Been hearing a lot about Back to School Time lately.
Back to school time is something that we find a bit meaningless. We tend to school year-round and take breaks whenever we like. When other adults ask my kids if they’re Looking Forward To Going Back To School Soon, my kids often respond with a blank stare and then a sudden panicked glance at me, as if to say: But, what does it mean, Mother? Please Mother, what is the proper, polite response?
It’s the same thing as when they’re asked where they go to school, or what grade they’re in, or what grade they’re GOING INTO. Or if they’re asked how they like their teacher. (Yeah, that’s a fun one, let me tell you.)
But all of that is about to end.
Soon, when my girls are asked if they’re looking forward to the first day of school, they’ll answer with an excited, cheery YES!!! and they’ll probably be hopping up and down when they say it.
Because it turns out that our homeschool club has this long-standing tradition of meeting at a nearby Dunkin’ Donuts on the first day of public school around here. We’ll get dozens of donuts and coffee for the moms and milk for the kiddos. The kids and their friends, with big giant jelly smeared smiles on their faces, will watch those crowded school buses roll on by, knowing that the parks, malls and restaurants won’t be so crowded anymore, and that once again we’ll have full run of the town and all it has to offer.
I haven’t told the kids yet. I want to spring it on them as a surprise.
It’s Back To School Time, people.
Somebody cue the Halleuliah Chorus and save me a Boston Creme.
A cashier asked Leo (Leo! Granted he’s tall, but he’s 3!) if he was ready for school to start. He excitedly told the lady yes, I’m going to preschool blah blah… She looked at Lydia, then told Leo “I bet Sissy is old enough to not like school. I bet she doesn’t want to go back.” Leo told her, “Oh, those kids don’t go to school. Mommy lets them stay home. They don’t go to school.”
I just smiled and thanked her as we took our bags. I’m getting better at not *needing* to explain everything to just anyone. The cashier stared at us all the way out, though.
That sounds so neat! I bet they have a blast.
I have past you a Teaching Meme, go to my blog and get it out.
Well I quoted about half of this post on my blog today. I wasn’t sure if that was cool to do or not. Then I got this feedback:
“Christine said…
HALLELUJAH!
I’m LOVING the donut shop idea. I’ll plan that one for our little group next year”
And I thought it properly belonged here. Love this post, by the way. : ) K
Hey Katherine, quote away. I enjoy being quotable.
And I’m glad to hear that other groups will be starting this tradition as well.
Andie, I’m slowly getting to that point as well. I think I used to tense up when the girls got those questions, and that the girls picked up on my tense-ness. That’s why they’d get panicky. So I working on showing a ho-hum we homeschool attitude. I also try to remember to tell them what grades they’re in before we go out. Just in case.
Kitten, I’ll check out that meme sometime today.
That sounds like a really fun tradition.
Good times, good times. We’ll be at the beach that day!
Oooh…the beach…also an excellent idea.
Now, how about the beach AND some donuts? That would really be something!
Oh yeah, I turned the first two into freaks at first. They’d get The Look and stammer and I’m sure it convinced everyone that homeschoolers really did need to get out more.
They’re more relaxed now that they’re older and I’m less insane about things. Or I’m insane about different things. Whatever - fewer uncomfortable check-out scenes.
Now they are old and know what grade they’re in (that took a few years) and their own personalities are quite apparent in their answering. Madeline gives no-nonsense answers with a polite, but definite ‘And that’s enough silly questioning from YOU, thanks’ vibe. Lydia just smiles and answers simply, no matter how many times she’s asked if she likes her teacher. (Oh, how clever they are!) People are always so taken with her, she could say we homeschooled so we could sleep all day and spend our nights vampire-ing and people would smile and try to pat/hug/otherwise touch her. She’s something else. John…well, he’s some other kind of something else. Oy. He’ll tell you our life story, from that time Mommy forgot to pay the car insurance bill to how many pages behind we’ve gotten in math. Even if the Inquisitor just asked how he was doing today. I never weigh myself around this boy.
Wow! Sounds like a plan! Hope you don’t all get fat!
Oh no…you see…Dunkin’ Donut calories don’t count.
Hmmm…I think I might try out “oh, we homeschool because we prefer to sleep all day and act like vampires at night” on someone some day. And I’ll make sure I’m drinking a V8 in a clear cup while I’m saying that.