Are We Broke Yet?

August is always an expensive month, but this year is especially bad. I feel like I'm just flinging money in all directions!

In order for our children to attend the excellent public schools here, we have to pay for all sorts of things that state funding no longer covers. The parents' club at each school and the local educational foundation each request a large donation per child to cover what they provide (music, art, languages, textbooks, other optional things like that). Then there's all the other stuff. For M, I was surprised by the cost of the yearbook ($105), resigned to paying for new PE clothes ($30) and an optional school sweatshirt ($40), and utterly appalled by the $75 charge for his required ID card. Oh, and we had to prepay for his school photo, sight unseen. (He came home from registration today, and informed me that, of course, his photo was hideous.)

B's yearbook was cheaper, and her ID is free, but the requested donation at the middle school is nearly twice what the high school requests. We prepaid her lunches for a semester, and we also prepaid her ballet school tuition for the next year (we get a discount if we do that).

On top of the expected school expenses, we had a couple surprises this month. First, our oven door refused to open when DH tried to bake cookies. After calling several highly recommended appliance repairman, we were informed that we had to go through the manufacturer's designated service people. We got an appointment last Friday, and found that we need a new door latch kit, which has to be special-ordered from the manufacturer. Next, our minivan's oil change turned into oil change + two new tires + new front axle. Finally, the tree in our backyard (which has been in need of a trim for a while) suddenly started dropping large branches not only in our yard, but also in our neighbors', so we made an emergency appointment with a tree trimmer.

For any appliances/cars/kids who may be listening, we're out of money, so please stop asking for more!

High School Registration

Can you believe M is entering high school? I'm still not entirely convinced yet, but today I had to go down to the high school and prove that we're residents of the district. I brought with me my driver's license, homeowner's insurance policy, and paycheck stub, to cover the three groups of documentation required. (Utility bills are no longer acceptable forms of ID). I also brought along his immunization records, just in case, even though I'd already submitted them in the spring. Good thing I did--the mom in line ahead of me was turned away because she hadn't brought her child's immunization records, and they did ask me to resubmit them in order to proceed. (Which then leads me to question why I had to submit them in the spring, if they want them again now?)

Overall, I can't complain. First of all, we arrived just in time--a rather long line formed behind us. Second, I have a friend who is having a much harder time with this (in a neighboring school district). Her nephew has arrived from overseas in order to attend school in the US for a year. My friend is very organized, and had all the required pieces of paper in hand last spring, but her school district wouldn't allow her to register the kid until he arrived. He arrived last week, so they went down to the school to register him. They accepted the paperwork, but informed her they couldn't register him until they made a home visit to ensure that he was really living with her. And they're booked the rest of this week. And they're closed next week. And school starts the week after, but he can't start if he's not registered...

Back in Business

Mental soundtrack: "My Romance" from Jumbo, by Rodgers & Hart, arr. Kirby Shaw

Sorry it's been quiet recently. There was vacation, followed by a weekend visit from my college friends, then a week of learning to make digital scrapbooks (I'm 1/3 of the way through our trip now).

School started today (yes, one of my children is a night owl like me, and one isn't):

It was nice and quiet here most of the day, then from 3:30 on it was all a blur. Picked up the carpool (line was long today), dropped kids off, went to the grocery store, made a quick dinner, signed a gazillion forms, went to dress rehearsal for S&P's House Music fundraiser (Sunday at 4:00!), then off to Voci rehearsal. Got home at 10:15, "helped" M with his math homework (only had to sit next to him and watch him finally solve on his own the problem that had been stumping him), reviewed some French verbs with M. Off to have a snack and go to bed!

Unexpected Sights

Two days in a row of unexpected sights while driving the middle-school carpool. Yesterday, as I was leaving the school, two log sections rolled down the hill into the street about twenty feet in front of me. Must have gotten away from the tree trimmers. Today, we turned onto G. Blvd., and saw a blizzard of white office paper lining the road, and a garbage truck with its blinkers on. M walked around the corner after I parked the car, and reported that the papers seemed to be packing slips and things. I later heard from L's mom that they were papers from some local businesses headed off to the shredder. The garbage company sent out a crew pretty quickly (one truck parked right in front of our house, but I didn't think to ask them what was going on), and cleaned them all up.

School's out, DH is in Beijing, and next week will be a flurry of Orinda Idol stuff: music rehearsals, choreography sessions, and, most importantly, dress shopping.

Shakedown

DH & I just returned from B's school auction. Despite having moved here four years ago, this is the first time we've attended. We were very impressed by the organization, and the multitude of ways they've found to get more money out of the parents :-) We got off pretty lightly, mostly because we don't have enough $$$ to bid on the big-ticket items. In addition to the entrance price (which did include a tasty dinner and lots of wine), we purchased the following fixed-price items:

A set of note cards with B's self-portrait on them ($15). Yes, the school is selling us our own daughter's artwork.

A black & white 8x10 portrait of B ($65). A photographer shoots the kindergarteners and fifth-graders every year for the auction. Neither of our kids attended kindergarten here, but we also purchased M's fifth-grade portrait two years ago (without actually attending the auction). Now that we have two, I supposed I should probably get around to buying frames for them.

A ticket to the "Fifth Grade Girls' Farewell to G--------" party in June ($50). One of those things we wouldn't want her to miss, despite the price, since I'm pretty certain all of her friends will be there.

Some of the live auction items that would have interested us if we had the money:

Dinner & movie with B's teacher (sold for $1,500). (One of the other fifth-grade classes had two parents in a bidding war, and that one went for over $5,000!!!)

A week in a Florentine villa (sold for $3,200). We would have tried bidding on it if it had been available in July, since we're planning to be in Italy, but we couldn't have gone that high.

