Schooling Choices

OK, this posting is for my cousin, Janelle, who blogs here.  Sunday I was visiting with my niece about schooling options.  Her oldest child will be turning four in a little while, while she's also got a girl who's about 18 months old, and one on the way.  She's considering all the options, and homeschooling is one of those options.  Her husband was homeschooled for a large part of his schooling, but his mom's a teacher.  She was expressing her feelings of inadequacy, and wondering what the best options would be.

During the discussion, we agreed that there is no one right answer for all kids.  Some kids thrive in a public school setting; other kids really shouldn't be there but their parents don't have another option for them.  The same thing could be said for private schools and for homeschooling.  For most kids, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference - they'll muddle along, regardless of what you choose.  For some kids, it makes a huge difference.  However, no decision is set in stone - you can change your mind at pretty much any time along the journey.

We also agreed, that most kids who are home schooled end up with a bit of a hole in one area or another - where the parent doing the homeschooling disliked, or skipped, or didn't feel the importance, or for whatever reason.  (It's entirely possible that kids in the school system end up with holes as well.)

I have a bit of a unique perspective.  I am a teacher - have taught all ages and grades from preschool through  to adult education; including all the grades between.  I have taught in public, Catholic and private schools, and I home schooled my son for a year.

Having said all that, Janelle homeschools her three boys, and I really enjoy reading her blog and her reflections on that journey with them.  She has talked several times about "the evil math" - the area of schooling where she feels most inadequate.  I have a son, however, who is wired for math and science - and has always been!  Before he was of school age he could already count in base 2 on his fingers.  He's always experimented with different math concepts, he finished Math 30 (grade 12 math) in Grade 10, did Calculus 30 as an independent study in Grade 11, and is now taking Electrical Engineering Technology at SIAST, because that's the engineering technology that requires the most math.

Last night was The Party.  We had around 35 kids, and Bram was a group leader for one small group as usual.  When they were at the story centre (the Bible story was about the centurion who had great faith) and the kids were doing a word find, he started doodling - math.  He came out and tried to borrow a pen or pencil from me, because he was trying to remember the proof for how the derivative of e to the x (sorry, can't figure out how to do superscript) is e to the x.  About the time it was time to come home, he had an aha moment as he figured it out.  When he came home, he wanted to explain it to me, but had to do homework first (work before play) - and then he he had to teach me a whole bunch of background calculus first.

Now you have to realize, that among other things, I teach math (or have taught math).  I prefer to teach remedial math; math for the kids (or adults) who embrace the concept of "the evil math" - and Bram's surpassed my math abilities some time ago.  However, he was able to explain it to me, and I was (momentarily?) enlightened.  I you also wish to be enlightened - here's the explanation below.

Tuesday

Today's the second day I have "off" so to speak.  And I have good news to report - I have a job interview for tomorrow.  Unfortunately, it's for a job that I really feel totally unqualified for, but, hey - I'll let them decide that.  And an interview is a good thing.

I ended up making over 10 dozen buns yesterday.  I needed six dozen for The Party, and what with fresh buns for supper, it meant that we'd have nothing left for the house, after I packed everything up.  So I made up another 3.5 dozen.  We had 38 children at the The Party and around 20 at the older group.  That's less than there was last week, but I'm fine with that - we had fewer helpers also.  I split up the chili - the two large slow cookers for the older group and the three small slow cookers for The Party.  We had no leftovers whatsoever from The Party, but ended up with an entire slow cooker full of chili left over from the older group.  They also sent back two dozen of my buns. (I think they also had hot dogs, though - so it wasn't that they were short of food.)  So I now have four dozen buns in my freezer as well as an ice cream pail full of chili (such a hardship)!  I think we'll have Sloppy Joes for Wednesday supper instead of what I had originally planned.  Then I may send homemade buns home with people so that I can have some freezer space.

One of the blessings from The Party that I hadn't anticipated, is that I really am getting to know the kids a little better.  I'm able to call them by name (usually the right name), and touch base with this one, or give that one a hug.  I have always struggled to know people's names, and that's part of the reason that I try to do the attendance as the children come in, so that I can practice their names.  I guess it's working.

Well, I didn't get through everything on my list from yesterday. That's ok - there's still today.  Today I drove Bram to where he meets his car pool then came home and went back to bed.  (It was on my To Do list, so that's ok.)  It felt really good, too.  Mind you, before that I still managed to do up the dishes (two large slow cookers that had been full of chili, and left to dry overnight, plus all the serving utensils, etc.), get the garbage taken out (thanks Bram), tidy the kitchen, etc.

