9:56 a.m. - May 24, 2006
Last Day O' School.
Today is the last day of Montessori school for the school year.
Holy cow, where did the time go?
Well, for one, I do realize that they started back on August 11. So it is a long school year.
They follow the local school system�s calendar, and with a mandated amount of days you must spend in class, along with the infernal ISTEP tests and No Child Left Behind, they�re in school for an eternity and a half nowadays.
I mean, we didn�t have to worry much about missing snow days. I think only once in my life was our school year extended because of the weather, and it was only by a day or so. But those were the glory days, when I had enough time in elementary school to ride the bike home, eat, watch the Gong Show, go over to Mike Finney�s house, then ride back to school.
Or in high school, where it was an open campus, so Moose and I got out of Spanish class, plopped ourselves into one of our death cars of geekies (he had a Pinto, I had a Dodge Aspen) and sped to the Pizza Hut for lunch.
It was a ritual. See, that�s when Pizza Hut started offering personal pan pizzas, and they had five minutes, tops, to get it to you, or it was free. We cashed in a couple of times.
We always played almost the same songs on the jukebox. �Let�s Dance�, �Hungry Like the Wolf� (so Moose could do the little orgasmic scream at the end), �Crackpot History� by Adam Ant were three of our favorites, so you can tell exactly what era I�m talking about.
After Pizza Hut, we went to a drug store and bought these things called Fruit Tarts. They were chewy slabs of sugar and artificial flavor that made your saliva glands gush out in an effort to try to save your taste buds from the sour sugar shock.
One time, a friend of ours, nicknamed Puppy, asked what we were doing for lunch. We told him our routine and his eyes lit up.
�You gotta take me to Hook�s! You gotta take me to Hook�s!� (Hook�s was the drug store chain at the time.)
�Why?�
�I just gotta go!�
Ok, so we took him. And he made his purchase, very surreptitiously. (I think he used the back register by the pharmacy, to be honest). He never let us look into the bag. I know what was in there, because he had a Hottie McHotness girlfriend (who was also just a freshman). They were supposedly a goody-goody couple. Heh, heh, heh...
Wow, that was a tangent, wasn�t it?
Anyway, to drag us totally back on point, if there ever was one, Katie is now going to be out of school for the summer.
She has learned so much at Montessori, and has learned how to learn, it seems.
She�s very curious. She�s always asking questions and wanting to find out what is going on, and the more complicated the subject is, the more questions she asks.
She loves books. She can read some words and sound things out. She just loves to sit up in her room at night with a book in her hand, and really likes the quiet time with Liz when her sister is napping and Liz and Katie just snuggle with books.
Because of the dynamic of this school, she�s become kind of a fashionista. She has to wear clothes like the other girls are wearing. I remember one humongous tantrum that resulted from us wanting her to wear something that no one else was wearing.
This is why I was nervous when I had to do the hair � I was afraid of the peer pressure.
The teachers are very nice, and have a way with these children. I know my Katie girl � I see how she eats. But these children, every day during snack time, have a civilized snack on real plates. They eat the snacks family style, passing plates around and then do their own dishes.
Mind you, this is a behavior I would like to seem exhibited at HOME, thanks. But at least I know she can be that way.
Today, being the last day of school, we got the teachers gifts, and Katie is soooo excited to give them their knick knacks and trinkets and what not.
We have the names and numbers of the other children, and I�m sure play dates will follow, and we�ll be busy with other activities like swimming and the library programs they have in this town. But this school has been exactly what we wanted for her.
Next year, Katie will be in this program, then the year after she�ll go to Montessori in the morning and go to Kindergarten in the afternoon (unless they decide to have full-day Kindergarten by then).
When Katie starts first grade, Kristin will be able to go to Montessori.
I would not hesitate to recommend this program to anyone. I almost can�t wait for Kristin to be able to attend as well.
But then I just did the math in my head.
Katie will graduate from high school in 2020. Because Kristin was a June baby, I think she�ll be able to graduate in 2023.
That means Katie will be a senior and Kristin will be a freshman in high school at the same time.
Oh, dear.
I�ll make a note to shower at the athletic facility here at work that year. Because there�s no way I�m getting a shot at any bathroom in our house.
