Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Tomorrow's the Big Day

Buddy's first day of 6th grade at a new school (Middle School). The plan is for the Evil Twin to drop him off, but also to meet up with one of Buddy's best friends from Elementary school. His mom will have him there at the same time and they can at least walk in together!

He has been practicing using a combination lock - and so has his friend. I'm fairly sure they will be in the same home room class and from what I've heard, the kids can choose their own locker mate from their home room, so Buddy and his friend can share a locker and hopefully, one of them will know how to do the combination! LOL.

Buddy went to private Catholic school for Elementary and on top of paying a hefty tuition, a registration fee and a book fee, we also were given a long list of supplies we needed to supply for our child. I started getting panicky wondering where the supply list for 6th grade was.

It turns out, they are no longer allowed to request supplies in public schools. Because some kids can't afford them. So, I bought Buddy a 3 ring binder, several packs of college ruled paper, some pens and pencils, a pencil sharpener and a couple of the large pink erasers.

Apparently, the teachers are allowed to "suggest" items, like "If you happen to have some Clorox wipes around, could you send one in please?" But it's only a suggestion and not a "must do". Very odd.

I'm kind of looking forward to the new routine, but I am not looking forward to having to get up at 6:30! Yuck!

I hope he likes his new school!

24 comments:

  1. I LOVE that they have been practicing the locks!!! I moved in the middle of 7th grade and went from a small catholic school to a large public middle school and had NO IDEA how to use a combo lock .. for WEEKS I had the snobby girl whose locker was next to mine open my locker for me .. and most times I just carried EVERYTHING with me rather than going thru that burden ... and yes I am still traumatized by that to this day!!

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  2. OMG first day of middle school, how exciting!! Buddy will do great. It's always nice to have a familiar face to help get things started.

    It's going to be a tremendous year, I can just feel it! (Before you know it, he'll be in High School!)

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  3. Good luck to Buddy! I am in real trouble next year when my son will start kindergarten - I have a helluva time getting everyone out by 9AM!!!

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  4. How exciting for Buddy. Hmmm...I wonder if I practiced with a lock before having a locker. That is a good idea.

    I went to private/Catholic school my whole life, but our public schools certainly do have a supply list. My sister is a public school teacher and I confirmed with her that kids still have to bring in Kleenex and Clorox wipes and certain stationary and art supplies. Now I wonder what the poorer families do?

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  5. They can't put out a list of school supplies so they won't hurt the feelings of the kids who are poor? But, they do need school supplies, right? I mean, they need pencils, paper and condoms .. er... other necessary items, right?

    Nobody ever used Clorox wipes when I was in school. I just don't know how we all lived! ;-)

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  6. Good luck to Buddy and good luck to YOU!

    I'm surprised that your district doesn't have supply lists, the ones here in NY are actually quite extensive.

    To answer Karen's question, often schools have "school supply bins/drives" and at least in the elementary level, no one goes without. This isn't true in all schools though. I know one of the women in my office buys 2 of everything (when she can) that her kid needs and donates the other one to the classroom with the understanding that the teacher dole it out as necessary to the kids who don't have the means to be proplerly supplied.

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  7. Interesting... I don't remember ever "learning" how to do combination locks, but I must have at some point. I'm sure Buddy will do fine, just make sure he remembers the combination :-)

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  8. Mandy - I think I'm still traumatized by junior high in general! LOL.

    Chandra - The guidance counselor told me she would put them in the same homeroom, so I'm hoping that actually happens!

    Gigi - It's lucky for me that the school is on the way to The Evil Twin's office, so he can do drop off and I'll do pick up!

    Karen - I don't know. Maybe it's just certain districts or even certain schools? (I'm new at this). My friend across the street told me that if a child doesn't have a pencil, they'll be given a pencil. I don't know who supplies that.

    Jay - I'm confused myself. I've been sending supplies in for so long, I figured it was a given.

    Cute Ella - I might end up buying some extras too, to send in to donate! Thanks for the idea.

    Ron - LOL - yep,that's the ticket. Remember the code!

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  9. Oh, I cannot wait to hear more. I will be thinking of both of you tomorrow.

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  10. I am glad those days are way past me. Now I get to watch my kids send their kids to school. Ahh, vengence is at hand.

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  11. Yay, Buddy! (And best of luck to him.) I hope he loves it.

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  12. Congrats to Buddy and so glad he has a friend he is comfortable with to help get into the routine! Hope all goes well for YOU tomorrow morning...

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  13. I'm sure Buddy is handling this life change much better than you are. Don't worry sexy mommy he will be fine !!!!!!

    Good Luck Buddy !

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  14. Glad he has a friend with him...that will make things so much easier. And you might have to be up in the morning but at least now you don't have to be "out"...you and Sissy can have sleeps!

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  15. Hehe Elle - yeah for Sleeps!

    I remember what a scary day that was, the first day of Junior High!Glad he has a friend to go through it with. I remember locker buddies as well!

    Good Luck Buddy!

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  16. Happy first day of middle school, Buddy!

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  17. Apparently the public schools in Michigan don't mind supply lists. 8 items for kindergarten was surprising. Those were the required ones - There were a dozen or so others that you COULD bring to contribute to the class.

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  18. Such an exciting time for Buddy (and his folks)!

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  19. He'll do fine Momma!

    Wahoo to the increased traffic, the earlier mornings, the bitching and moaning from all the homework and all the new germs we'll bring home!

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  20. Good luck to Buddy! 6:30am - that's my wake up call too...not looking forward to it...at all!

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  21. Oh when I were a lad, they only thing I HAD to have at primary school were Plimsols. Some soft shoes for gym, oh and some sort of PE kit. Even when I got to "big school" I only have to wear a uniform. The school didn't provide pens and paper but they did provide the workbooks, planners and textbooks :-)

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  22. You are a year ahead of me-- 6:30 seems so early to wake kids up. Good luck with that. I would probably head back to bed after I threw him out the door.

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  23. I love the early morning hours, but it sucks to ruin the quiet with having to haul kids out of bed and hustle them out the door.

    I bet he'll do just fine. He's got a good family and thats the shit right there.

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