School Days--Paul

 School Days is a reoccurring feature in which I ask people about their early memories of school. Everyone has a story to tell about this and I hope to give them a voice here. 

Here is Today's Story

Paul started kindergarten at age five at a Catholic school in Maine during the early 1960's.

Tell me about starting school or an early school memory.

 I went to St. Louis school for kindergarten and first grade. The neighborhood was mostly French Canadians and most of us spoke some French at home. The nuns instructed us in English, but we usually spoke in French on the playground. Norman was my best friend and we talked in French at recess.

During my first year of school, I had a lot of stomachaches and stayed home a lot. I'm not sure why, but it could have been because there was a big bully on the playground. He was big and chubby although I think he was only a first grader. He lived next to Norman. Also, there was a big picture in the hallway of the devil that freaked me out. The devil was black and charred with big white eyes. I looked away every time I passed.

We had to walk to school but it wasn't too far—maybe about two tenths of a mile. There was a puddle on the way home that had water in it from rain or snow melt. I always walked through it. It was deep enough that is would go over my goulashes and get my feet wet. That really exasperated my mother, but she always had a huge glass of milk and a chocolate chip cookie from the local bakery waiting for me when I got home. That cookie was really good.

I don't remember much about what I learned. I do remember that we had to practice a lot of writing and there was a match game that I really liked. Instead of Dick and Jane readers, we had readers that featured John, Jean, and Judy. When I moved to Sacred Heart for second grade, I was very worried that I would not have my John, Jean, and Judy books. They had the same books and I was happy.

In first grade, we had a long term sub that was very strict. One day I was asked to recite an answer and I didn't know it. The teacher put her hands around my neck and shoulders and shook me and said “Petit Paul doesn't know the answer.” I went home and told my mother that my teacher tried to choke me, but she didn't believe me.

Thanks for your stories.

Candy

Thanks to Theodore, we're still enjoying Easter Candy.

Food Waste Friday--April 20, 2012

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. 

Here it goes for this week.

No waste for us this week, so I am going to talk about my cats and their food waste.

There is no cat food waste this week either or ever for that matter. I have four cats and they live to sleep, watch squirrels, and eat and eat and eat. Did I mention they like to eat? These are not cats that you can leave food out for and they will only eat when they are hungry. No, with these cats it's gobble, gobble, gobble until it's gone. I think because there are four of them, they consider eating a competitive sport. And this competition leads to no waste and fat cats.

Our Cats and Their Favorite Activities

Sleeping

Watching squirrels

Sneaking food

Begging for food

Eating

and Competitive Eating

Want to learn more about our cat herd?
Lucy-A Day in the Life of Lucy
Annie- No Lesson Learned
Leo-Meet Leo
Lucky-Meet Lucky

Second Look--April 18, 2012

Wow, it was exactly one year ago today that I did the post that started my Second Look series.Who knew that I would only miss one week out of the entire year documenting things I found in the yard? I wasn't sure when I started that I would keep it up after the bright flowers stopped blooming, but each week there was a discovery that kept me going back. (Although on some of those cold and gloomy days, it took a lot of motivation to get up and out.) After a year, I thought it was good time to start something else in place of a Second Look. However, yesterday I found cherry trees blooming (more about them next week) that I don't remember seeing before and I was very excited. So for now, the Second Looks will continue because I keep finding things that make me smile.

______________________________________________________________________________

A second look at the first Second Look

April 18, 2011

  

Spring has sprung!  The flowers are emerging from the ground. The pollen is dropping from trees. Plentiful April showers are determined to bring May flowers.

Spring was an enchanted time for my children when we first moved to the four season climate that we live in now. Up until this point in their lives, they had lived along the Gulf Coast where the seasons were marked by whether or not you wore a light jacket or were drenched in sweat. The emerging of the crocus, the blooming of the daffodils, and the sprouting of new green leaves were things they had never seen before.  When they came home from school, they would call me out into the yard and we would go on a treasure hunt to find what new flowers were blooming. It was an exciting time for all as we got to know our new surroundings. This excitement lasted all summer that first year. 

Then as time wore on and the weeds seemed to be encroaching menacingly on our beautiful flowers, our emphasis changed. We began to notice the weeds more than the flowers. The kids got more interested in video games than plants and the names that I taught them of the colorful blooming flora in the beginning became the yellow one and the purple one. In other words, our enchantment was gone. Spring moved into the background as all things seem to do after awhile.

Then this Spring, we had a taste of that excitement again. While cutting daffodils to bring inside, we discovered that instead of just some white ones and some yellow ones, we actually had 6 different varieties. Who knew? With the second look at the daffodils, we noticed other things growing around them. We noticed which ones bloomed early and which ones were just budding. We noticed which plants the deer had been nibbling on. We noticed the birds. Wow! There's a lot of activity going on outside this time of year if you take time to notice.

It may not last long, but for just a little while we were all like the young kids my sons were that first year. I hope we can remember to take a second look at things around us then and again.Who knows what we'll find?

School Days-- Ponderings from Theodore

School Days is a reoccurring feature in which I ask people about their early memories of school. Everyone has a story to tell about this and I hope to give them a voice here. 

Here is Today's Story

Theodore started first grade in Houston, TX,  at age six.

Below is a series of conversations I had with Theodore during his first couple of months of first grade. I wrote these exchanges down after we had them, so they are fairly accurate as to what actually took place.  As you will see, he was not too thrilled about going to school in the beginning.

September 15

Theo, how was school today?

Fine, but I didn't learn anything. I never learn anything at school.

But Theo, look how much better you can use scissors than when you first started school. 

No, Mama, what I mean is that I never learn anything I NEED to know.

Late September

Theo, you have to go to school.

I'm not going. I never learn anything.

Maybe you already know how to read and write, but you are learning other things like how to walk in a line and behave in a group.

Mid October

I'm not going to school. It's a waste of my time.

Theo, you have to go. It's the law. Daddy and I will get arrested if you don't go.

October 25    The tide starts to turn.

I don't think I learn anything at school but I must be learning something. I'm just not aware of it while it's happening. 

October 28    Finally, it all makes since to him.

Mama, I know why I'm not learning things at school. You learn "things" in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. You don't learn "things" in first grade. First grade is for learning how teachers teach. And that is different than the way you and Daddy teach me. 

After Theo had figured out the reason for first grade to his own satisfaction, he went to school willingly.