Overwhelmed

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:47:56 GMT

I have a stack of kid school papers on the table. All of them have come home in the last week except for one, which came home the week before.

All need decisions or feedback or something.

*Girl Scout field trip Feb. 25. (Probable yes, must consult Girl Scout.)
*Scholastic book club order form for Feb. 3 (for K). (Probable recycle.)
*Annual flower sale order form due Feb. 14. (Whoops, no garden, I guess I can recycle that one).
*Primary Choir (K) - rehearses Mondays 8:20-9:05 starting Monday, performs May 8, cost $5. (Probable no.)
*Note from K class parent re: Teacher Appreciation Day Jan. 27, I should send in a school supply from the list by Wednesday. (Whoops, did not purchase today, may skip.)
*Spanish Language school (both kids), meets Tuesdays 8:10-9:05, $120 for 10 weeks, due (whoops) Jan. 16, starts Jan. 31. (I'd actually like the kids to do this, but neither of them wants to.) (This is the form that came last week.)
*Spring soccer (both kids), times & location TBD (could be a problem), $40 per kid + $16 uniform, due Jan. 26. (I thought Dillo was dying to play soccer, but he is not enthusiastic about it, which could be just as well since I think they practice in a place we can't get to except by car, and probably in the 3:30-6 window. Also given the league rules and cutoff date he'd probably be the youngest child on a team of 6-7 year olds (the cutoff is must be 6 by July 31, which he makes by 3 weeks) and he's never played soccer before.)
*Lengthy note from 3rd grade class parents about all events for the rest of the year. (I can't even skim without getting breathless with anxiety.)
*Flier for School Night at local bookstore, Jan. 26, show up in PJs and story time with local author. (Probably skip; we don't get home until 6pm).
*Forms requesting feedback for the principal on how we like our school, what we'd like to see changed, etc. (Maybe skip.)

Last week I recycled forms about spring baseball and softball, roller skating club, and art club (after Casper told me she didn't want to do it - she does not like the art teacher, which is sort of a tragedy.)

I also have notes about conferences for both kids (Feb. 2), a note on the 100th day of school celebration for Dillo (Jan. 25), plus of course homework packets for both kids.

Between this and double fits about homework (one from each child; Dillo finds it boring and too easy and also just likes to be contrary; Casper finds it boring and too hard and also just likes to be melodramatic), I actually thought that homeschooling might not be so bad just now.

Not-school papers that need decisions:
*Cincinnati ballet discount ticket mailing ($20 tickets) for 1pm Feb. 18 child-friendly performance.
*Art Academy Saturday am art class flier for both kids, Feb. 4-March 10, $135 per kid.

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enrichment

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 20:09:33 GMT

Not financial; rather the reverse of financial enrichment.

With Casper about to be 7, I'm thinking about activities. She's asked about dance classes; there are two studios (at least) in town, and they enroll for the school year. Prices are by number of hours a week she attends class, and seem reasonable ($50-100 a month for 1-2 classes a week). There are a few classes on weekends or late enough in the evenings that we could make it work. If she did the classic ballet/tap, we'd have to buy the clothes. There's also a hip-hop class for 5-7 year olds at 6pm one evening that looks cool, though.

I'd really like to get her into a musical instrument, though. I was made to take piano lessons at 6, and hated them, and stubborned my parents into letting me quit within about a month. I also had a slightly longer experience with Suzuki violin at the same age (my main memory being how much it hurt to hold the violin under my chin). I don't think my sister did any instrument, and my brother did trumpet through school for a couple of years and practiced approximately once every 6 months. mr. flea was in the drum corps in school; I'm not sure when he started. But my cousins had music lessons and were pretty serious (my oldest cousin still plays bassoon in an orchestra), and I think a) it's a good skill for a kid, and a kid who is somewhat mathematically-minded and artsy like Casper is likely to have a good experience with music and b) even basic-level lessons as a kid are great if it means you can sit down and play sing-along songs on a piano or guitar for the rest of your life, right? I sort of regret not having that skill, myself.

The Uggaversity has a community music school; they have a piano program for kids that starts at 5 and they have violin and cello starting at 4. It's $800 for the year, payable in installments, with one 30-minute private lesson and one 45-minute group lesson a week. The group lesson is held ebtween 4-6pm on Thursdays, which is kind of a problem, potentially, and I can't find anything on the web site about scheduling the private lesson (maybe more flexible?) The big deal here is, of course, the need for a piano. You can use a keyboard, but it has to be a fancy one, or of course we could obtain an actual piano. Either of these has the potential to be quite a bit costlier than a leotard and ballet slippers.

I dunno, and I should totally be worried about Dillo's birthday, in 10 days and completely unplanned, and not wasting brain cells on this, when sign-ups don't close for another month.

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