Now it's time to work through that list.

Yeah, it's been awhile

I just finished a term position at SIAST in Moose Jaw; commuting two hours a day.  However, I really enjoyed the job and am sorry that it's ended.  I'm now unemployed.  So... why is my To Do list so incredibly long?  So far this morning I have: driven Bram to where he meets his car pool, done my banking, filled the car with gas, done all the dishes, started laundry, started five slow cookers of chili (snack for 75 for The Party tonight), started 7 dozen buns, talked to my lawyer, watered the plants, played my latest bunch of scrabble games (my reward for doing some of the other chores), taken out the garbage, unloaded the dishwasher, put away laundry.  Still to do for today: my bookkeeping, tidy living room and kitchen, three more loads of laundry (at least), bake the buns, make lunch and supper, start a quilting project (another reward).  It'd be nice to work out too.  That's a long list!  I have a lot of other things that I'd like to get done - but that's another day's list.  The important thing is to keep the list a manageable length.

So.. here's the recipe for Chili for 75

5 lbs (more or less) of hamburger - fried
5 (or more) large onions, diced and fried with the hamburger meat
1 really large can (100 oz) of diced tomatoes (I made a mistake and bought crushed tomatoes this time instead, so that's what I used, but I prefer the diced tomatoes).
12 - 19 oz cans (540 mL) of kidney beans (I could have bought the two 100 oz cans, but the smaller ones were cheaper.  For that matter, I could have soaked the kidney beans and done it from scratch, but the cans worked out to the same price and much less work.)
Chili powder to taste (about 1/2 cup I think).

Now it's possible to add lots more ingredients (I like mushrooms, for example, but not everyone does), but that's the basic chili recipe.  Because I don't have a pot big enough to combine all this, I used all of my slow cookers; the three small pots and my two big pots - and have them plugged in throughout the house because if I plug them all in the kitchen I'll blow a breaker.  I cooked the hamburger in batches in my largest frying pan with the diced onion and divided it among the slow cookers.  I layered things in the slow cookers; a couple cups of tomato stuff in the bottom, then the hamburger meat with the onions, then the chili powder, then the cans of beans (smaller slow cookers got 2 cans, larger ones got 3), then more tomato stuff, stir well.

I'm quite pleased with myself.  This weekend I was doing the planning for making the chili and was thinking that it was a real pain that my largest frying pan didn't have a lid that fit it.  So I measured it - it's 12" in diameter - and when I was a Great Canadian Wholesale (which is where I bought the ingredients for the chili), I looked in their commercial cooking section and bought a pot lid the right diameter.  It fits just right and I'm happy!  (I need to mention that the meat was all donated.)

Now it's time to punch down buns. My goal is to have fresh buns ready for lunch and it's already 11 am so I need to get cracking.

It's Saturday - we must be cooking

Ruth and I cooked for much of the day today.  We started a little later than usual; had to get groceries first, and then cooked on and off all day.  What did we make?

• Four salads - sweet potato black bean; coleslaw forever, quinoa current and Greek salad.
• One soup - a lentil soup; we also ate it for lunch and it was very good.
• an Asian-themed supper, with ginger fried tofu, egg foo yeung, rice and soy sauce gravy.
• Two pumpkin pies (with fresh pumpkin) - which also means that we made freshly baked pumpkin seeds, and baked pumpkin.

Unfortunately, when we started cleaning everything up, my kitchen sink decided to stop draining; so I think I may have to wash whatever doesn't fit into the dishwasher in my bathtub.  I still have a small bit to clean up - plus the mess from under the sink that got pulled out so that we could try to unclog the sink.  I may also have to pay for a plumber to come by next week.

Tomorrow we've invited a crowd for lunch.  We're planning to have roast pork, sweet potato fries, salads, mixed winter vegetables, scalloped potatoes and pie for dessert.  Note that all of that except for the salads, which we made today, can be cooked in the oven at one time.  That's so we can put it in before we go to church and take it out once we get home again and have everything ready.

It's Ruth and my turn to make the snack for The Party tomorrow night.  We were planning to do tacos in a bag - and just purchase a box of the snack sized Dorito chips because it's right after Hallowe'en, but we couldn't find any; so I think we'll have taco salad instead.  Same idea.