Since California's school-funding system is such a mess, parents in wealthy communities like ours have to dig into their pockets to pay for things like arts education, P.E. teachers, and librarians. And parents in non-wealthy communities just have to do without :-(

School Registration

School starts tomorrow for B & M.

B's school registration went smoothly as usual. The only difference this year was that her school started an online payment system, so I had already paid all of her fees before arriving at the school today. That saves all us from having to wait in the payment line of previous years. B was thrilled to find out that BOTH of her best friends will be in her class this year.

M's school had some trouble with registration this year. Last year, online registration happened the first week of August. That came and went this year, with no communication from the school. On August 7th, we finally received an e-mail telling us online registration would begin on August 15th. On August 14th, we received another e-mail telling us to wait until the 17th. The e-mail on the 17th said it would start on the 18th, which finally did happen. We were told schedules would be online today. So, of course, we got another e-mail yesterday telling us that we wouldn't be able to get them online, and we'd have to go to the school today between 4:30 and 6:30 to pick up the schedule. Apparently something went wrong at the district level with the new database. As you can imagine, it was a zoo in front of the school, with 800+ students and their parents all trying to find the ends of the four lines for schedule pickup!

M did get into French for this year (a limited number of spaces are available for 7th graders in French and Spanish), but he didn't get either of his first two choices for the other elective slot.

Our Personal Economic Stimulus

The kids go back to school next week, and I'm doing my best to stimulate the economy this week:

Parents' club membership for B's school
Parents' club donation for M's school
Educational foundation donation for district
Yearbook for M
School dance pass for M
PE sweatshirt for M (he lost last year's)
School lunches for first semester
Ballet school tuition for the year
Ballet leotard
Pointe shoes (expensive!)
Pink ballet shoes (for class)
Black ballet shoes (for Nutcracker)
Tennis shoes for B
T-shirts for both kids
School supplies for B (don't have lists for M yet)
Body cord for M's fencing

Oh, and the sewer line backed up last night, so I got to pay the plumber, too.

Counting Down

Current mental soundtrack: "Hymn to the Waters" from Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, Group III, by Gustav Holst

One more day to go! B and I decorated cupcakes tonight for tomorrow's class party:



The cupcakes (what flavor is "yellow" cake, anyway?) are frosted in buttercream, and adorned with fondant decorations. Except for the rocks, which are chocolate (left over from some other project).

Spring Break

It's a glorious spring day: 70 degrees outside right now, blue sky, and I have the day off from work. I'm not sure WHY I have the day off from work--it says "Administrative Holiday" on the calendar. (Not that I'm complaining!)

It would be even nicer if the various educational institutions in the area could get their spring breaks synchronized. DH has spring break this week, which means he's not getting up early to teach that 8:00 am class. The kids are out early today, and off all next week, but their afterschool activities (ballet & fencing) break the week after next.

In garden news, the pink daffodils I planted last fall have started to bloom, and last night the first Dutch iris of the season opened (about a week earlier than last year).

   

Forms, Forms, Forms

The beginning of a new school year always brings with it an onslaught of forms to fill out. I don't know how people with more children deal with all the paper that comes home! I had thought that we were done filling out forms for a while (since school started at the end of August), but in the last week I've had two field trip forms (one multi-page, since it's for an overnight), and B just returned from ballet class with her Nutcracker permission slip. Off to consult the calendar now, to try and figure out which sets of rehearsals & performances we can actually get her to!

Setting Goals

Last night was Back To School night at B's elementary school. On one wall of her fourth-grade classroom, the teacher has put up a little writing project by each student. Clearly, the instructions were to write about their goals for this year, along with drawing a self portrait. Most of the kids want to improve things like their reading, multiplication, division, etc. One kid wants to learn to play the clarinet better. Our daughter's goal for 4th grade? To learn to run faster:

I will learn to move my legs faster and my arms faster, while of course staying on the track.

I guess this sums up her school experience pretty well. She's a bright kid, who already reads fluently, writes better than her mother, and has no trouble with math. What else is there to improve, besides her running?

Back to School Shopping, Part 2

School supplies are all taken care of, and it only took two trips to Staples! When the kids arrived home on Wednesday, I grabbed B's shopping list, and asked M for his. Naturally, when I returned home with the pile of stuff, we found a SECOND list of stuff that he needed for science. Nothing fancy, just some graph paper and colored pencils, but it meant another trip to the store today.

Today was the second day of school. M came home sick in the middle of the day. Fortunately, it seems to have been a short-lived intestinal bug, and he's feeling ready to go back to school tomorrow.

B also left school early today, but this one was planned. She finally got the retainer she's been wanting (in lime green, no less):


She was supposed to get a bottom retainer today, too, but that one didn't work out, so we have to go back next month and get a fancier model for the bottom.

One More Day!

I'm not sure who's more excited about school starting tomorrow--the kids or me! I've always liked school, and there's something about starting a new year and buying new school supplies that I really enjoy. I actually look forward to getting their shopping lists and heading out to buy shiny new notebooks and pencils.

Other than the school supplies, I think we're all set. They both have shoes that fit, and clean clothes. For M, I gave him some filler paper and mechanical pencils for the first day (he already has a binder). B got some cute pencils I found in a drawer: one with her name, and one with musical notes. Since she's entering fourth grade, I'm sure we're going to have to buy her a durable binder, too. I remembered to buy lunch fixings when I went to the grocery store yesterday (hot lunch doesn't start at B's school until September 8th, while M didn't like the pre-order lunch on Wednesdays).

M liked my idea of going down to the middle school this afternoon, map in hand, to figure out where his classrooms are going to be. He's also going early tomorrow, as another member of his carpool has to arrive early to straighten out a class. B's school has registration this afternoon, from 4:00-6:00. We'll try to be there around 4:00, so she can hang out and ask everyone else what teacher they will have.