Day Twelve: Routine? What Routine?

Since this week is the first week of school, I know from experience that it's a lot of work to get myself and my students into a good routine. 

So this morning I woke up at my "normal" time of about 6:00 and got Hannah up shortly after that. We have talked about who will do what each morning and because oatmeal was on the breakfast menu, that was my job to do. However, I also needed to print some things for my little guys.  My computer and printer were not cooperating. By 7:30 I was almost in a panic because I wasn't done and definitely wasn't ready to go. Plus that, I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself to be at school an hour before it starts.

In any case, we were flying out of the house shortly after 7:30 and arrived at school in plenty of time, even though I was frazzled.

Our Wednesday schedule at school is just about the same as the Monday schedule, which is very nice. I like to be scheduled and I like routine in certain areas of my life...like school. In years past my classroom schedule was the same every day, with some variation on Friday. Even when birthday celebrations occurred they could always be counted on to begin at 3:15. With the schedule here, though, every day is different, so I'm going to guess it will take me until about April to get it down. And unfortunately I think the students somehow sense that and take full advantage of it.

This morning, my little guys, I'm convinced, were already exhausted from their first two days of school. So they swung between being hyped up to having their heads dragging on their desks. In addition, they didn't seem to understand one word of English. I have the feeling that this morning's class may end up on some tv show and I'm going to be a laughing stock! There were seven kids in there and all but one were going in different directions. It was something to behold.

We muddled through, though, and I even think the kids learned something (besides how to torture their teacher), and we made it one step closer to having classroom routines. I think I passed whatever test I was being given, too, because the rest of the day went very smoothly. The kids remembered the music I'd taught them and one group sounded especially good. I was very proud of them.

After school when Hannah walked down to my room, the first thing out of her mouth was that she was wanted on both "teams" when they were competing for knowing the state capitals! She was so pleased with her prowess and the popularity it brought! I'm thankful for her fifth and sixth grade teachers who made that a priority for her to learn! Thanks Mrs. A and Mrs. S!!!

When Abbie was leaving she mentioned that she needed to make a run to the post office, so Hannah grabbed a ride with her so I could continue working. When she came back it was like Christmas!! Only maybe better! Three boxes arrived! One of them was my phone from Stan (my phone is now working, but I've lost all my contacts) and the other two were filled with supplies for school!!! THANK YOU!!! You know who you are. Hannah didn't quite know what to do when I opened them and started crying.  The scissors, the markers!, the colored pencils, the glue, staplers, staples (I haven't been able to staple anything until today because the stapler kept getting jammed from the yucky staples) the boxes of crayons with 24 colors, the Post-Its (our school has none of those) and the ream of notebook paper (our school has no paper either) are ALL so wonderful. I am completely overwhelmed and excited to show them to the kids tomorrow morning! 

I carefully sorted and put away the precious items for safe-keeping, and Hannah and I came home to fix our Wednesday evening spaghetti supper after our Skype with Stan. Since my phone came in I thought I would quickly get it activated and we'd have a quiet and early evening again. Three and a half hours and who knows how many customer assistants later my phone is now working! Yay!!

Today I realized again that there are many valuable life lessons we will gain from this experience. To be so very thankful for notebook paper is something I've never felt before. To have a good reminder of  how important it is to do the daily grind together, having conversation and modeling how life should work for my daughter was truly a blessing. 

Thank you, God, for today's craziness, for the wonderful gifts from people who care, and for important reminders. Your love was displayed in all those things.