School time

As many of you know, I am going to school online. I have just completed my second class and am now waiting for my final grade. I am so happy to be going to school right now. It’s a bit of a strain on my life, going to school, working and trying to have a personal life, but if this is what I really want then I have to work for it, right?

I turned in my final paper for my Psychology class on Monday, pretty early in the evening for me, and then got comments back on it the next day. I was so happy. The only problem is that, when I was taking my English Proficiency test I did really bad, both times that I took it. It was just bad timing for me. I took the test, the first time, when Halley was having surgery and then finding out about her cancer, so my mind wasn’t really on schoolwork. Which is understandable considering the situation. It’s been just about a month since I went back to California for a funeral and then I have to read Death, Dying, and Bereavement chapter in the book. It was just a bit a much emotionally for me.

But it looks like I should be getting at least a solid B for that class. Now I am onto English and I am hoping that my writing gets better and easier to understand, LOL. Well I am off to bed. It’s late…….and I have school tomorrow.

Do a little dance

As the song goes “do a little dance, get down tonight, uh, get down tonight”. (I have to find the link for that song). I got a new student today. My first new student in months, well weeks really but you know what I mean. It’s April and the school year is almost over and I haven’t had a new student since K started in the middle of Feb. I was starting to worry about having students for the day but I think this is the pick me up that I needed. Now I just have to work on the dance classes. I have one student in the afternoon that is taking the class; the others are my younger students that are just here all day. I think what I’m going to have to do is when the new school year starts tell parents up front that if their child is here for the afternoon that they will be charged the rates for the dance classes. Some of them will pull theirs kids out but that’s fine that means that the kids that are still here will paying for that time.

As it is now I was told by one parent, I was a little harsh when it came to the letter about the food. There are foods that are just not good for kids, like sugary foods, so the letter said that those foods will be sent home or thrown away (depending on my mood I guess) but I feel that if they are going to ignore the letter that I send home saying that these foods are not acceptable then they are the ones wasting their money. Yes it is a bit of a scare tactic but it has to be done. It’s not just as a teacher that I say this but also as a parent. I know how my kid gets when she eats sugary foods and I wouldn’t want anyone else to have to spend the day with that so why would I send her to school with that?

So with my new student today I had 5 kids this morning and, as usual, that’s about what I have on a Thursday. Tomorrow I might have one more but that’s the norm. The end of the week is always a little busier then the beginning. I am going to have to put an ad in the paper or something to get another person in here. It’s not that 5 kids is a lot to handle but when we are outside and I have one little one, that 5 becomes a little much.

Party on baby!

The party was a success!! I was so happy with the way the party came out for school. Every time I have a party I’m nervous about how it will work. Whether the kids will like what I have planned, if the projects I want to do will work, whether or not there will be enough kids, that kind of thing. For Easter the party I had planned was a “Bunny” party. We would do lots of bunny themed projects; eat like a bunny and my rabbit Max would come down for the day. Well the bunny projects I had didn’t quite pan out like I was hoping (there was one from Ramblings that I really wanted to try but couldn’t find a picture that worked) but the other projects that I had worked out great. The flowers took a little longer to make then I thought but then again you can’t rush the painters, lol. The gardening we did that day was fine and the movie was prefect “Max and Ruby: Summertime with Max and Ruby”. How fitting right? I thought so.

I’m hoping that the little bit of a party that I have planned for Earth Day, going to the park we usually play, to pick up garbage goes well. We seem to play at he same area all the time and they keep bringing me garbage anyways so we might as well clean the area, right? I know some of the parents, well actually one parent, made a comment to me about cleaning a place that has broken glass and whatnot in it but at the same time do they want us to just leave it and let the kids play there anyway? I would much rather that Savie bring it to me, with gloves on of course, then play around it and get hurt by it. I’ve taken to taking a garbage bag with us on walks anyways because we are always finding garbage when we go out. Plus it will get them in the train of thought for that Sat.’s Farmer Market. They are suppose to be having a big Earth Day party with recycling of clothes, a May Pole and other projects. I can’t wait.

Remarkable parenting

The things you think of sometimes. Savie is such a loving child even with the change in our lives with me working 5 days a week and working such long hours she has been really good about it. I feel for her I really do. I understand that she is going for long days and not getting the time with mommy that she wants but she also gets to spend the evening with daddy, and then most of Sat with him.

Lately she has taken to running up to us and say “I love you” and then running off. Its so cute when she does it, lol. Well I was looking at this post over at Cool Moms Care and it reminded me of something that happened that happened today.

I was outside the studio doing something, I don’t have a clue right now what, and came back in. One of my moms and her daughter, who I will tell you about later, were there. As soon as I walked in the door, Savie came running over to me and said “mommy, I love you”, hugged my leg and ran away. The mom, standing next me, said “I wish my daughter did that”.

