For those with kids in ps

[Night Elf]

I remember when the school year was starting that there were several people who had kids enrolling in school. I am just wondering how things are going for everyone.

 

Dd14 has been in school for 9 weeks now. For the most part, she's doing very well. It took her a few weeks to make friends but once she did, school became slightly more enjoyable. But the work level is more than she imagined. She's never had 7 classes at the same time. However, academically she's doing great. Well, until one test in her honors English class. She got a 79 on it and it brought her grade down to a very low B. She doesn't feel good about the class because she just can't get the hang of the questions on theme. He gives them quotes from the reading material and has them relate them to theme. She either nails it or misses it completely. But she's hanging in there and still feels that choosing school was the right thing to do. She joined the book club which reads a book a month. Oh, and she's going to the Homescoming dance this weekend with a group of girl friends. She's been super busy and is looking forward to Thanksgiving break.

[Cassy]

It sounds as though your DD is going to make a real success of school once she adjusts. DS11 has had quite a bit of adjustment to make too. Homeschooling is so lovely and relaxed, a full school day can seem very exhausting in comparison. DS11 has also found it difficult to conform to some of the ways of working expected by teachers at school; for example, losing marks on a piece of work simply for putting a heading in the wrong place. DS11 has also joined lots of extracurricular classes, which added on to all the other activities he'd carried on from his homeschool days, as well as quite a bit of homework, has meant that he has barely any free time and is beginning to get very, very tired! He is loving all the new friends he's made; his form seems to have mainly nice, caring children in it, amazingly (quite the opposite from the children in DS13's form).

 

Overall it's been a good experience for DS11. I wish your DD the very best of luck in the days ahead. School can be great fun and hugely rewarding, but, as I tell DS11, it's not all fun and games, and can be very hard work and a bit of a struggle at times.

[Carrie12345]

My 14yo is doing... okay.

Out of 8 classes, his grades are good to great in 7. His honors English... not so much. :glare:

 

He's not handling homework well, but that was an issue for him even in elementary ps, so I don't think it has anything to do with being hsed before. He's living with his father, so my hands are a bit tied when it comes to cracking the whip.

He's one of those "I'm smart; why do I need to do this" kind of kids, and I've talked until I was blue in the face. Sigh.

[MariannNOVA]

DD13 has been in 8th grade for 9 or 10 weeks now......:confused:

 

It is going well - she loves it......she loves desks, lockers, raising your hand, schedules, routines, bells....she loves every minute of it.

Edited October 12, 2012 by MariannNOVA

[Chris in VA]

Dd is in ps middle school for 7th. She did attend ps for 5th and 6th, so the school thing is not brand new, even tho she's at a different school now.

 

She's doing exceptionally well, academically. She could handle all honors, but is in just honors math (which is a review from last year...) and honors English (she was moved the 3rd day and says her former teacher is better than the honors one). Her interim came back with all A's. She made 2nd chair viola in orchestra, has met some new "friends" and finds homework a lot less time-consuming than last year. We were worried about the homework, but honestly, it's a piece of cake. I hope they ramp it up, b/c right now the assignments for projects are a joke.

 

She is getting mouthy and disrespectful, and I am thinking of pulling her email account b/c I don't know who she is talking to. There is some tension between us, although I can't attribute all of that to public school.

 

I will say, tho, that I make every effort to be here when she gets home from school, because it is El Primo Talking Time. She is still telling me about her day, and that is good.

 

She is going to her first dance on Monday--I'm not thrilled, but it is just an afterschool dance for 90 minutes, just for middle school (which is only 7th and 8th grade here), and she wasn't "asked," just going with some girls. I would not allow her to accept a boy's invitation at this point.

[Paige]

Today is actually my oldest children's last day. My 11yr old is excited about it and the younger ones are not so excited. They said they were a little happy and a little sad. We found that the teachers, administrators, and children in the school were all wonderful. They were kind, wanted to be helpful, and anxious to make sure everyone was happy. Unfortunately, I disliked the curriculum too much. I did not feel the kids were going to learn much all year. My son was super bored and hated it. My daughters loved that it was easy. I have mixed feelings about pulling them out. I think it is best for them educationally, but I'm sad that it didn't work out since the girls really enjoyed it.

 

My youngest is staying in for now. She is inconsistent with what she says she wants to do (stay in school vs. homeschool) so I want to leave her in until I know for sure how she feels. She says she loves school but the whole "pulling clips" thing they do for behavior is too scary. She's never been in trouble and pulled her clip, but just that it is there makes her anxious. Her teacher is going to talk to her and try to help her relax. She's not learning anything either, but is just in K and her homeschool stuff can occur after school quickly and easily. I will not be sending her in 1st grade because of my issues with the curriculum but for now it will be really helpful for her to be in school. She is high maintenance and it will be easier to get the other kids' school done if she is at her own school.

