Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Crikey, I'm Tired!

Don't you miss Steve Irwin?

No this is not a post about Steve Irwin. This is a post about the beginning of school.

Yesterday, I went to Twinkle's new school for parent orientation. A delightful time wherein you learn just what you've gotten into with this whole private school/homeschool hybrid. And you learn things like, don't call them a "homeschool school" and the like (note to self.) I learned about carline. I'm happy to say there is only one page of carline "rules" unlike Elastigirl faces at her boys' schools. 40, 50 pages was it?

Most importantly, I learned what the heck it is I'm supposed to be doing at home. I went into the day feeling like I knew absolutely nothing, and I came home feeling much better. I mean, down to, "oh, that's why I needed a 2 1/2 inch 3 ring binder." And now I know it's ok that I bought a 2 inch because I couldn't find a 2 1/2 inch.

Today. Oh, today. Today was the first day of homeschool. I was actually excited about it and looking forward to it last night, as was Twinkle. Always a good sign. Everything actually went really well. Up until the handwriting lesson. Even then, it wasn't horrible. But, Aye Chihuahua. I really don't want Twinkle to end up with handwriting like Mr. Swizzle (no offense, Dear). And really, I do realize she's going into first grade, and who writes well going into first grade? What pushed me to the edge was that she didn't seem to be trying all that hard.

I know, who cares if the "l" goes all the way from the top line to the bottom line? Who cares of the top of the "n" doesn't make it up to that middle line? I'll tell you who cares...Twinkle's new school. Twinkle? Not so much. I realize that they'll cut her some slack at the beginning of the year, but it is something we REALLY need to improve. Just improve. I'll take that.

I also found the school rules that were in the orientation packet interesting. I cut them out of the orientation packet to use at home. There are 5. Numbers 3 - 5 shouldn't be a problem. Number 1 is "Follow directions the first time." Number 2 is "Talk at appropriate times only." HA. I've already apologized to Twinkle's new teacher for the amount of talking. I must say, posting these at home has worked pretty well today. I've been able to point at them and remind her - and she actually stops what she's doing and follows the rule! What? All I had to do was write something down and say it was a rule she'll have to follow at school? Who knew?

All in all, I'm still really excited about this school year. She (and I) are going to learn so much. It's OK that today our phonics lesson was "What's this letter? What sound does it make." She actually looked at me like I had to be kidding. It's good that we don't have to tackle the hard stuff when we're still figuring out what we're doing.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know she was thinkin': "SCORE!! I've known all of my phonics since I was three!!"

Anonymous said...

What in the world are carline rules!?

Mrs. Swizzle said...

Hee hee. Carline rules are things like "don't get out of the car", "don't walk across carline from the parking line." Stuff like that.

I have NO idea what was in Elastigirl's tome of rules.

Mary Beth said...

Oh, CAR LINE.

I actually went so far as to Google "carline" thinking it was something like "Cardinal"!

I never had to do that car line thing. At public school you just throw 'em out wherever, and maybe they make it and maybe they don't. :)

Mrs. Swizzle said...

Sorry. Two words - Car Line...

LOL

Duchess of Insanity said...

LOL MB! :)
It's so much easier when you just run out the front door, cross the street and 20 steps later drop your babe of at the front door. No car line. No rules, and it's great exercise. Although, I must admit to having used carline on seriously frigid or rainy days. :)