Does that make a remarkable parent?

Not what I planned

I have been a little distracted with the move and trying to figure out what I what changed at the studio that I completely forgot that this Monday is Chinese  New Year. I have to thing of something quick for the kids to make tomorrow. And something that we have. Not quite a great start to school right?

I am so ready for the weekend, much like the song. I don’t want to get up in the morning, at 5:30, to be there by 7:30. I have one kid who will be there at  7:30 for sure but the rest will be there after that. I just need to make sure to get myself out of the door by 7:20. That will be the hard part.

Parent/Teacher Issues

I had a small problem with one of the parents here. They pulled their daughter from school because of concerns about a teacher I have coming in to help me teach the adult class. The key word here is ADULT CLASS.

I got a phone call from a father of one of my students saying that they were pulling their daughter out of school until there was a little more information on my adult teacher. Apparently at his church they had just had seminars and classes on the whole sexual predator thing. Which in my opinion is a good thing. In this day and age everyone needs to be aware of what is going on around them. I have no problem with that. My problem is with him trying to tell me what I need to do with my adult class.

I told him that we could sit and talk about it one day after school and he could explain to me what the problem was. When he explained to me on the phone it came out as him being homophobic which in my opinion is not right. I am not homophobic and could really care less what they do on their time. Well I was caught between a rock and a hard place. I knew that this teacher S would not be a problem with the kids because he gets here just as the children’s class is ending and there is some time between the two of them. And he always asks me, when are the kids gone? I mean as soon as I am done with their class he wants to know when they are leaving. LOL.

Well S talked to S2 about S3 and it turns out that the other thing is that S2 was a little upset about S leaving so soon. Even though she had been telling everyone that she was going to move I guess no one took it seriously. Even for the past 2, maybe 3 weeks, she’s been packing and putting them up front. How can you not know that someone is going to leave when they do all of that. I don’t get it, how do you not know what it going on. A lot of the boxes were up front by the front door.

So now things should be ok and the daughter should be here on Tues like always but there are other issues that I have to work out with all of the parents.

TGIF

It takes on a whole new meaning for me this week. I have always been happy for a Friday especially when I was working nights. This is the end of the first full week and I am soooo ready to get a good nights sleep and not have to rush to get up in the morning. And I also won’t have to deal with all of her stuff being out in the middle of the floor. It’s not that I want her out of here or anything but it’s the boxes and boxes of stuff out in the middle of the floor, staring at me, silently getting in the way. And every day it’s a little bit more. every morning I have gotten up around 5:30 a and then Mon thru thurs I wasn’t getting home until after 7 at night because I had a class every now. I’m not as sore I was when we started last week so at least now I know that things are getting a little bit better. Most days I feel so scattered brain that I don’t know what I want to do or need the kids to do at any given time. I am trying to do four things at the same time. I am trying o teach, figure out what I need to do for the kids ballet and also the acro/aerial class, then over moves in my head about the modern movements for class and try to plan for how much space I will have when all of the stuff is out of here. . Will it get easier? I hope so. It’s a matter of getting things started and focusing on one thing at a time. I have a lot of plans for the space but it’s a question of whether or not I can get it done and if hubby will help me with the move. I would think that he would since it would get a lot of stuff out of the house. I’ve also been trying to figure out what things I will need for the studio. There is the basic stuff like garbage bags, window cleaner, and toilet paper but then there are also other things like a couch for the kids to play on for circle time and movie time, a couple of rugs to lay on, curtains to hang up on the window, stuff like that. It will be easier to see what I need, once again, to have her stuff out of the way.

What a start

This is not the way I wanted to start my year. I have the school now, technically since the first of the year, but it will officially be mine after the 17th when she has all of her stuff moved out. Things are not going well so far.

I looked over the books and, even thouh Ihave been doing them since I started working here I didn’t really know just how much was owed her. Now that I have done them I can see that there is over $1,000. 00 due her from outstanding debts!!!!!! One of the parents I know will not be paying up anytime soon and now just got a 90 day notice from their work!!!!!!! Great! I mean I feel bad that this is happening to them but it also effects me pretty bad as well.

And now one of my students, even though they are only here 3 days a week, won’t be coming until I get some other stuff taken care of with my new teacher. I can’t say that I was surprised by it but for all important reasons it shouldn’t be a problem since their paths shouldn’t cross if they were picked up on time.

I want need the kids to be out of here by 5 every night not just when I have class but also for myself. I would like to get home at a decent hour and be able to spend some time with my husband, you know? But now this has come up and there are problems. But like I said it’s not really a problem, just puts a snag in my plans.

Oh well things will change. Right?

SHHHH!!!!

Don’t tell anyone but I’m on the computer when I’m suppose to be playing with the kids. Shhh!