School starts next week.

[Ms. Spam]

This is not a drill. Like school begins in August on the 12th for me. Does my school district like paying for air conditioning?

 

For you guys with kids and others? When do your kiddos go?

 

Am I crazy?

 

I really was not prepared for this. I have inservices this week.

[Guest El Chalupacabra]

.

[Darth Krawlie]

my friends kids started july 29 in the middle of the arizona desert

 

my kids don't start til after labor day

[Guest]

My son starts first grade on the 21st, but preschool for my daughter doesn't start until the 29th. Which is interesting because the preschool is part of the big school.

[Tank]

Next week.

[Guest El Chalupacabra]

.

[Darth Krawlie]

It was late August when I was going to school there--maybe mid by the time I was finishing. I know the schedules are different now with fall breaks being more common, but July 29 sounds insane to me. Also, the district these kids are in (and that I went through) is on a four day school week now because of budgetary issues. This is either the first or second year of no Friday classes there.

[Jacen123]

We always went back in late August or early September in Maryland. It always shocks me how early so many schools start in other parts of the country. It looks like school starts next week here, too.

[Ms. Spam]

As a kid I remember after Labor Day starts. I don't remember this early BS at all. HA. Incidentally I got a raise this year but I wonder if they're calling paying me for extra days of work at school a raise.

[Cerina]

Luke starts PPCD (preschool program for children with disabilities) on the 26th. I'm struggling massively with this. Everything in me is dreading this. I want him to get help with his speech, and they promised to help potty-train (BONUS!), but I really really like this idea less and less with each passing day.

Noah and I start our Classical Conversations community days on the 19th. That's when we'll start up his full schedule of subjects as well. We slow it down during the summer but don't stop.

[Guest El Chalupacabra]

.

[Metropolis]

My wife officially went back last week. She transferred to a Title 1 school. The kids go back next Monday.

[Ms. Spam]

Wow. Texas is not alone! I feel better about my early start. It is just so hot. I dread it. I've been in a charter school forever. Last year we started on August 24.

[Destiny Skywalker]

2 days after Labor Day for the older one, the following Monday for my youngest, because Kindergarten starts the following week here.

 

Cerina, Ethan is doing a developmental Kindergarten program because of his motor delays. I'm actually really looking forward to it because he is very bright, and I think they will be able to help him. I found a great after-school program for him at a STEM-based preschool that is expanding to before/after care and its DIRT CHEAP. The traditional program I found was 3x the amount, and we're 2nd on the waitlist and haven't even heard from them yet. The director has met my kids and done very well. He should be there for like, 2 hours a day, max. My biggest concern is that he gets a special bus in the mornings since he is in the special education program, but will be on a regular bus that delivers him to the after-school place (this is the case for either place).

 

Having 2 kids at different schools is going to be a unique challenge. I'm really hoping we can get him into my daughter's school the following year, even if it means repeating Kindergarten.

[D-Ray Kenobi]

Damn. All you guys have got kids going back to school, and I'm just over here like what bar are we going to after work.

[Cerina]

2 days after Labor Day for the older one, the following Monday for my youngest, because Kindergarten starts the following week here.

 

Cerina, Ethan is doing a developmental Kindergarten program because of his motor delays. I'm actually really looking forward to it because he is very bright, and I think they will be able to help him. I found a great after-school program for him at a STEM-based preschool that is expanding to before/after care and its DIRT CHEAP. The traditional program I found was 3x the amount, and we're 2nd on the waitlist and haven't even heard from them yet. The director has met my kids and done very well. He should be there for like, 2 hours a day, max. My biggest concern is that he gets a special bus in the mornings since he is in the special education program, but will be on a regular bus that delivers him to the after-school place (this is the case for either place).

 

Having 2 kids at different schools is going to be a unique challenge. I'm really hoping we can get him into my daughter's school the following year, even if it means repeating Kindergarten.

I'll be honest, I'm not 10% sure what my issue with it is. I think a lot of it is that he doesn't actually talk much or clearly. He won't be able to tell me what happens there.

