school Archives - Page 7 of 21

Sep 13, 2012

The Transportation Situation

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you may have seen my frequent complaints about the buses for our elementary school. We’re a few weeks into the school year now, so you’d think that any issues with transportation would have been smoothed out by now, right? Ha.

I completely gave up on the afternoon bus after it was clear that they were never going to make it to our house in under an hour and a half, and usually longer than that. Driving an hour round-trip is inconvenient for me, but I’m finding it makes for much happier little girls. And they are usually home, have eaten a snack and finished homework before the bus would have even been at our door.

The morning bus is still a problem, though. I can count on one hand the number of times it’s been here on time (within 5-10 minutes of scheduled time) in the past 3.5 weeks and still have fingers available.

There are two big problems with the morning bus being late. First, we have to wait forever at the door for the bus. Two kids waiting at the door for 5-10 minutes are a little rowdy. Two kids waiting at the door for over 20 minutes start to get into trouble quickly. And since I have to walk them out to the bus, it means I can’t get much done until it shows up, either.

The bigger issue is with Cordy, though. With the bus getting here late, it turns out it was arriving late to school, too. And Cordy, who is Type-A to the extreme with her autism, really does not like being late.

We didn’t know anything about this until her special-needs support teacher emailed us last Wednesday to report that Cordy had a meltdown at school that day. The bus arrived late to school, which immediately threw her off. She was anxious that she would have a “black mark” on her record for being late, and even though everyone reassured her that she wasn’t responsible, she still believed she was in trouble.

Then later in the day, her class was lined up for recess and her second grade teacher had to talk loudly (“yell”) so that her class could hear her over the chatter and the three fans trying to keep the classroom cool. She was trying to get the attention of the whole class, but Cordy was convinced the teacher was yelling at her for being late that day. Cordy became upset, hiding under her desk and crying, and had to be taken to the special-needs classroom for a time out.

After she calmed down, she went back to her class, but needed an aide with her for the rest of the day. Since then she’s still anxious on days when the bus is late, and is still diving under her desk when the teacher gets too loud. Her teachers are very understanding, and the school has been doing everything possible to complain to transportation to get the issue corrected.

On Tuesday, we waited for the bus for nearly an hour. The last fifteen minutes of that time was spent on hold on the phone as I waited to speak to someone in transportation to find out where the bus might be. I finally gave up, packed the girls in the car and drove them to school, knowing that we would be late even with driving straight there. Cordy was anxious, but we talked the entire way there about how it wasn’t her fault and her teachers were just as upset with the bus for being late.

We got to school five minutes late. I walked in with her, met up with her teacher so Cordy understood that we were all in agreement that she wasn’t in trouble, and then I left. I later learned the bus arrived at 9:30am, half an hour after the school day started. WOW.

Angry emails to the district’s transportation department were sent. (Since it’s impossible to get to them by phone.) The school’s principal assured us she was also working on the problem from her side, too, and that our bus wasn’t the only one having troubles arriving on time.

And then yesterday? The bus was four minutes early! Good thing I opened the door ahead of time.

Problem solved? Too soon to tell, but I hope so.

It’s ridiculous that the transportation department can’t get buses to school on time. Beyond the anxiety issues it’s causing with Cordy, children arriving late to school affects the entire school. It’s distracting to the classrooms, and it’s stealing precious time from these kids that should be spent in education, not sitting on a late bus.

Filed Under: Autism, Cordy, school ·

Sep 5, 2012

What’s In A Name?

By Christina ·

For as sweet as Cordy appears, there’s a strong stubborn streak in her that many don’t realize until they’ve spent some time with her. She was by far the most strong-willed toddler I’ve ever encountered, and although she tends to be more cheerful than angry, she is very set in her ways and unwilling to waver.

Lately, we’ve been having a strange issue with Cordy that has had me puzzled. She’s decided that if she doesn’t like the name for something, or has already named it before learning of the item/animal/person’s real name, she’ll call it whatever she decides. Never mind that you tell her the correct name – if she doesn’t like it, she re-names it.

Over Labor Day weekend we went to the Ohio Renaissance Festival. As we crossed the big bridge in the middle of the village, Cordy marveled at how it went three different directions and declared it to be “The Triple Bridge!”

“Actually, Cordy, this bridge is named the Y-bridge. Can you think of why it would named that?”

“Ummm…because they wonder WHY it has three parts to make it the Triple Bridge?”

“No…it’s because it’s shaped like the letter Y. So they named it the Y bridge.”

“Well, I think it’s named the Triple Bridge.”

“Sorry, sweetie, it’s not. The real name is the Y bridge.”

“Well, the real name is the Triple Bridge for me.”

