Schedules. Love Them.

So, the start of the new school year for all of us was fun and quite uneventful, for which I thank our routines. Apart from the new office mates across the hall, in an office which used to house one lovely colleague and now houses two fun-loving and rowdy colleagues, very little is glaringly new.

We did the tour around the kids' school on Meet the Teacher (aka: Bring Us the Supplies the District Can't Afford Any More Thanks To Budget Cuts) night, and dispensed boxes of chocolates. The tradition is to start with the kindergarten teacher the kids had, and go up every grade in order. Daughter, who began second grade, has done so with general good cheer and excitement, which is way, way better than terror and anguish like last year. Son's teacher used to be a kayaking instructor, which has gotten Son through the first week with minimal boredom.

The Schedule is set: who picks up kids on which days, and ferries them to which events. Hubby's rehearsals begin this week for his annual university play, and The Schedule takes that into account. Five nights a week of rehearsals for the next two months? No big thing. Because we did this all last year. We figured out how to juggle our work and the kids' homework and their many extra-curriculars, and now it's just a matter of doing it again. There's a general air of self-congratulation at casa LKL these days, and The Schedule can take much of the credit.

Also, as I had a very busy year teaching-wise and requested just two preps this year, and as my department tries to take good care of its human capital and granted my request, I have so much more head space. I know we just got started, and grading will find me soon, but still. Two preps? Piece of cake.

So, I am auditing a Spanish class twice a week too. So far, I love being a student, although there are a few moments of confusion when I'm not sure which side of the desk to empathize with. I have discovered, for instance, that it feels irksome when the prof confidently reads off the price tag on the back of the textbook and says it's a mere 18.95, when I just came from the bookstore and it cost 31 dollars. I don't mind the minimal expense, and it's a darned sight cheaper than many textbooks, but the realization that the professor has no idea what the book costs is alarming from the student side of the desk. I must take note of these things. And yet, when the students who all showed up without the book in the second class, and therefore also did not have their homework with them, I was annoyed at having to share my book with them. As an auditor I am trying hard not to be Hermione Granger in class, but it's difficult when there are so many Crabbes and Goyles and none of them have done their homework. I'm used to this from my usual side of the desk, but it's quite different when you're an Undercover Prof.

Anyway. It's Monday. Which means: Daughter has piano after school, and Brownies once a month, and Son has scouts. (Thank you, Schedule!)