[bettyandbob]

well....

 

generally things are going well. Dd went to public middle school, but high school is a new place. Dd is in 9th grade and is in all honors. Her interim was all A's and one A- . This was in Algebra 2/trig. As a result, she sees this as reinforcement that she is weak in math. Hmmm...

 

The social thing has been hardest for her. Her two closest friends went to other schools. Some girls are just not nice. In her school social groups she has "friends" who have convinced her she's not very smart. Among other things they act like it's a fluke when she performs better on a test than them. dd tries not to share test scores, but she had a middle school teacher who was not good about keeping such things private. Now, in high school she's trying reestablish herself with new friends.

 

Her main extracurricular is ballet. She takes classes 4-6 days a week. Apparently, mean girl behavior is infiltrating the studio -- at least it did last night.

 

dd is a little unhappy.

 

So, she wants to graduate early. She wants finish all her classes in time to walk a year early. And she wants the Advanced diploma. We stayed up late and figured out she could do it, and include two dual enrollment classes her last year (junior year). She says she's going to talk to her counselor today. I don't know if she will follow through with this intense crunched schedule, but she's relieved there's another option.

 

Perhaps things will turn around at the football game tonight and at pointe class tomorrow. Academically, she's doing great.

[AlmiraGulch]

I'm glad your daughter is doing well!

 

Mine is holding her own, for sure. Her grades are very good. She says it's much easier than her home school. :glare:

 

She has also joined a couple of clubs (drama and zoology) and actually asked me if we could go to the homecoming football game tonight. Very uncharacteristic of her!

 

Still no friends, but she seems happy. I'll take it.

[Cassy]

The social thing has been hardest for her. Her two closest friends went to other schools. Some girls are just not nice. In her school social groups she has "friends" who have convinced her she's not very smart. Among other things they act like it's a fluke when she performs better on a test than them. dd tries not to share test scores, but she had a middle school teacher who was not good about keeping such things private. Now, in high school she's trying reestablish herself with new friends.

 

Her main extracurricular is ballet. She takes classes 4-6 days a week. Apparently, mean girl behavior is infiltrating the studio -- at least it did last night.

 

dd is a little unhappy.

 

:grouphug: :grouphug: for you and your DD. This has been DS13's experience of school. Ironically he's my most extrovert, sociable, child, and has never been homeschooled. We have had some very dark days. I keep trying to reassure him that out in the real world he won't have to put up with so many idiots all at once, but will have more freedom to choose who he spends time with. Sometimes I feel as though I'm counting the days for him.

[Kalypso]

My ds10 is doing really well academically, but he doesn't like the long days and some of the assignments that the teachers give. Getting used to some of the grading has bothered him, too. He spent the first few weeks begging to come home but seems to be adjusting now and not complaining as much. I guess we'll just see how it goes. I'm not opposed to bring him back home eventually. I just want him to give it a good try which means until Christmas break at the very least.

[jen3kids]

I was thinking about starting a thread like this!

 

 

My younger ds is finishing up his 7th week of school. He went for 4th grade for 8 days and that was the extent of his ps experience. He's been homeschooled throughout. I did not tell any of his teachers (except an offhand remark to his Science teacher) that had never been in school before. He is doing so well and I'm so incredibly proud of him.

 

He loves most of it - his classes and his teachers, he's made some friends (a boy on the street who we had never met before!

 

He does not like - the homework. Ugh! It's not the worst thing ever and he does struggle with time management, but he doesn't understand (and neither do I) why they need homework after 90 minute classes.

 

He also has a bit of test anxiety that he's dealing with better than he ever did at home. That's because the teacher won't sit with him while he does the work and give instant feedback.

 

I met with 3 of his teachers yesterday for parent teacher conferences. They all say he's doing great: he participates, does his homework, is polite and respectful. His language arts teacher asked me if he had been in the gifted language arts program in elementary school - talk about a pat on the back for me! She said he is her grammar ace (he loves grammar thanks to MCT program).

 

He needs a lot of sleep and we're having a tough time balancing free play with homework and other activities and making sure he gets to bed before 8pm. He likes to get up early (6:15-6:30) so he's not rushed in the mornings, but I would prefer him to sleep until 7. I'm leaving it up to him though and so far he's handling things well.

 

I really think he is relieved to see that he is smart (he has 5 As and 2 Bs), and that homeschooling was not a waste of time. Getting that external validation has really improved his confidence. Unfortunately (kind of) getting As usually targets you for the gifted program which only gives you more work, nothing broader. We'll deal with that if it comes up. He enjoys learning and I'm relieved that he's doing so well.

