Middle School Madness

No rest for the weary. Who wanted to know why I stayed up 'til midnight doing laundry the other night? Last night was open house at the middle school...until 9:15. Son #2 is the polar opposite of Son #1...primal, boisterous, excitable, easy going about academics. Most of his teachers are the same ones his brother had in the seventh grade. Lots of fun last night.

• Math. I called the teacher a sucker because he was unlucky enough to get my second child too. His reaction: "Are there any more?" Heh heh.
• Health. Teacher throws a Nerf ball around the classroom to keep the kids alert and focused. Good thing it's Nerf. A few kids have already been hit in the head.
• Science. Growing radish seeds in Petri dishes. Excellent.
• Chorus. Kids have to dress in white and black for concerts. Teacher has a stash of her husband's nerdy ties in the closet in case the boys show up without a tie on concert night (kind of guaranteeing that no one will ever forget a second time).
• Band. Young, bubbly, gorgeous new symphonic band director. 148 kids in the band this year. 24 more rehearsals to go 'til the winter concert. Let's see how young and bubbly she appears to be come January.
• English. Teacher has aged, and mellowed, since we had her two years ago...the mellowing part could be due to the fact that Son #2 is not in the honors program so the teacher just couldn't care less. We hated her two years ago, and Son #2 loves her. Son #1's comments about this are not fit for polite society.
• Art. Another repeat teacher, lots of enthusiasm and passion, describes herself (and the rest of the art department) as crazy. Cheerful kind of crazy, which is OK in my book. Had the parents do an ambidextrous writing experiment. Good to know I still suck at writing lefty.
• French. Madame seems the same as she was two years ago. Bon soir et bienvenue! Spent the majority of her time talking about where in the world one can use an education in French, including her own daughter's employment with an international finance outfit in Manhattan. Et bien, c'est la guerre.
• History. Completely blown away by the teacher's quirky yet engaging personality, and mystified by his looks. Young guy. Body looks like a Weeble. Elvis sideburns. Bowtie (the old fashioned kind that you actually have to tie, none of this clip on nonsense). Mondays don't have enough going for them, so he does Bowtie Mondays. He has the entire school year's assignments and curriculum on his web site already. Loves his job to the point of obsession. The classroom seemed like the set of a reality show.

I had to give my son the lowdown on what we did in "class" and what I thought of his teachers when I got home. He was amused and pleased that I immersed myself in the experience. Hey, why not? It was only for an evening. He has to do this until the end of June. But he's smiling!