OK, here's the recipes for what we cooked today:

Ginger Fried Tofu (this recipe was in Friday's Leader Post - but we adapted it.  Nicole really, really liked it and took pictures to send home to China to show her parents.  I was going to take pictures as well for my blog, but my phone's dead so you'll have to imagine how nice it looked.)

1 package medium tofu (drained)

Oil for frying

2/3 cup grated carrots (about 2 medium carrots)

2-3 green onions finely chopped

1/4 cup fresh ginger, finely chopped (I purchase my finely chopped ginger already ready in a jar - the same way I purchase my garlic)

2 TLB minced garlic

3 TLB soya sauce

2 TLB apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup honey

1 TLB sesame oil

1/4 to 1/2 tsp. red chili flakes

Method

Cut the tofu into small cubes and deep fry in the oil until brown (about 10 min.).  Drain on paper towel.

While the tofu is deep frying, stir fry the carrot, green onion, ginger and garlic until the carrot is soft (about 5 min.)  Stir together everything else and add to the carrot mixture and continue cooking for another 5 min.  Add the fried tofu, and stir to coat it with the sauce.  Serve hot over rice.

Zucchini Egg Foo Yeung

3 small zucchini - grated

1 medium carrot - grated

6 mushrooms - sliced

1/2 onion - diced

2 cups fresh bean sprouts

Eggs

oil for frying

Mix together all the vegetables.  In a small bowl, crack two eggs at a time, beat them and add a large handful of the vegetable mixture.  Stir until it's all covered with the eggs.  Heat the oil in the frying pan, and add the vegetable egg mixture, forming it into two pancakes.  When brown on one side, carefully turn it over.  

I found that I was able to make 7 pancakes with the vegetable mixture above; which meant that I used 7 eggs, doing two at a time.  

Serve with soya sauce gravy.

Soya Sauce Gravy

1/4 cup soya sauce

1/4 cup cornstarch

3 cups water

Mix the soya sauce and cornstarch together.  Add water and whisk to get rid of any lumps.  Cook in the microwave until the consistency of gravy - about 3-5 minutes.  

Monday night at The Party

Monday nights I help coordinate The Party - an outreach program of our church for inner-city children.  We  run two programs at the same time; The Party is for children aged 5 through Grade 5 while the teen program is for Grade 6 and up.  This is our fourth year for the program, I think - maybe it's the fifth year?

It started in the Steiner's home on Wednesday nights because they had kids just showing up at their house all the time and they were trying to keep it down to just one night a week.  It quickly outgrew their house and we then moved to the elementary school that's just across the road from my home and changed to Tuesday nights.  By the end of the second year we were up to 25 children and preteens and feeling a little overwhelmed at times. I think we were two years at the elementary school before we got bumped. Last year we moved to the Rainbow Youth Centre, changed to Monday night and split into two groups.  Before that, we tried to run the older group in the same place but we just weren't meeting their needs.

We only run during the school year and we don't have a program whenever there's a holiday.  We have had a VBS for one week in the summer for the past three years though.  There will be no program next Monday night - because it's Thanksgiving.  I think we'll have a training session for helpers instead.  We have to do a "Plan to Protect" each year to ensure that our helpers and our kids are safe and so that we are protected from both abuse and allegations of abuse.

We continue to grow.  This is a challenge - but the Lord continues to bless us with more helpers as we need it.  Last night we had 47 children and about 25 teens.  That's a lot of kids!  As always, we have a pretty wild and crazy time - but it's an organized wild and crazy time.  We had been having only about 33 children each week this year, so to have 47 last night was a big jump.  It also meant that we didn't have enough snack - so Lisa (bless her) ran home and got us some more food to supplement what I had brought.  (We take turns bringing snack.)

What is our program?  We run from 6 pm to 8 pm.  From 6 to 6:35 or 6:40 - we run them ragged.  We play games in the gym - usually games like Sharks Across the River (a sort of group tag), or games involving a lot of running.  Then from 6:40 to 7 pm we have "Circle Time".  I run that.  We review what the rules are (where's the out of bounds areas, throw out your dixie cups after use, sign in with me when you arrive, check out with Bram when you leave - that kind of thing) and we sing songs and have a Bible story (Ruth tells the Bible story).  Then we split into three groups:  one group goes to story - where they retell the story, usually by dressing up in costumes, but we try to vary what happens there.  Sometimes we'll have a Jeopardy night, or sometimes we'll do some other activity.  We try to have prizes (bribes) for the listeners there - things go much better with prizes.  One group goes to games - where they play a smaller group game.  Last night we gave them two options - they could either play a game or they could do a quieter activity (we had play dough and board games and colouring).  That worked really well and I think we'll continue doing it that way.  Our groups are getting just too big otherwise.  The last group goes for snack.  We try to have a healthy snack.  Last night we had pigs in blankets (hot dogs, cut in thirds, baked in dough) and grapes.  However Lisa ran home and brought back a big bowl of macaroni salad and carrot sticks to supplement because we just didn't have enough food otherwise.  We rotate through the groups after about 15 minutes per station.  Then we just sort kids to take them home.  Many of the children are picked up and dropped off, however parents also pick up some kids (thankfully).  We have Bram on the door to let people in and out - so that security is maintained and that we (hopefully) know where kids are at all times.

