Who knew that the first day of school would be the easy part? Kids float through the day hyped up on adrenaline. With all the new stimuli, the day is over before they know it. The hard part is getting them to go back every day after that. At least it is in our case.
Brendan seems to enjoy his classes. He looks forward to GT (gifted and talented) and Art. His teachers are pretty cool. He has three male teachers. His science teacher reminds him of his favorite teacher back in England. The only part of the day that he worries about (obsesses about) is lunch. If he didn't have that 30 minutes to himself, he'd be okay. The reason he doesn't like it is because he doesn't have any friends to eat with. That breaks my heart.
So Bill worked with him last night on a plan to make lunch go by faster. He's to eat slowly and take a magazine to read. Thankfully, I had one he was interested in about the last Harry Potter book. Maybe that will be a conversation starter in the lunchroom. Then Bill pumped him full of positive thoughts and taught him to work through his tummy aches.
I suppose I do remember the struggle we had with the days after the first day when he started at Collingtree. But the kids there were so inviting, he made friends immediately, on the first day. That was such a special place.
Here, many of the kids knew each other from Elementary, and so far, he hasn't broken into any groups. I pray for him every day, throughout the day, to find a good friend. that would make all the difference in the world.
Thursday, 30 August 2007
Monday, 27 August 2007
Holding His Hand
Today was Brendan's first day of Middle school.
Brendan is the type of child who needs to prepare well in advance for change, so we've talked through the first day several times. It helped a lot that we've been to the school already for registration, a few AP placement exams and an orientation, so he knows where the cafeteria and the sixth grade wing are.
Still he started fretting about today on Friday. He woke up with a stomach ache. So we went through it again. I told him everything I'd learned from the parent orientation and he added detail to the pieces that I didn't know much about. Thankfully, he spent the night with his aunt on Saturday, which was a welcome distraction from Monday morning. Yet, when we were driving home last night, he said, "why do they throw all this stuff at us on the first day? How am I supposed to remember where my classes are, when to go to PE and my pin number for lunch?" So we assured him, again, that the teachers were there to help and would be very lenient on the first day.
Then, last night, I read to him before we went to sleep to try to calm him down. We read a devotion out of Skateboards, Scooters and Scripture by Anne McFarlane, a great book for kids, and we read the accompanying scripture passage. He settled down a little. Then I read to him from Isaiah 41:13, a passage we found from an earlier devotion, which spoke right to the situation. "For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you." With that he went to sleep.
This morning, Brendan could only manage to choke down a glass of milk for breakfast for all the butterflies in his tummy, but there were no tears. When I stopped in the drop-off lane at school, I said, "I wish I could go in with you, but I can't. Just remember God is holding your right hand." He slipped out of the car and I watched him bravely walk into his new Middle School.
Brendan is the type of child who needs to prepare well in advance for change, so we've talked through the first day several times. It helped a lot that we've been to the school already for registration, a few AP placement exams and an orientation, so he knows where the cafeteria and the sixth grade wing are.
Still he started fretting about today on Friday. He woke up with a stomach ache. So we went through it again. I told him everything I'd learned from the parent orientation and he added detail to the pieces that I didn't know much about. Thankfully, he spent the night with his aunt on Saturday, which was a welcome distraction from Monday morning. Yet, when we were driving home last night, he said, "why do they throw all this stuff at us on the first day? How am I supposed to remember where my classes are, when to go to PE and my pin number for lunch?" So we assured him, again, that the teachers were there to help and would be very lenient on the first day.
Then, last night, I read to him before we went to sleep to try to calm him down. We read a devotion out of Skateboards, Scooters and Scripture by Anne McFarlane, a great book for kids, and we read the accompanying scripture passage. He settled down a little. Then I read to him from Isaiah 41:13, a passage we found from an earlier devotion, which spoke right to the situation. "For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you." With that he went to sleep.
This morning, Brendan could only manage to choke down a glass of milk for breakfast for all the butterflies in his tummy, but there were no tears. When I stopped in the drop-off lane at school, I said, "I wish I could go in with you, but I can't. Just remember God is holding your right hand." He slipped out of the car and I watched him bravely walk into his new Middle School.
Sunday, 26 August 2007
It's Alive!
Once I got the great news that I could do my own artwork, I actually had to pull it off. It took about a week to do the rough draft and get it approved and another two weeks to do the final piece of 8 1/2 x 11 spec art. Gotta love the internet though. I get to keep the original safe and sound by scanning and emailing it for posting on the website. I was going to publish it on this post, so you could see it, but I don't want to do anything to jinx my chances, so you'll have to go to the contest site to see it.
I decided to do it with oil pastels instead of my trusty pencil colors because I wanted the colors to be more vibrant, since it's for a children's book. My main challenge was to create a personality for a character who has no face, so that the reader can identify with what he's feeling. After all, it's a PICTURE book. I think it turned out rather well.
I'll be sending an email to everyone I have addresses for personally asking them to vote and send the message on to others, but if you're coming to this blog by other means, please go to http://www.abcbookcompetition.org/ and vote for A Pumpkin Named Jack by Beth Cooper between September 16 and 30. If I win, I will receive a publishing contract and 1000 books to sell on my own.
According to The Book Connection, who sponsors this nationwide contest, only three out of 12,000 manuscripts that are sent to publishing companies ever gets published. It would be my very first published book and a great start to a writing/illustrating career. Then, I'll have to design and produce 16-18 double-page spreads for the rest of the book by May 08. I'm looking forward to that challenge!
I decided to do it with oil pastels instead of my trusty pencil colors because I wanted the colors to be more vibrant, since it's for a children's book. My main challenge was to create a personality for a character who has no face, so that the reader can identify with what he's feeling. After all, it's a PICTURE book. I think it turned out rather well.
I'll be sending an email to everyone I have addresses for personally asking them to vote and send the message on to others, but if you're coming to this blog by other means, please go to http://www.abcbookcompetition.org/ and vote for A Pumpkin Named Jack by Beth Cooper between September 16 and 30. If I win, I will receive a publishing contract and 1000 books to sell on my own.
According to The Book Connection, who sponsors this nationwide contest, only three out of 12,000 manuscripts that are sent to publishing companies ever gets published. It would be my very first published book and a great start to a writing/illustrating career. Then, I'll have to design and produce 16-18 double-page spreads for the rest of the book by May 08. I'm looking forward to that challenge!
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