 

Since he underperformed so fantastically on his testing and assessments, his IEP goals are pretty simple. The first, and main, goal is to have him follow a one-step instruction within 20 seconds at least 70% of the time. They also cheerfully told me that they'll work on helping him learn his numbers, letters, colors, and shapes. That should be fun. Even with the speech delay I know he knows all the letters (upper and lowercase), can actually spell his name, can count to 20 (and can count up to 20 objects), recognize numbers to 100, count to 100 by 10s, knows all the colors (in rainbow order even), and even knows the difference between a hexagon and octagon (and actually gets frustrated with the heptagon because it's neither). I'm fairly certain he can do simple addition and subtraction as well. Hell, the kid might be able to read some already, but we just haven't noticed yet.

 

So I have no idea if they're going to try to accommodate and teach him more or if he'll just be happy to participate with the other kids or if he'll be bored and start acting out which will just further confirm his abysmal assessment scores.

[Destiny Skywalker]

I think the socialization will be good for him even if he doesn't learn anything. It is HARD to get out of the house with an uncooperative kid, and teaching him to interact with other kids his age in group play will be a good thing. We've tried some play therapy groups this summer but he's always the only kid, so it's not that useful, and my mother-in-law gets super frustrated with him not behaving and tends to leave places instead of working through it. But I totally get him not being able to tell you what happens and that being scary. Ethan doesn't tell us much about what happens when we send him to camp or daycare, even though he's a chatterbox. Maybe the teacher will provide a daily report sheet?

[Ms. Spam]

They should give you a report sheet. It's why I won't do lower grades to be honest. I can't keep up with the report sheet paperwork. Right now fourth grade is as low as I go. I would definitely ask about that. And maybe being in school might help Luke where it was not as helpful for Noah. Each kid teaches us that they are not alike. My sister home schooled her oldest but her youngest abhorred it and begged to go to school. My sister thought her youngest wouldn't like school because of her experience with her oldest who had anxiety attacks and just shut down. Turns out school was awesome for her youngest needs.

[Darth Ender]

Our students started this Thursday.

 

I remember as kid not starting until after Labor Day and finishing at Memorial Day but didn't really have any breaks through the year. However, we get a week for fall, spring, Thanksgiving breaks and two full weeks for Christmas.

[Ms. Spam]

We get out before Memorial Day this year. I checked the school calendar to be sure. As a fun bonus the water evaporator that keeps the school AC running was busted. We had no air today while doing inservice.

[Iceheart]

It was law in Michigan for awhile that grades k-12 couldnt start before Labor Day, but I believe Snyder did away with that last year. Not sure how that effects this years start date because like D-Ray, it literally has no impact on my life.

[Destiny Skywalker]

So the short bus is picking Ethan up from our front door almost an hour before school starts. This is great for my work schedule but doesn't seem like the best plan for a special needs hyperactive kid.

 

Also, when I called to arrange for him to be transported to after care, they said they had never heard of the day care and had no plans to transport there. Sounds like the school forgot to set that up. The daycare director was super glad I called to arrange that and let her know that the school forgot. Oy. (The transportation folks were super nice and helpful, though.)

[D-Ray Kenobi]

It was law in Michigan for awhile that grades k-12 couldnt start before Labor Day, but I believe Snyder did away with that last year. Not sure how that effects this years start date because like D-Ray, it literally has no impact on my life.

THIS BLOODLINE ENDS WITH ME.

[Cerina]

So the short bus is picking Ethan up from our front door almost an hour before school starts. This is great for my work schedule but doesn't seem like the best plan for a special needs hyperactive kid.

 

Also, when I called to arrange for him to be transported to after care, they said they had never heard of the day care and had no plans to transport there. Sounds like the school forgot to set that up. The daycare director was super glad I called to arrange that and let her know that the school forgot. Oy. (The transportation folks were super nice and helpful, though.)

Yeah. Luke also gets his own short bus at our door. And they said he gets a special handler that'll be with him to and from school every day. I'm still not happy about this. When I think about it too much it makes my stomach hurt.

[Tank]

Welp. Mine started high school. They start late on WEDs so he's walking 2 miles on his own. I mean I was doing that at age 9, but in this day and age it's a big step (for his mother mostly).