Sunday, August 17, 2008

Dreading the coming school year

For the coming year, we decided to put Nea in special ed and in Boo’s old preschool. So, one is 4 afternoons a week. The other is 3 mornings a week. She will only have 2 long days, and I’ve got someone lined up to take her from one school, sling a lunch into her, and bring her to the other school. This helps with my work schedule. More on that later.

Boo will be going to full-day kindergarten. Not at the school where Nea has spec ed, which is in our district, but at a different school. Her school lets out 15 minutes after Nea’s afternoon class, which would be fine, except Nea’s bus generally drops her off about 15 minutes after her school ends. Can you pinpoint the problem? Yeah, me too.

So, all of this means that after nearly 6 happy years with a work schedule of 2 long days (10 hours) plus a stray 4 hours on other days, for a total of 24 hours a week, I am now moving to 4 shortened days (roughly 8:30 to 3:00 Monday-Thursday). Which just seems like more work, although the actual number of hours is the same. The plus side is that my mom can work less hours doing child care here. The negative of that is I’m going to have to start pulling my weight speaking German to the kids, who will see a lot less Oma during the school year.

Added on the madness is having to pack Boo’s lunch every day. I don’t know why I’m all freaked out by this, but I am.

Naturally all of this only works when I’m working from home. Twice a month I go downtown. Then the whole carefully constructed house of cards will fall. I assume I’ll be carpooling with another mom, which will make everything easier. Probably. But although we have talked about it, it doesn’t feel that official.

I’ve already screwed up once, and school hasn’t started yet. I turned in Nea’s physical form to the wrong school.

Gee, I just don’t know where the insomnia comes from.

4 comments:

arlopop said...

That schedule sounds from hell. My sympathies and hopes that it works out.

Anonymous said...

I think you need to hire a personal assistant. Maybe you could get a grant to pay for her/him. Or go on strike.
On a practical note, it helps to make the lunch at the same time you're making dinner. Also, convince your kid to want the same exact lunch every day. (Around here it's sandwich, Fig Newmans, apple pieces. Voila.)
I am virtually patting you on the back.

Baywatch said...

have you looked into the possibility of work-study programs in your area? you know, coal mine, textile mill? that way, instead of being a drain, the kids could better contribute to the household economy. just a thought.

arlopop said...

In keeping with Baywatch's idea, an old friend once offered the axiom, "once they kids stope eating money it's time for them to start making it."