Friday, January 19, 2007

One Week Down...


…..42 more to go, of school that is! Skyler and Blake just completed their first full week of school. Sky started grade 2 and Blake is in grade 00 ('double not'…zero is pronounced ‘not’ here) or the equivalent to Pre K-4. Blake’s transition meant moving to Skyler’s school and going everyday which he was quite excited about.
So essentially I am back to being “transport mom”. Amazing that my kids are only 7 and 4 with limited extracurricular activities yet I seem to spend much of my day in the car.

Back to school, as in entry into a new year, was always exciting for me as a kid. I loved buying and organizing all the brand new school supplies for the first day of school. As an adult I don’t find as much joy in it as I did as a kid. Perhaps because here you don’t just buy the basic markers, paper, pencils, etc you buy everything from the basics to writing tablets, textbooks and storage containers. Can you say ‘chaching’? And of course it is British-English so an interpreter must accompany you to the store.
Students must also label everything. Again not just the surname on the entire package of markers as that would be too easy! Every single marker, pencil, crayon, etc is labeled individually. Can you say ‘ridiculous’? Fortunately my husband’s brilliance saved me a few hours work. He printed Skyler’s name real small on mailing labels so I just cut and stuck. It still was a pain in the behind!

One of the most interesting things that came up with regard to school supplies happened last year. Skyler came home from school and said, “Mommy, you need to buy me rubbers for school!” Yea- I had the same reaction. Well actually I am curious to hear your reaction! What would be your response if you’re 7 year old asked you this?

8 comments:

Karenkool said...

My first thought would be to myself, inside my head "I do not think that words means what I think it means." Then I'd ask him what a rubber is... hoping, in faith that it's an eraser or something. And seeing rae's comment above (she gave it all away) I think I'm right.

Anonymous said...

First I would be glad it was my daughter asking and not a son, haha! My suspision was erasers before reading the BIG give away. You must have a few of those laughs along the way. Even as our kids grew up they got a few words confused and we found ourselves having a private laugh at their expense only to tell them about it years later :)

Anonymous said...

I'm going to choose to believe that rubbers are either erasers, like Rachel said, or galoshes...

How funny!!

Beth said...

I thought she needed boots. Rae’s comment makes more sense though. :)
z

michelle said...

When I asked Skyler what she was referring to she said, "You know the thing you use to 'rub out' the pencil marks when you make a mistake." So yes, it is in fact an eraser....and we decided we would keep with the 'American' way of saying it. :-)

Gayla said...

AAAAAHHH the British English. Mick, too, calls them rubbers. As much as I ask him not to- you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Luckily Skyer and the rest of your brood have you and Rich there to help them. I think it's too late for my husband.

(but it would have been much funnier to hear other comments if it hadn't been given away on the first one!!!)

Sohailah said...

ERASORS! Only because my mom grew up in British boarding schools

Anonymous said...

Michelle,
Thought you were old enough to remember "rubbers" goulashes or boots as you would call them. Rubbers were short ones that slipped over the shoes - right?
They were kind of passe when you were growing up - more in our times. Let me know if I'm rigt.
Marking all the school items - wow- bet that took a long time.
Mom