Clean Sweep!

The New York City high school application process is fraught with stress.

First there are months of test preparation for those who want to try for the prestigious specialized high schools. (Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech and their newer, smaller, somewhat lesser brethren.)

Then you have to take the test.

Weeks of tours and open houses follow. You wait on long lines in the cold and sit in hot, overcrowded classrooms rooms, trying to catch the flavor of the schools. Interviews, in-house tests and auditions stretch over months and, finally, the students and their parents spend hours putting the contenders into just the right order on the application.

Finally, just as one has almost forgotten the pain of the process, comes the count down to The Day.

The Day is differs, depending on whether one applied to a specialized school or not. For those who took the test and, or auditioned for LaGuardia High School of the Arts (Performing Arts of Fame! fame), The Day is today. For everyone else ... it's another month or so away.

And so, it is with a mother's deepest pride that I must present for your admiration, Little Squid.

Class of 2015 -- either LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts (accepted in both vocal and instrumental studios), Stuyvesant High School (alma mater of Mama Squid, Papa Squid and all sorts of Squid aunts and uncles and, current home school of Squidette) or Eleanor Roosevelt High School.

Way to go kid!

Pie ... followup

The pie was a big success. The kids were surprised that I actually brought in pie. I think, however, that it was not a huge hit for the young person who had never had pie before. It was far too sweet.

I did make sure that he knew that not all pies were quiet as sweet as these were.

They might even be disappointed that I am not their computer lab supervisor for next semester.

Classes end for the term on Monday and State exams start on Tuesday. I have lots and lots of student programming to do, much of it dependent on the outcome of next Friday's exam. This means that most of what I do from now until the 31st is a guess and a prayer and it also means that I'm practically sleeping in school on the 31st because the new term officially starts the next day and the kids need their programs. Sigh.

I think I'm going to do some knitting ...

Pie!

Tomorrow is not pi day but rather the next to last day of the term. And I have pie. 2 of them, actually. Why? Because a couple of students in my class let it be known that they'd never eaten pie. Since part my job as an educator is to expand my students' horizons and provide them with new experiences, I bought pie.

No, I did not bake, nor did I make Mike or Squidette bake. Instead I am providing pie a la Costco. (And not a la mode -- no way to store ice cream.)

(No, I am not actually teaching this term. Rather, I have two computer lab sections that alternate with each other. Monday's section is getting cookies. The pies won't last over the weekend and I am not making a second trip to Costco.)

Oh, and I fixed my son's oboe.

Super Mommy strikes again!

(No more finished socks, I've been side-lined by a bug and by Squidette's new scarf.)

Just a few more days ...

Summer is over and in a few more days I will have just one more year of being a mother of a pre-teen. Pretty scary. I mean, where did the time go? I swear it was just yesterday that I was holding him and thinking about the true meaning of window-guards. [It was 3 a.m. As an infant, Little Squid was NOT a good sleeper.]

Fortunately, little ones are made cute for a reason -- so that their parents don't kill them in infancy -- and he survived. And in a few short days, he'll be 12.

On Wednesday he goes back to school. For the first time he will be totally responsible for getting himself to and from school. No more big sister to lean on. And no more mom to come running at a moments notice when he gets a mid-morning migraine. He'll have to wait until 11:00 (by which time the migraine may have gone away). I'll be teaching.

Yup. I'm returning to the classroom on Wednesday morning. It's not a new job, just a part time return to my roots. The rest of the day I will still be an Assistant Principal. Actually, I'll be one all day, just one who teaches. I'm nervous and excited. It's been far too long since I had my own class and I miss it. I just hope I have not lost my touch. I'm starting with the egg-in-a-bottle "trick." Wish me luck!

2013

First there was Zedda Squid, Bronx High School of Science, Class of 1955.

Then there was Aunt Squid the Eldest, Hunter College High School, Class of 1980.

Then there were Mama and Papa Squid, Stuyvesant High School, Class of 1984.

Sibling followed sibling ...
Uncle Squid the Elder, Stuyvesant 1987
Uncle Squid the Next, Stuyvesant 1989
Uncle Squid the Third, Hunter 2000
Aunt Squid the Younger, Stuyvesant 2005

and now ...

presenting ...

for the Stuyvesant High School Class of 2013 ...


SQUIDETTE!!!


(She also made it into LaGuardia!!!)

The Next Generation ...

"I have five pencils and two erasers. Is that enough?"

"Add a couple of pens."

"We're not allowed to use pens."

"Add a couple of pens."

"We're not allowed to use pens."

"Add a couple of pens."

Yup. She's nervous. If you are feeling generous, send lots of warm thoughts to all of the young people who will be standing outside in the cold and damp waiting to take the SHSAT today. Over the next few weekends, close to 40,000 8th graders will test for roughly 4,000 spots. Gulp!

That's what Squidette is up to today, accompanied by Papa Squid.

Little Squid and I are heading up to my school where he will audition for the borough-wide band (really just for his placement, he's guaranteed a spot) and I will clean a book room and my office.

Off to start the day!

Holiday?

Today is a day off for all Squid -- as well as all teachers and students in NYC. Much of the rest of the adult population, however, is working and scrambling for childcare. Don't hate us. Please!

Personally, I hate Election Day and feel that the rest of the NYC parent population should feel the same. It is like Columbus Day, in that most people work but the kids have off from school but with one major difference. The teachers are also working. Adding their kids to the mix of childcareless kids. And taking a day off on a staff development day is viewed poorly by the administration. Even when the administration has the same problem.

Blah!