What can you do?  Pray for us.  Pray for us.  Pray for us.  The parents are continually telling us how much their children enjoy the program; that they really look forward to Monday nights.  We can tell that we're making a difference in lives because we can see the difference in the children that come regularly and the ones that don't.  We can also see a change in the children from year to year, as they mature.  It's a real blessing and a real challenge to work with them and grow with them.

VBS

Last week was Mission 6:10.  I helped with it, did a bit of cooking, drafted out the Prayer Walk brochure, and helped with Northwest's VBS.  We have had a VBS for the past three years as part of Mission 6:10, and have held it each year in the park at the corner of 7th and Pasqua.  This puts us at the mercy of the elements - if it rains, it will be cancelled.  However, the Lord, as always, provides.

We always start each VBS with a carnival on the Sunday evening - an opportunity to play with the kids and meet with the parents and let everyone know that we will be having the VBS this week.  We had a good turnout for the carnival, but we don't really do attendance for that.  Monday, we had 75 kids!  That's a new record for us.  Tuesday was cold and although it had been rainy all day, it cleared up by 4 - so when we had the VBS that evening, we had a good turnout.  Wednesday and Thursday we worked at building numbers again.

I don't do much for the VBS - it's planned by the Greenville Oaks team who comes up from Texas each year.  I purchase the snacks and transport all the supplies - and consult on most of everything else.  Usually I do the attendance as well but this year we had a parent from the community who did that most nights for me.

I always find the VBS a lot of fun - and exhausting!  I was kidding with one of the other adults who was helping that the best thing about a four-day VBS was that it isn't five days.

Now I need to find the time to do the follow-up.  I took pictures of most of the kids and told them I'd try to mail them their pictures if they gave me their address.  I wanted their addresses so that I could invite them to The Party which will resume again in the fall.  I plan to mail out their photos this week and then the week before The Party starts to send them out a postcard to invite them.  (I'm also looking to find someone to pay the costs of the two mail outs and the printing of the photos - hint, hint).

Final Party until Fall

Monday night was our final time for The Party.  We had a potluck feast, and invited parents to come as well as just kids.  And everyone came!  I think our highest turnout previously had been the week before, when we had 41 kids (and that week we didn't have the Grade 5 kids as we had sent them to see what happens with the older group, as they will get to join them come fall).  However, Monday night we had around 50 kids, plus parents.  I estimated that we had at least 10 parents come, and we had nearly 15 helpers - which meant that we likely had between 75 and 80 people there.  That's a lot.  However, like loaves and fishes, we   had enough food to go around (just barely).  We didn't have the 12 baskets left over though.

We're now done, until fall - except for the VBS in the park, the last week of July, as part of Mission 6:10.  Now, we've had an unusually rainy summer so far - and we don't rent tents or anything for the park, so if it rains on a particular day, we just cancel it.  We've only had the VBS in the park for the past two years, however, we've had fine weather both years so far, and we're really praying for fine weather for that week again this year.  As always, the Lord will provide.

Sometimes the main goal is just survival

Monday night we have The Party.  I run the group for the younger children - from Kindergarten through Grade 5.  There's also a separate group for Grade 6 and up - the teen group.  We follow the same general formal each week - kids love routine (and frankly, so do the adults).  Bram and I drive to the school at 5:45 and pick up any teens that are there waiting, to bring them to help.  We get to the Rainbow Centre at about 5:55.  Kevin V's already there, and he's set out the orange cones that mark the out of bounds areas and covered the computers with a tarp.

