Back to school smiles and thoughts

I am an expert on “Back to School”.

As a student for 20 years I went back to school 20 times. ( No I was not held back …. I had 12 years in public school, 5 years in college and 2 3/4 years  in graduate school.)

As a mom I also had 4 children that I sent off to school each year for a total of  30 times, including their college years.

As a teacher, I started new school year classes 22 times in high school, 3 times at college and 10 times at the University level.  I have had more than my share of “Back to School” (This number does not count the new classes I started the second semester of high school. It would be mind boggling to add those in.)

Now that I’m retired from teaching and raising children, I only see “back to school” through my grands.

My DIL, Marla,  posted this pic on Facebook of her 3 going off to school last week while the youngest cried all the way home because he missed them. I know how he feels. I remember how sad I was when his daddy, my youngest child, went off to school and left me alone at home.

My Lynell posted this one today of her youngest 2 heading off to school. She said she can’t believe she only has 2 of her 5 children left in public school.  She commented that time moves too fast….. I ditto that. I love this picture of Lonica and Johnny.

I often feature Loni on my blog as a beautiful dancer…..

…and Johnny as a champion gymnast…

…But in this picture they are just being cute kids. I like that.

Even Erin’s little ones….Cal and Ellie….. are all set to start preschool.

My CA grands started back to school today too. Even though they live the closest to me I don’t have pictures of them to show you. (My Mindy doesn’t do Facebook and I did not get up at 6:00 a.m. and drive 20 miles to get some…. bad Grammy!) But, I am sure they all looked darling as they headed off.

In some ways I miss “back to school” now that I am retired.  I use to enjoy getting my room ready with pot plants, pictures,  new bulletin boards etc. I enjoyed getting all my papers run off and feeling “ready to start”. I think one really nice thing about being a teacher is getting to start over every year or semester.

I liked teaching. I always had great plans to improve on the previous semester and try new things. It didn’t always work out but I always tried.

However, there were some things I dreaded about “back to school” and I do not miss them.

I did not like having to set my alarm for early in the morning and then the feeling of always being rushed through the day being ruled by “the bell”. It seemed no matter how carefully I planned, my lessons and the clock were always at odds with each other.

I do not miss the endless hours of writing lesson plans, grading papers and doing administrative work and reports. I do not exaggerate when I say that my work day usually went from 6:15 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. or later during the school year. That was especially true during the years that I taught both high school and college classes.

I do not miss the constant disciplining and fight to maintain classroom order. No one told me when I was in college getting my teaching credentials that I would have to spend more time disciplining that teaching.

Without class room order no learning can take place. Some high school students make a career out of interrupting the teacher and causing disturbances. The administration does not help the teacher out much so I had to handle 95% of those characters myself. It was exhausting.

I do not miss that part of “back to school”. In fact, I would still be teaching today if maintaining order hadn’t gotten to be such a hard job. After 22 years, I was literally worn out both physically and emotionally from all of their shenanigans. (I started teaching full time when I was 41, after my kids were older, and retired at 63.)

So…. here we are at another “back to school”. As a 69 year old, I am glad that I don’t have to work any more but I do have mixed emotions. I had purpose and drive when I was teaching that I don’t have any more.

Teaching made me feel like my life mattered. I did not get much respect from my high school students but I felt like I was teaching them important things that would better their lives.  My college students did respect me. They made me feel smart, valued and important. I kind of miss that… but not enough to go back to teaching..lol.

These are my thoughts on” Back to School”. What are yours?

Smiles for Johnny…bronze medal winner

I was on pins and needles last Sunday as I waited for our grandson Johnny to compete in the ….

P & G Gymnastics Championships.

He did his very best. He completed each event and stunt without one fall.

He ended up coming in 7th place  all around in his division. Yea!!

He is 3rd place in the nation in his division on parallel bars. Yea, Yea!!

He won the bronze medal for being in 3rd place. I am so proud of him. I can hardly believe that our boy did so well. Of course he has worked hard for years to get to this level.

However, you may notice that he does not look very happy. He was happy to get the bronze medal but he was sad that he just missed getting on the National team that competes internationally. They always take the top 7 to be on the national team but this year it was different. They had moved 2 boys up to compete with the older boys. After the competition they moved them back down into Johnny’s group. When those 2 boys were moved back down it made Johnny miss the team by 2 points. He was 7th in the nation against the boys he competed against but did not get on the team.

He was heart broken….. so am I….. but I am so proud of him. He is only 16. He still has plenty of time to make the team before the next Olympics. He is very disappointed but he will keep working hard toward his Olympic goal.

I hope that you have had a championship week too.  I’m sending you hugs.