While object names aren’t that big of a deal, it’s the naming of people that gets more difficult. She still sees her Pre-K teacher at school and refers to her by her maiden name, even though she’s been married for a few years now. That teacher had a baby last year, too, and Cordy decided the baby’s name should be Sunshine. No matter how often we told her the baby’s name, she insisted the baby was Sunshine.

When we visited her school right before the start of the school year a few weeks ago, she saw one of the aides in the hallway and gave her a big hug.

“This is Ms. Fox!”

The aide responded, “Actually, Cordy, that’s not my name anymore. I got married and so I have a new name. My name is now Mrs. lastname, but I know that’s hard to say, so you can just call me Mrs. R now.”

Cordy paused and thought for a moment. “No, that’s OK, I’ll just keep calling you Ms. Fox! I like that name better.”

Sigh.

And if that wasn’t enough, she also creates new words based on mispronouncing words she reads in books. (She’s way ahead of grade level in reading, so she encounters lots of new words in the books she reads.) If she doesn’t know how to pronounce a word, Cordy makes up her own pronunciation. When you tell her how the word is actually pronounced, she’ll continue to use her version anyway, no matter how many times she’s corrected.

I’m not sure when this phase will pass, but I hope it’s soon. I can appreciate her desire for some control over her surroundings, although I’m getting really confused by multiple names for people and things. At this point I feel I need to keep a Cordy-to-real life translation dictionary just to keep up with her.

Filed Under: Cordy, daily life, school ·

Aug 29, 2012

Two Kids, One School, One Bus, One Car

By Christina ·

Friday was a first not only for Mira, but for me. Because of our school’s late start for kindergarten, Mira had to wait two days after Cordy to begin the school year. But then the morning came, and she anxiously waited for the bus with her backpack on her shoulders.

Right next to her sister.

It was the first time I was sending both of them off on the same bus, to the same school. I may have a shed a tear. Of happiness.

For once, I didn’t have to keep track of two kids and schedules at three different schools. (Mira did a half day of preschool at a private preschool, then a half day at our local school district last year.) I didn’t have to wait for two bus drop-offs. I didn’t have to schedule parent-teacher conferences at different schools across the city. Logistically, it’s a dream come true.

Mira’s first day started a little rough, though. I let them both ride the bus that morning, even though I had to be there for kindergarten orientation. When I walked into the school, right at the end of breakfast, I saw Mira standing in the middle of the cafeteria with a group of teachers and aides around her. She was crying and they were wiping something off of her. A teacher quickly told me it was orange juice, and it had sprayed all over her dress and shoes.

Nearby, Cordy was yelling at another girl, “How DARE you spill juice on my little sister on her first day! You’re awful!” Cordy was completely incensed, to the point of making the (older) girl cry. I tried to calm Cordy down, assuring her it was an accident and apologizing to the other girl for Cordy yelling at her. Seeing Cordy stand up for Mira was not something I expected for Mira’s first day.

After meeting with the kindergarten teacher, I went outside to say goodbye to Mira on the playground. She was near tears again, frustrated that a group of boys could jump up and grab a bar on the playground equipment but she couldn’t quite reach. I gave her a hug, encouraged her to make friends instead of get frustrated, and then left, hoping she’d keep it together for the day.

The only big problem with Mira’s first day was the afternoon bus. The bus was scheduled to drop them off at 4:30pm. It’s an hour ride, which is long, but tolerable when they go to school on the other side of the city.

Cordy’s first day, the bus didn’t drop her off until after 5:30pm. The driver assured us it was just a first day issue, and they’d be closer to schedule the next day. On Thursday, the bus dropped her off at 5:20pm, with the driver saying, “We’re getting better!” It didn’t feel better, honestly. But I hoped they would get it right on the third day.

The bus dropped the girls off at 5:10pm, forty minutes after the scheduled time. Way too long, in my opinion. It wasn’t a good situation and I wanted an alternative.

And then common sense hit me: hey, I have both kids at one school! I don’t have to let them ride a long time because I’m waiting on another bus that will get here sooner, like I did last year!

So on Monday, I made the choice to pick them up from school. It’s a little inconvenient for me, but one hour out of my day so that my daughters only spend 25 minutes traveling home from school seems worth it. And it was kinda fun: waiting with the other parents by the bike rack and seeing kids faces light up when they come out of the building and see their parents.

Tuesday, I decided to give the bus one more try, only because Mira asked to try it again. And I waited. And waited. And waited. They got here at 5:13pm. Crazy.

I’m incredibly thankful that my kids are at the same school now, and thankful for a job that gives me the flexibility to go pick them up each day so that they don’t endure an hour and a half or longer bus ride home.

