One Thing Boylee Did Tell Me

In his class there is a Daniel, and a Danielle. And a Julian, and a Julius. Boylee said, "It gets complicated."

Counting the Minutes

...until Open House tomorrow night. It's KILLING me that I know almost nothing about how Boylee has been spending his days at school. I have barely met the teacher. I have never been inside the classroom. I don't know what they do when they first get there in the morning, nor what time they have recess or lunch, what they are studying right now...the list goes on and on. Boylee is 99% unhelpful on these topics -- other than the fact that he is having fun and enjoying himself, he's quite stingy on the details. I didn't even hear that he'd been Helper of the Day until he mentioned it to another kid's mom the other day!

The NEW New School

Boylee's charter school is in temporary space right now. They will be moving into a fabulous, permanent space soon. Maybe January? Maybe March? Their goal is to be in before the end of this school year so they can get a sense of how the new space works, and iron out any kinks over the summer break.

It's a very interesting space -- from the outside it looks like a normal, dull office park building. But inside...

What Zoe Noticed

Union Picnic!

What I'm Working On

I'm challenging myself to make Boylee a more official kind of pants, from this pattern. These have front pockets, back pockets, and a drawstring and elastic waist. It's pretty much my first time sewing from a commercial pattern. Done so far: traced the pattern, cut my fabric, made the drawstring. Next up: front pockets and their linings.
This pattern goes up to size 8 so if it works, it's definitely worth the cost. Of course I will continue with the quick 'n easy pants that take 15 minutes and no pattern to make.

Test Scores Blah Blah Blah

Test scores for last year have been released, and Boylee's new school gets an 858 out of 1000. For most obsessive L.A. moms I know, 800 is the magic number. I know more than one person who moved to get into a neighborhood with an 800+ school. So I guess it's good news. Blah blah blah. I don't really care about test scores, as long as they're not awful.

(Our last school had been hovering just under 800 for years, but they made an 827.)

This testing starts in 2nd grade, so Boylee didn't contribute to the gains at his old school, nor will he be tested this year.

Met His Teacher Today

She's not 70, but her hair is totally grey now, so she is, in fact, an older lady.

In other news, we found out the $2600 request is specific to this year, and the attempt to get into a great, new, permanent building. And it looks like it's going to happen!

And then we just go back to the garden-variety "Please donate $300 per year" request which is so simple to do.

Lounging in the Windowsill

He Told Me His Teacher Is 70 Years Old!

First Grade!

About That Name

What happened was, I said to Boylee, "Just don't give her a name that's too complicated."

He said, "What's a complicated name?"

I said, "Like Supercalifragalisticexpialidocious. Or Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy."

He came up with Sassafrass and Catnip all by himself. Only then he had some delicious clam chowder at the fair and changed her name to Clammy. I objected to that one, so he changed it to Skittles, because of the cute way she skitters around. Now it seems to be shortened to Skitz.

I thought maybe yesterday at Disneyland he'd come up with a different name, like Mary Poppins or Tinkerbell, but that didn't happen.

I Surprised Boylee With A Trip To Disneyland Yesterday

This was the general reaction.

Susan Orlean Explains My Town

All the blessings and plagues exist side by side in Los Angeles. The twinkling ocean, the looming mountains, the spill of desert, the bounty of vegetation, and the creased and verdant hills are here—and so are the floods and the mudslides and the earthquakes and the wildfires. Southern California seems constantly pitched back and forth between heaven and hell. This week, hell won out.

Boylee Loves To Try On My Glasses

Introducing...

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy Sassafrass Catnip. We're hoping for a name change, but Isaac is in charge of that department.

More About the New School...

I am super-enthusiastic about the new school. I think the staff and the involved parents have tons of energy and have worked incredibly hard to get the place started. (This is only their fourth year.) IF they/we can raise enough money to move in January into the great site they've found, then this place is really going to be very, very wonderful. Currently the site is a tiny, cramped corner of a public elementary school. To put in perspective how small it is -- the school has had to rent a nearby apartment to use as the office. The only space onsite for an office is a tiny trailer about the size of my dining room. And anyone who has seen my dining room knows it's SMALL.

Because it's an incredible hassle having two separate schools on one campus, and the campus itself is old and nothing special, and additionally on a weird block in un-gentrified, decaying Hollywood, there are some logistical issues. One is that there is absolutely, positively no pedestrian access to the school for drop off or pick up. Last year apparently there were some quite serious issues of kids almost being hit by cars, parents getting into battles, etc. This is a difficult one for me, because my darling Boylee has never, ever liked being dropped off at preschool, kindergarten or camp. He doesn't like the whole "we roll up, you hop out" scene. It's just not the way he operates. He likes me to walk him in. He likes to hold hands. He likes lots of kisses and hugs. And i like that he likes all of that! But despite my plea directly to the principal at an orientation meeting this week, we've been told we have to obey the drop off policy.

So Boylee and I walked around the campus and talked it through: here's the driveway where I'll drive in; here's where a teacher will get you out of the car; here's the door that you will walk through; here are the two first grade classrooms (we don't know which is his yet); here is where I will be after school when they bring you to my car.

OY VEY! This is what is making me most tense about the start of the school year.

The New School...

...it's an arts charter, which means that it's still a public school. Albeit a public school that desperately needs money -- they get the same allocation ($35 or $40 per kid on the days that they attend -- no money for a kid who is absent, no matter what the reason) and with that money they have to pay all the stuff that schools usually pay for, like teachers and supplies, but they also have to pay for their site. They're in temporary space now and hoping to move into a great permanent space in January.

To that end, in addition to big fundraising they're trying to do, they're asking for $2600 per family. Ouch.

But the good part about it is the focus on the arts. The California arts standard requires instruction in drama, music, visual arts and dance, over the course of the year. (Last year Boylee did several weeks of dance, followed by several weeks of music, etc.) But this school hits all four parts of the standard every single week. Yay!

Pants Made From Ikea Dishrags (2 @ 49c each)