Wednesday, August 06, 2008

First Day of School

Today's date is stuck in my head for all time, not because it was the first day of school for 2008. Oh, no. It was much more insidious than that. I got the "privilege" of filling out seven sets of back-to-school papers. I filled in our address, emergency contacts, doctor's name and phone number, etc, so many times, that I think I'll be doing it in my sleep tonight. My brain is FRIED.

I figure if I get all of that done right away, then it will reduce the risk of being contacted by a school nurse. Last year, I had the opportunity to talk to every one of the school nurses a number of times. There's just something about our family and freak accidents and illnesses.

The kids excitedly got ready for school today. We had a little incident of missing shoes, but that was eventually resolved. Some tummies were upset from nervousness. All the younger kids wanted to get out to the bus stop early even though you can see the bus coming way down the road from our bathroom look-out window.

When everyone had gone, I finished up the dishes, made a little breakfast and plopped myself down on the couch and drank in the silence! I might have even napped a little. Shhhhh! Kody plopped down on the floor next to me terribly dejected.

I was anxious to hear how everything went, but before that, I watched a little TV (There's nothing good on during the day!), then I went to the library, got a country-style chicken sandwich and Coke at McDonald's, canvassed Goodwill, then made a run to Big Lots. By the time I got home, I had just enough time to cool down before the Gruesome Threesome came tumbling with smiles on their faces and stories to tell, the most important story being that there was NO ice cream today in the cafeteria. Life is hard that way sometimes.

Keva's bus came half an hour later. I chatted with the bus driver and her assistant for a few minutes holding up neighborhood traffic. How the neighbors must love me.

Then, came Kathleen who said that she actually felt relaxed during school. She had been so worried that things wouldn't work out, but everything went fine. She likes her teachers so far, and she's in some good classes. She gave me the packet of paperwork in the "vanilla" envelope.

"You mean the manila envelope?"

"No, the vanilla envelope! You mean I've been saying it wrong all this time?"

Keri Lynn, who rides with her friend Briana and her mom, came next with a surprisingly light load of books and a little bit of the dreaded Euclidiean Geometry homework. Does anyone even know what Euclidean Geometry is? I mean, as opposed to regular geometry? I guess Keri Lynn will know. It sounds so scholarly! She, too, had a good day. Three of her classes are in the same building, so she feels like she doesn't get to see sunlight for most of the school day!

Kristofer was last, coming in a little after 4:00 with a light backpack, too. He absolutely adored his history teacher, history being a subject that interests him immensely. He also likes his visual arts class, where he'll get to do a lot of art projects throughout the semester. He's not so wild about Algebra 2, though. Fortunately, he can use his calculator to do the basic math that he has such trouble with. However, he may do just fine with the conceptual side of math. We'll see!

I asked him, "Did you enjoy pizza for lunch?"

"Oh, yeah! It was great! I'm going to have pizza every day. It's the good kind, too!"

Last year, Kristofer was in the ninth grade building with its own cafeteria and media center, and apparently pizza was not offered daily like it is in the main cafeteria. AND, he has third lunch, as opposed to fourth lunch like he had last year, which should really be outlawed. No kid, or teacher, or substitute teacher should have to wait until nearly 1:30 to eat lunch!

All in all, it was a great first day of school. The kids are now in bed. Alarm clocks are set. As Kylie says, "School is actually kind of fun."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jackie,



Your dejected Kody reminds me of our Pete, and any cat that happened to be alive at the time of the first day/week of school. I'd be at the washer and dryer, folding clothes, turn around...and there'd be Pete and the cat, sitting there looking at me. I'd be vacuuming...turn off the vacuum, turn around, and there'd be Pete and the cat. I'd be doing dishes, turn around to put something in the fridge, and there'd be Pete and the cat, watching every move. I knew it was fall...



Love Marcia

Jackie said...

Awww, that's such a sweet story, Aunt Marcia!

Jackie said...

So, Kay, who gets my group email and was in my Bible study group back in CA wrote me to tell me about Euclidean Geometry --


Euclidean geometry is a mathematical system attributed to the Greek mathematician Euclid of Alexandria. Euclid's text Elements is the earliest known systematic discussion of geometry. It has been one of the most influential books in history, as much for its method as for its mathematical
content. The method consists of assuming a small set of ntuitively
appealing axioms, and then proving many other propositions (theorems) from those axioms. Although many of Euclid's results had been stated by earlier Greek mathematicians, Euclid was the first to show how these propositions could be fit together into a comprehensive deductive and logical system.

The Elements begin with plane geometry, still taught in secondary school as the first axiomatic system and the first examples of formal proof. The
Elements goes on to the solid geometry of three dimensions, and Euclidean geometry was subsequently extended to any finite number of dimensions. Much
of the Elements states results of what is now called number theory, proved using geometrical methods.

For over two thousand years, the adjective "Euclidean" was unnecessary because no other sort of geometry had been conceived. Euclid's axioms seemed so intuitively obvious that any theorem proved from them was deemed true in an absolute sense. Today, however, many other self-consistent non-Euclidean
geometries are known, the first ones having been discovered in the early 19th century. It also is no longer taken for granted that Euclidean geometry describes physical space. An implication of Einstein's theory of general
relativity is that Euclidean geometry is a good approximation to the properties of physical space only if the gravitational field is not too strong.

Euclidean geometry is an axiomatic system, in which all theorems ("true statements") are derived from a finite number of axioms. Near the beginning of the first book of the Elements, Euclid gives five postulates (axioms):

1.. Any two points can be joined by a straight line.
2.. Any straight line segment can be extended indefinitely in a straight
line.
3.. Given any straight line segment, a circle can be drawn having the segment as radius and one endpoint as center.
4.. All right angles are congruent.
5.. Parallel postulate. If two lines intersect a third in such a way that the sum of the inner angles on one side is less than two right angles, then
the two lines inevitably must intersect each other on that side if extended far enough.
These axioms invoke the following concepts: point, straight line segment and line, side of a line, circle with radius and center, right angle, congruence, inner and right angles, sum. The following verbs appear: join, extend, draw, intersect. The circle described in postulate 3 is tacitly unique. Postulates 3 and 5 hold only for plane geometry; in three
dimensions, postulate 3 defines a sphere.