Bram stays at the door and greets kids as they arrive.  I go downstairs and immediately take the clipboard and start recording names as people arrive.  I have three columns - from left to right, the first column is for the kids grades K through 5.  The middle column is for the teen group and the final column is for the helpers.  This evening however, I couldn't find the box of Dixie cups that I keep in my van, so I drove home for them; couldn't find them, so drove to the grocery store for them.  The Dixie cups are for drinking; there's no water fountain but there is a water cooler.  I didn't get back until nearly 6:30.

The kids trickle in between 6 and 6:30 - a lot of them are picked up by our drivers who go on a set route.  There's a general play time (we have balls and skipping ropes) and the kids run and play and have fun.  At 6:30, the same drivers take the teen group (and a large group of helpers) over to Zieke's place.  The remaining helpers and the younger group stay and play for another 5-10 minutes, then we have circle time.  This is when we sing a few songs, talk about rules and expectations, and have a Bible story.  This week we weren't doing the Bible story; we were having a craft instead, so I showed the craft.  I also do a very small bit of math - I count the kids and say, "Ok, if we have this many kids; how many are going to be in each group if we have three groups?"  This week we had 37 kids - that's groups of 12!!!  Normally we have around 23-30 kids.  Also because Ruth (my sister, our story lady) wasn't here this week, and we were short on helpers, I was running the craft station.  Normally, I'm the floater - making sure the groups rotate on time and putting out fires and dealing with incidents.  We actually ended up with 41 kids, as four others came in late.  I think this is a new record for this year.

Marina, one of our helpers, was saying, "I can deal with just about anything that comes in to the Emergency Ward but I come home from The Party feeling shell shocked."  I kind of go with the flow; I'm a teacher and not much phases me - but I do appreciate the many, many volunteers we do have - we can't run the program without them.  This week we only had 10 helpers for over 40 kids; which is a really poor ratio.  That means, once you take out the three leaders for each of the stations, that you only have two helpers per group - or about one helper for every six kids.

After circle time, we rotate through three centres (story, games, and snack); spending roughly 15 minutes in each centre.  Then there's about 10 to 15 minutes left for play time before it's time to go home again. During the final play time, several of the helpers are doing the clean up; emptying garbage cans, doing dishes (if needed) and sweeping the floor.  When the drivers arrive, we shoo the kids out to the various vehicles and drive everyone home.  This week we ended up with an unclaimed pair of shoes and a kid missing his shoes.  (The kids all take off their shoes at the door, just like they do at school.)  This is the second time this has happened this year.  It's not a happy thing and we have to go and explain to the parents that we're sorry and we don't know where the shoes are.

It's always a fairly wild and crazy time.  Some weeks we wonder what, if anything, the kids get out of it.  I'm regularly telling individuals, "You have to start behaving now, or I'll send you home" or "We have a hands off rule." The amazing thing is that I rarely do have to send someone home. The Lord works through us, despite us.

Next week is our last session before we break for the summer.  We've invited everyone's families for a feast day.  If we had over 40 kids tonight; I wonder how many we'll have out for the feast?  It should be interesting.  We will then have nearly a full month off before we run a VBS in the park, as part of Mission 6:10 - and then we have the month of August off before we start again in September.  The teen group is planning to continue to meet through the summer. More power to them; I'm ready for a break.  (Mind you, as a teacher, I'm winding down to the end of the school year at work as well.)

Monday Evening

It`s a quiet evening after a hectic day.  I woke up at 5, got up at 5:30, cleaned up the kitchen, started the dishwasher, made breakfast and ate it; then went and picked up Ruth so we could work out together at Curves.  On the way back home, stopped at the Great Canadian Warehouse for boxes (my morning task) and dropped them off at school.  I've calculated that for the approximately 650 shelves of books that need to be packed up, I'll need approximately 1000 boxes.  That's a lot of boxes!

At school I`ve been busy finishing up the inventory on the library and I`ve started packing up books.  Everyone asks me, ``So, what are the plans for the books?" and I reply, "I only know it's my job to inventory them and then to pack them up."  It was 25 out today; a beautiful sunny day - and it was about that warm in the library as well.  I've been fighting a throat infection and losing; so have been surviving off cough drops with benzocaine in them (which numbs my throat).  I'm now out of them, which is unfortunate.

