends.  I can't exactly put my finger on why he works so well with those two.  With Marcus I think it helps that he is similar to Lydia and is happy to just go along with the flow for the most part.  He has a little more push back from Tyler, but really they are just nice kids who really like Jared and he is very loyal to them.  Sometimes we get together with other people and I'll see Jared reading a book and I am like, Dude, where is your social awareness?  Go interact with our guests.  I am happy he loves to read, but he can be pretty single minded at times.  He is very independent which I appreciate, but I also want him to know how to interact with different people.  He was happy to do swim team and is looking forward to JAG soccer this Fall.  I do think Jared is a good sweet kid who is mostly very easy to be around.  And I think he is this way 92% of the time.  He is a good listener and smart.  He has some really great ideas and good understanding when we do Come Follow me.  I have been surprised more than once at his comprehension. He enjoys learning about the world and History and has really enjoyed the traveling we have been able to do. 

That being said he can be completely focused on himself and lack empathy for others more than I am comfortable with.  When he gets in this type of mood he becomes so sarcastic that I don't even want to talk to him.  It's like any little thing we ask of him he makes it seem like the biggest inconvenience and he will not back down, he has to have the last word.  It's unpleasant to say the least.  I am not quite sure how to describe it, but he also has a deep sense of things needing to be fair.  For example at a birthday party recently there was a piñata.  It was a family party for a girl turning 6.  The older kids were calling out who got to go first.  I commented that the birthday girl would be going first so these two adjusted and said they would be 2nd and 3rd. I said well, they are probably going to let the younger kids go first and he got mad about this saying it was not fair and looking mad.  This is not a new concept it is pretty standard at every party we have ever attended, but he acted like it was so unfair.  Now, that being said, 2 years ago there would have been tears and lots of reasons why this was not right and in this instance he just got irritated and then accepted it so there is some progress, at least at handling his emotions better.  I am not really sure what word to use to describe it with:  Selfish/Self absorbed fit but seem a little strong?  Is the right description to say a deep sense of things needing to be fair?  He called it so he should get to go sooner, its the other kids fault they weren't as quick as him? I don't know. 

So a majority of the time Jared is a perfectly independent easy kid to be around. He is a different kid when he is having an off day. When he gets upset he goes to his room and shuts his door (which is exactly what I did growing up so not a big surprise to me).  He does not like to talk about things when he is upset (neither do I) so confrontation is very hard for him and he hates to admit that he was wrong.  When he knows we are really disappointed with him he can't even talk to us about it without tearing up.  I hope as he gets older he will be able to work through things when he really needs to with people, because there are going to be confrontations. He will need to be able to communicate.  I also hope that he is not too hard on himself, that he works so hard to be good and do well all the time that eventually he just needs to release it.  As I am reading this I'm also thinking, well I certainly have off or bad days too which is important for me to remember.  To keep things in perspective. 

After I picked them up from school we headed to McDonalds with some girls from Lydia's class last year and Tyler. These are nice girls but none of them are in Lydia's class this year so we will see if she pursues these friendships.  I like to go and do this with them so I can hear about their days before they are distracted at home so it was weird this year to be there with other people.  But it was such a relief to hear that they both are happy and excited to be at school.