Grammy Staffy

Please watch Johnny compete today and wish him well

As my readers know, our grandson, Johnny, is an amazing gymnast.

He is ranked 10th in the nation.

A couple of months ago he competed at Visa Cup which….

Qualified him and his team mate, Dylan to compete  for the USA National team in the P and G championships held this week.

They are so excited to be there.

Johnny even posted a picture of his hotel room key.

He started competing on Friday and did very well.

You can check out a few of Johnny Jacobson's routines here on his page.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Johnny-Jacobson/441532999224094

Today he competes between 6:30 and 9:00 EST. (3:30 to 6:00 pst) You can watch him live by going to

http://pgchamps.com/live/

I’m so excited to watch him that I can hardly breath….. but at the same time I am nervous.

He has worked so hard at this since he was a little boy… he wants this so badly.. and one tiny slip is all it takes to disqualify him.

 

Earlier this year he fractured a bone in his back and could not practice for several weeks. The first meet he could go to was the end of March so it really is amazing that he has made it this far this year.

If you look at the picture above where he is doing the iron cross you will notice that he is wearing a black back brace still in some of the events.

Johnny’s “Fan Club” Friends

You can be sure that his friends and family are on pins and needles today.

I hope that you will watch him complete on your computer today and if you are so inclined …. say a little prayer that he will do his best and not get hurt.

http://pgchamps.com/live/

Thank you with hugs, Grammy

 

How to have a perfect Family Reunion

As my readers know, we just got back from our Wyoming family rafting/Camping trip. If you didn’t see my last post, please take a look at it and watch the great video Patrick made of our adventures. He did a great job filming us rafting the Snake River Rapids.

John and Lura’s family at our Annual Utah reunion

Almost all of our immediate family goes to the river but there are several of John’s family that don’t join us there. We always have a Utah family reunion after our river trip.

Our family group was in charge of organizing it this year. Since Lynell is our oldest child living in Utah she took charge. She and her family did a great job. Here is what she did. I think these are good guidelines for a perfect family reunion.

1. She reserved a park well in advance. You may not find a good place if you wait until the last minute.

2. She made sure that there are enough covered tables to accommodate everyone.  Lynell had to change the park as more families responded.

3. She made sure every family was notified in advance so they could make arrangements to come.

All of Bill’s, Forrest’s and John’s families were invited.(Can you guess who is the baby of the group still playing tricks on his big brother by holding a hat over his head???) These 3 brothers have a total of 15 living children who nearly all have children of their own so you can see that they are the patriarchs of a large group.  We had children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins…. greats and grands all over the place.

The old folks…RoLayne, Forrest, John, Lura, Bill and Carol

4. Have name tags for everyone to wear. Have them color coded for each line they descend from. That way no one(especially me) is embarrassed by not remembering someone’s name. I know the names of all my nieces and nephews and their spouses but I don’t always remember the names of their children and grandchildren. Nametags help me out.

5. Be sure that there is lots of good food but make it easy on yourself.  Each family brought their own main course and a dish to share. Lynell assigned each family to bring a side dish or a dessert. We had plenty of good food.

Lynell rented a snow-cone machine this year.

It was a hit with everyone.

You might consider renting one for your next gathering. Everyone loved the cold treat on the hot day.

6. Plan a program to introduce new members of the family and announce family activities and accomplishment during the past year. Our Mindy was the M.C. this year. Give each family a time to take part but limit the time because you don’t want the program to drag on too long.

7. Be sure you assign someone to be your family photographer. (Can you guess who our photographer was???)

You want to get pics of everyone attending. You never know if you will be together again. Sadly we have one niece, Joan who was not with us this year because her dear husband, Merrill is dying of cancer. He was well and strong last year. Never take life for granted. Every day is precious…. Document each special occasion.

8. Plan activities that are fun for the different age groups.

We had volleyball and tennis available for the athletically inclined.

Patrick brought his plane which dropped parachutes

for the kids to run and catch.

Lynell rented this blow up slide which was also lots of fun

for all ages to enjoy. We divided up the cost of the slide and the snow-cone machine between us so it was not a burden on anyone.

For some of us just being together and visiting was all the activity we were up to.

As I mentioned, we have this reunion every year. It is a highlight of our year. I think it is wonderful for our families from various locations to get together. I especially enjoy seeing all the little cousins playing together. Our love grows as we spend time together. If you are not having family reunions why don’t you start making them one of your traditions. I think you will be glad you did.

I’m thankful for our dear family, both immediate and extended. I feel blessed that we could get together again this year and spend time with them.

I’m back in CA now. Erin and her two little ones came home with us. We are still busy but I will have time to visit you all after they leave.  Have a great week.

Hugs, Grammy Lura