After work, I lay down for an hour, as I'm definitely not feeling as well as I could be.  At 5 I got up and started making snack for The Party.  Ruth and I had picked up six bags of mini buns for sliders; and I grated a can of ham, added mayonnaise and pickles, for filling.  Looked at it - decided that there's no way that would be enough; phoned Ruth to pick up another can of ham; put Bram to work grating cheese.  We ended up with two smaller containers of grated cheese with mayonnaise filling; and two larger containers of grated ham with mayonnaise and pickle filling.  Half goes to The Party, while half goes to the teen group.  It went over really well.  By the time I had that ready, it was 5:30 - we have to be ready to leave by 5:45 and we still hadn't eaten supper!  Bram thinly sliced some sweet potato and we fried it in oil with seasoned salt.  Yum.  (But could have eaten more - so could Ruth and Bram).

Went to pick up helpers for The Party at 5:45 (only one came - thanks Matt); then straight to the Rainbow Youth Centre, getting there just before 6.  Had 24 kids for The Party; and I think a few less than that for the teen group.  Our play activity tonight was outside in the park across the street, flying kites.  The kite-shaped kites fly the worst (in case you were wondering).  The Bible story was Daniel in the Lion's Den.  (We've been doing the book of Daniel for the past 6 weeks or so).  We only have two more weeks for The Party and then we'll be done until fall.  The last week will be a feast; and then we'll have a 4-day VBS in the summer.  We're already talking about how to do things so that it'll run more smoothly in the fall.

Dropped off a van-load of kids (had to arrange a different ride for Bram as had six kids to drop off plus Ruth and myself).  Home shortly before 8:30.  I've been feeling like I should really go out and pick up the last rent that I didn't get on the weekend, but have no energy - and... she came to the door and dropped it off!  Thank you, Lord.

It's after 10 pm now so I can go gargle with salt water again and go to bed.  I can't go to bed before 10 pm or I'll wake up before 4 am, and I don't like to do that.  5 am is early enough.

Some days are busier than others

Today was a busy one. I woke up around 5:30 am, which is my usual time, and forced myself out of bed a little after 6, which is also normal. Made breakfast, unloaded the dishwasher, ate breakfast, got lunches ready - then Ruth arrived a little after 6:30 so we could go to Curves and work out.

By the time we've finished working out, I've had a 2 minute shower and gotten dressed (this time in "work" clothes instead of work-out clothes), and driven back across town again it's 7:45. I have to be at work by 8 - so it's making sure the lunches are all put together, grabbing mine, and heading out the door. I couldn't find my keys so went to work without them. About mid-morning I figured out that I was wearing a different coat than yesterday and my keys were undoubtedly in yesterday's coat.

I work from 8 to 4 - with a lunch break from 12:05 to 1; only today it's Bible quizzing practice at lunch, so not a real lunch break. At about 3 pm (when classes were over), I went outside with the students who had volunteered to help rake leaves and helped with that. Left promptly at 4 as I had to get some things for The Party tonight.

Drove to the Dollar Store and Walmart, got a few groceries as well as supplies for The Party, back home by 5 pm. Supper on the table by 5:15; dishes in the dishwasher and make four sock puppets for the Bible story tonight. Back in the van by 5:45 (running a little late). Swing by the school to see if any students are going to come to help with The Party (unfortunately no) - then helping with the program there from 6 to 8 pm. Help pack things up, drop off the brother and sister I regularly drop off, home by 8:30.

Now I have dirty pots and pans filling my sink, but I have just vegged for the past 90 minutes and now it's time for bed. However, this has been my only down time all day, so I'm not going to feel guilty about it.

I have to say Bram's day was even busier than mine I think. He got up at 7:30, had quizzing practice at noon, the same as me, helped rake leaves from 3 pm to 4:40; helped with The Party from 5:45 to 8:30 the same as I did, then once we got home, he had to do homework for tomorrow (assignments in Histoire, Francais and memorize 5 Bible verses for quizzing).

Whew!

Just home from The Party. I think we had 35 kids tonight; not exactly sure because although I do attendance, we had a group of kids come in late when I had already started the circle time and I never did get their names. Now 35 kids isn't too unusual, what was unusual was that we had only one teenage helper - in fact, we were really short of helpers all around. We had a total of eight helpers - which worked out to one group leader for each of three groups (with 12 in a group, that's not enough); one helper to run each centre (two helpers in the snack centre because poor Debbie had had dental surgery this past week and really couldn't have done it alone) - and me, to be the head honcho, and help out at whichever centre needed the most help.

Tonight was one of those "survival" nights I think. It's always good to have a few of those so that we can appreciate the other nights when everything runs more smoothly. In fact, we're really very fortunate that we generally have enough helpers, enough snack, the kids behave, etc. I guess I can be thankful for our norms because tonight wasn't normal and it was very hectic. And we should all sleep very well tonight.