I’m also so very happy that both kids are loving school, and even seem to be getting along when together at school. I’ve been told they spend their recess time playing together, which is funny when you consider at home it’s one constant battle of “leave me alone!”

While we’ve had a few tiny bumps in the road so far, I’m expecting a fantastic school year. And now I shall happily fall back into a school year routine and forget the chaos of the previous three weeks.

Filed Under: Cordy, daily life, Mira, school ·

Aug 23, 2012

First Day of Second Grade

By Christina ·

“But I miss my old teacher, mommy!”

I was worried that Cordy’s first day of school was going to go poorly. She’s had a lot of anxiety about being in a new class with a new teacher, even though she knows the teacher from breakfast and lunch times at school. The school work might be too hard this year, and she might not see her friends. So as we waited for the bus yesterday morning I tried to reassure her that she’d love her new class and her friends from last year would be with her.

She was happy to have her new school clothing and new backpack, though, and she put on a brave face waiting for the bus.

Srsly, when did my little girl turn into a KID?

Unfortunately, the bus didn’t arrive on time. After it was more than thirty minutes late – meaning Cordy would be late for school if it didn’t show up right then – Aaron made the choice to take her to school instead. We couldn’t risk setting the whole year off to the wrong start by making Cordy anxious over being late to school.

The bus did show up an hour after it was supposed to be here (and 10 minutes before class was to start at a school on the other side of Columbus), and they promised that they’d be on time the next day. They were only 15 minutes late today.

Mira was very unhappy that her sister got to go to school and she didn’t. Kindergarten always starts a day or two late in our district, so Mira won’t begin until Friday. She pouted at the door as Aaron’s car pulled out of the driveway.

I spent the whole day worried about how Cordy’s first day would go. They are team teaching this year, meaning she’ll have her class subjects split between two teachers, and have to adjust to two different styles of teaching and classroom management. Could she handle it?

Waiting for the bus to bring her home was even more stressful. Her route was scheduled to drop her off at 4:30. Fifteen minutes passed the scheduled time and I chalked it up to being the first day of school. Then thirty minutes passed. Then forty-five. Calls to transportation resulted in a busy signal or a “not in service” message.

Finally, just over an hour after her scheduled drop-off time, and two hours since she got on the bus, she arrived at home. If this continues, we’ll strongly consider picking them up from school each day. Last year’s afternoon bus promised to get better and still never improved beyond an hour and a half ride home.

Sneak attack photo. But hey, she managed to not lose her necklace all day!

The verdict? Cordy had a great first day. She loved her new teacher, she was happy to see her friends and she was no longer anxious about the school work. As we walked in the front door, her backpack erupted into a mountain of paperwork (for me? you shouldn’t have…) and she rattled off all of the good points of the day without taking a breath between each. We worked through her first homework assignment together as she smiled and sighed, “School is gonna be awesome this year!”

Oh, I hope for nothing less than awesome.

Filed Under: Cordy, school ·

Aug 20, 2012

End of Summer

By Christina ·

School begins on Wednesday, and it couldn’t come soon enough. It’s been two weeks since summer camp ended, which means it’s been two weeks of a new, less structured routine for Cordy that has kept her on edge every day.

I hate this period between camp and school – I can’t keep her entertained when I have to work, but she gets anxious and frustrated by no solid routine. Mira picks up on her anxiety and, right out of the Little Siblings Handbook, chooses to antagonize her. It’s really a two week period of survival around here, and we all celebrate when school begins again.

The good news is that Mira will be attending Cordy’s school for kindergarten. There was some question last year about if they would find a seat for Mira, since the school isn’t our home school and they didn’t accept any students from the lottery. The prospect of having two kids at two schools on opposite sides of Columbus was less than ideal, so I appealed to the principal at Cordy’s school, begging for Mira to be admitted.

Begging isn’t an exaggeration, either. I considered sending flowers and baked goods as well, but the principal told me at the end of May that it was looking good for Mira and to just be patient through the summer.

Patient is hard for me.

It took all summer, but two weeks ago we finally received the letter telling us that Mira was accepted. Whew. Now I only need to worry that they won’t get kicked off the bus for fighting with each other every morning. Or that Mira will make the principal regret her decision when she finds out that Mira is the opposite of Cordy.

Even though I’m counting down the hours until I can hand them their backpacks and send them back to school, we did get the chance to take a quick family vacation before the end of summer. Mini-vacation, I guess you could call it. Last Thursday and Friday were spent in northern Ohio at Lake Erie. (Hence why this blog sat quiet last week.)

I’ll be writing more on it this week, but here’s a quick preview: