Strap on Your Rollerskates; It's Back To School

The school supplies have been bought.  Backpack has been filled (and it bulges with all the supplies and weighs down even the strongest of men).  Old clothes that no longer fit have been passed on to my local thrift shop.  New clothes have been purchased and tried on.  Lunches have been made and money put into the cafeteria fund.  It's back to school.

Back to school means back to the early morning hustle.  No longer are my mornings my own.  (In the summer, I am the only one in the family that HAS to get up and be somewhere at a certain time.)  Now it's shared bathroom time.  Its packing lunches (that are prepared the day before).  It's making sure everything that is needed for the day is in my son's backpack, as well as my own.  (Hey, a mom's got to have her supplies too!)  Breakfast for the boy and coffee for me. (I'll finish the coffee and have something to eat once I get to the office.  By then I will have been up for at least 3 hours so I'll be hungry.) Into the car to take the boy (and various friends depending on the day) to school so that he can be there by 7:35 for his 7:45 "period 0" class.  (Music classes that are scheduled 45 minutes BEFORE the school day officially begins. One day a week (or two days every OTHER week), we both get a little more time because he does not have to be to school until "regular" time.  The extra time is great for him, but means I'll be caught in more traffic.  No matter how you slice it, you can't really win.

Both the boy and I are rushing around in the morning.  However, my day slows down when I get to the office.  I sit at a desk for most of the day.  The same cannot be said for my son.  He really needs roller-skates this year as unlike previous years, his classes/classrooms are all over the place. The middle school tries to segregate the younger kids (5th and 6th) from the older (7th and 8th).  I *thought* that meant that he would be having most of his classes in the "older" section of the school (which was originally the town high school).  I think he was expecting the same.  WRONG!

He starts his day at his locker, which is close to the cafeteria and is almost as far away as you can possibly get from his homeroom and first period class, which is in the "newer" part of the school.  (As a matter of fact, his homeroom this year is next door to his homeroom last year...so much for segregation!).  But then his second period class is in the older part of the school; his third period class back in the "new" part and his fourth period class back in the old (and his actually held in the same room as his second period class).  After that, he has lunch.  His fourth period classroom and his locker are both close to the cafeteria, so maybe he has some time to breathe here.

But then after lunch he has gym; which is on the opposite side of the school.  Then it's back to the other side of the school for period seven.  And then once more back to the other side for his final class of the day. That is at least for the first marking period.  The final class of the day is a "cycle class."  He has a different class each quarter.  First marking period the class is in his homeroom.  The second, third and fourth quarter his classes are actually in the main building.  (You know the building where we *thought* he was going to spend most of his time.)

When his school day is over, he can go back to his locker, load up his backpack and make the long trek home. It's approximately a mile away and uphill.  It's a steep hill...trust me! (https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2017/08/walking-my-town.html)  If he's lucky a friend's parent might offer him a ride.  If not...well on those days where he has to walk with his backpack AND trumpet...you have to feel for the kid.  Is it any wonder when he gets home he wants to gobble down milk and cookies?

He may not be into sports, but he's certainly getting his exercise just by going to school.  Maybe I should get him to wear a pedometer during the day; he's certain on the go!  Who knows how many steps/miles he'd log during the day!  And if it were allowed (and there weren't so many stairs), I WOULD get him roller-skates.  Whizzing from class to class.  He certainly would get to them faster and would be stressing out less over being late.  Plus, it would make a heck of a sight, now wouldn't it?