Lifes Like That

My son really thinks that my daughter’s grade 4 teacher is one of the best.  Yesterday both of my kids went skating with their classes and for the first time ever they were both on the rink at the same time.  Toward the end of the skating session my son fell down really hard and bumped his head (he is OK).  But that was the end of skating for him and he wanted to come home.  So, I said I would bring him home, but by him coming home he would miss out on his Halloween party at school.  He wasn’t too impressed with this idea.  So Kara’s teacher told him to come home for a little while and then come back to school in the afternoon JUST for the party.  He thought this was really cool that a teacher was telling him to come home and then come back to school JUST to party, not to work.  So, that’s what we did and the rest of his day was great.

When we got home, he informed me that when he gets in grade 4 he wants to have this teacher.  That’s a pretty high complement coming from him as he is extremely shy and it does take him a while to warm up to teachers.  But, this one stole his heart!

Well it’s that time of year.  When all the charities are going full force with their campaigning to help other unfortunate people to be able to have a good Christmas.  My kids are so good this time of year.  The want to get involved in all the charity giving that they possibly can around this time of year.  This year their school has gotten involved in the shoe box program again.  What this means is that each grade level brings in some type of non perishable item for the shoe boxes.  When these boxes are all filled, they are then sent to a more unfortunate country to be given to people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to enjoy the Christmas season.  This morning they went to school with their items and they are so…proud to be able to be involved with this project again this years.  I am so proud that my kids are such giving people and I really hope they continue with their giving nature in years to come.

My youngest son is the only child that gets off the bus at his bus stop.  I am down there every day to pick him up, but I have often wondered what would happen if I was ever running a little late or wasn’t down there to recieve him.  Well the other day I wasn’t down there to get him (I had maded arrangements with another mother to grab him), so I did wonder if the bus driver would just let him off or if he would question as to why I wasn’t there.  Well let me tell you that I was quite impressed!  After I got to the bus stop and seen my son I asked her if the bus driver just let him off.  She said no that he didn’t.  He stopped the bus and asked her if Daniel was going with her.  When she said yes, he then let him off the bus.  So all my wondering and worrying was for nothing.  As I now know that if something ever happened that I wasn’t at the bus stop the bus driver would not let him off by himself and he would take him back to the school.   I feel better knowing that the kid will be safe until either I grab him or a friend grabs him.

But, I have to tell you that I don’t think this would happen very often as my son was quite annoyed that I wasn’t there to greet him.  LOL

Yesterday when I went to the school to pick up my daughter after violin practice, I took her violin with me to show to her teacher to see if it would be suitable for her to use this year.  Unfortunately the violin is way to big for her so she won’t be able to use it this year.  The only good thing about it is that it is too big and not too small which means she will eventually grow into it.  But, we already paid the money for the violin rental from the school, so she will still get to play.  She was so…looking forward to being able to use the violin that her grandfather bought her, but we will have to put it away for another year.  She’s OK with it now though as she realizes that she still gets to play this year and that’s all that matters.

I’m really starting to wonder if the children who are in grade 4 ever stay in the classroom.  LOL  Yesterday my daughter came home with a form from school for another field trip.   But thankfully this time it won’t cost us anything.  Usually on these trips the school is always looking for extra money.  But not this time.  This field trip will be to a place where they can observe nature and the habitats of animals.  This is a good field trip for my daughter as she is really interested in animals and I know she will get a lot out of this experience.  So next week I will be mudding and mucking through the woods with my daughter’s class and getting back to nature.  Wish me luck!

This is a serious question for you all.  Why won’t kids listen at home, but they have no problems listening to their teachers at school and absorbing each and every word they say??  Here is an example of what I’m talking about.  My daughter who is in grade 4 has really long hair.  Every morning it is a serious fight to get her to brush her hair and put it up in either a head band or a pony.  But, when her violin teacher tells her that on violin days she needs to have her hair put back (so it doesn’t get tangled in the strings), she has no problem putting her hair up and back.  Matter of fact, this morning, she went to school with her hair in a pony and had a head band on.

So, my question to you all is why do kids behave like this??  Why do it for one with no problems, but fight with us over the same exact thing??

As you all know, my daughter was accepted into her school violin program.  She is so anxious to get started and today will be her first official day of starting to play the violin.  Over the weekend, we got a message from her teacher that for some reason the school doesn’t have enough violins for all the children to play, so they are asking that if any parent can afford to either rent or purchase a violin for their child, it would be most appreciated.  Well my father-in-law has a violin for my daughter.  He just needs to take it somewhere to get it fixed.  The good thing about this violin is that the violin is already set up for a left handed player.  So, later this week she will have her own violin and this will ensure her a spot for sure in the program.  So once again, Grampie came through for her.

Last night I went to the school to the final meeting for any of the children who want to participate in the strings program. I learned a lot. I discovered that this type of program requires a major commitment on the part of the student and on the parents. It also requires a lot of work on the part of the student and a lot of support on the parents end. But, my daughter is still determined to join so I signed the paper and we will know within a couple of days whether she has been accepted or not. The reason for this wait is because the class can only hold 20 students, but 45 students want to take part in this musical experience. This means that 25 will not get in. So, the music instructor now needs to go to the students teachers to find out if the teacher thinks that they can handle the program as well as keeping up with all their classroom activities. My daughter realizes that she may not get in and she is OK with this. She really really wants to join but it won’t be the end of the world to her if this isn’t possible. So, as soon as I know the final outcome, I’ll be sure to stop by and let you all know.

Tonight is my meeting at the school to get my daughter enrolled into the violin club.  There are only 20 spots available as that is all the violins that the school has.  So, I’m hoping my daughter gets in and maybe if I tell the music teacher that she has her own violin, she may consider Kara for this reason.  Her violin currently is set for a right handed student, but as soon as I let her grandfather know if she got in or not, he is going to take it to get converted to a left handed student.  So wish me luck and hopefully tomorrow I can post that she was accepted into this program.  She has only wanted to join since kindergarten, so I’m pretty sure that the commitment is there.

For all you Canadians, you know exactly what I mean by “toonie”, but for you others, this is a form of our Canadian money.  The toonie coin replaced the $2.00 bill and the “loonie” coin replaced the $1.00 bill.  Now that the history lesson is over, I can get on with the post.  LOL

Every year around this time of year children and parents from all around Canada get involved with the “Terry Fox run”.  Terry Fox ran across Canada years ago raising money for Cancer.  He lost his fight with this disease, but his memory lives on.  So today at my kid’s school they will be doing a Terry Fox walk.  For their fund raising efforts they have all been asked to bring in a toonie for Terry.  They were quite excited about doing this and this morning they were both bugging me for change.  So today they will be walking for Cancer research and my young son really hopes that all the money collected will help the researchers find a cure.  They are so proud to be a part of this event.