August 18, 2008

It was the first day of class for my students. So far only 10 of my students have shown up for school. I have 18 students on my list. It was a long day. The beginning of school is always so chaotic and long because you have to start all the training all over again. I prefer the routine of the middle of the year much more to the struggle of getting procedures and routines established. But, it's exciting to be able to just start new each year, too.

Last Friday Michaela came home from school with her packet for SOAR. It included the bus schedule for SOAR. Michaela was not on it. This is not a surprise because last year Michaela did not ride the bus to SOAR. My mom took her. Well, my mom has to be at work a lot earlier on Mondays, which is when 4th grade goes to SOAR. So, she can't take Michaela.

I have both Michaela and Caleb to think about getting to school since I'm the one taking them this year. It is impossible for me to get Caleb to school, take Michaela across town in the opposite direction from my work and drop her off and still get to work on time myself. So, I called and asked about getting her on the bus schedule, thinking they would pick her up at her home school.

She and Anikca are the only two who go to SOAR from her school on Mondays. Anikca is picked up by the bus at her grandmother's house which is a few miles in the opposite direction of both schools. There is also a major road construction going on between our house and there on our Elm Street.

Well, the first thing they asked me is if I could take Michaela to Anikca's house and let her be dropped of there. This is after I told them that I still have to get my son to their school, too. The bus driver doesn't want to drive through the construction on Elm. Well, I don't want to drive through it either and I'd still have to get my son to school and get to work on time. This would mean leaving home, driving about 4 miles in the opposite direction I need to go, taking a detour that would add another 3 miles to the trip back to our home school and then trying to get to work in about 45 minutes time. It takes me 30 minutes to get to work from town when there's no traffic problems.

Then she was asking if we were close to Elm. At first I thought she wanted me to leave my daughter on a street corner. Um, not going to happen. But, no she wanted me to take my daughter to the house of a child from another school. A child Michaela does not know and parents I do not know. yeah, what century are you living in. Try again.

Then I got a message saying that they would just pick Michaela up here at home. But, it was going to be at 6:50 in the morning. The means she'd have been riding around town on that bus for 65 minutes. I was willing to accept that as it was only one day, but I wasn't happy about it. Michaela was going to deal with it because it meant she could read.

Finally, they called back and said they were able to move some other things around and that Michaela will be picked up at our house at 7:10 am. That means Caleb and I can leave on time and Michaela is able to go to SOAR on the bus without being on the bus for over an hour. So, at least it's been solved.