[Matryoshka]

My older two (14yo) headed off to high school, which was planned. They're having a good time overall. They knew a lot of people, more than they thought they would. They have a friend there who was homeschooled in 2nd and 7th that introduced them to all her friends, many of whom are also in their classes, which was very nice. My violinist also knows a lot of kids in the orchestra from the community orchestra she was in. They say they always find someone to sit with at lunch.

 

They are in mostly honors classes - one twin is in all honors where an honors section exists (things like health/pe/orchestra/art don't have honors at this level), the other is in standard math. They're in Spanish 3 honors, and it's all review (as it should be, as they did Spanish 3 with me last year). But I'm friends with the Spanish 4 teacher, and I knew she really kicked it into gear, so I thought they'd do better with an easier class, and they're doing more writing than I ever got them to do. My mathier dd is loving her honors programming class, and has also joined the robotics club. Other dd is doing German and International clubs (they still got to German Sat. School). They haven't reported any social drama (knock wood). They do say it's hard to break into groups of friends who already know each other, even when they're nice to you, but I think that's normal and they'll integrate more with time.

 

My twins don't see each other much at school, ironically. They have none of the same classes, and none of the same lunch periods. They have been doing great keeping themselves organized and keeping up with homework, which has been manageable so far, though it does ebb and flow.

 

So, overall I'd say it's going well. One dd has said she really wishes she could homeschool part time and ps for some classes. I think that would be great too, but the school has this rotating schedule that I actually really like for kids in it - you get a break from one class a day, and you don't have the same class first thing in the morning, and a different lunch break every day so you see different kids - but it makes it pretty much impossible to just drop in for one or two classes, as they'd be at different times every day (and not even the same from week to week). We have made a concerted effort to keep in touch with their homeschooling friends.

 

What was a surprise is that my youngest has also headed off to school. She's in 6th grade, the first year of middle school here. At home all she wanted to do was rush through her work and then pester me (over and over and over) to go on TV/computer. And she flat out refused to do some things (like, oh, read) at all. She said she didn't want to do the outside activities/classes I'd signed her up for.

 

She seems to be doing well. She didn't know as many kids. Math, her favorite subject at home, is her least favorite in school (boring repetition of stuff she's already covered). Did manage to get her into the accelerated math section, but they're doing 6th grade EM and she's just finished AoPS Prealgebra at home. We'll be afterschooling math. I'm not overly impressed with the curriculum, but in LA, she was refusing to read and write for me (I'd signed her up for online writing in desperation - she'll do it for others), so it's kind of like anything is better than nothing. She'll still be doing book club with her friends (the only way I could get her to read at home). They are also doing a lot with study skills, which is something I'm not sure I could've gotten her to care about at home. I did a lot of that with her sisters, who seem now well-prepared for high school, but this is a whole different kid who just flat out refuses to do anything that she doesn't feel like (and note taking, studying for tests - those would fall into that category).

 

She's not made any close friends (it's only been a few weeks) but she says everyone is nice and she hasn't seen any bullying or mean girl stuff. I had heard from people in town that this school has a good handle on that, and that the other middle school has much more mean girl behavior. So, knock more wood. We'll see how things go when the bloom is off the rose, but for right now she's getting up fairly cheerfully at 6am for the bus at 7 when it took a herculean struggle and usually a screaming fit for her to get up at 9 at home. :glare:

 

So now I feel unemployed! :tongue_smilie:

Edited October 12, 2012 by matroyshka

[Karen in CO]

My older dd is doing great in school. Latin is her favorite subject although history, science and math are close behind. She still has a terrible time getting out of bed in the mornings, but she hasn't been late yet. She's learning to get her homework done faster which is giving her more free-time. She's making friends. She is even getting used to tucking in her uniform shirt. She was way ahead of the class in math, but I think that is probably good since it gave her an easy class while she was getting used to everything else. Her school gives feedback instead of grades to the kids, and she has spent some time trying to figure out if "Excellent!" is better or worse than "Terrific!." I also got a good laugh when I saw a graded paper for English in which she had misspelled perform and the teacher had had her write it 5 times.

 

Younger dd spent 6 days in ps before I pulled her out. She can wait until 6th grade then go the classical school with her sister.

[Just Kate]

My kids started school this year. I was worried about ds8 (third grade), as he did NOT want to go at all. So far, he is doing well. He likes school and is making friends (one of my worries, actually). He is getting good grades and seems to be pretty happy. He keeps telling me that school is fine for one year, but that next year he really wants to go back to homeschooling. I am praying that can happen!!!

 

My dd5 started Kindergarten and let me tell you, that girl is made for school. She absolutely loves it and is doing so well. If I am able to homeschool next year (my hope!!!), it will be very difficult to pull her out. But I'll just cross that bridge when I come to it!

[KungFuPanda]

My teen is thriving . . .thank you for asking :) She went into high school last February as a freshman and they had no issue with taking her homeschool credits. This year she is a sophomore. She likes all of her classes except chemistry. I've never seen a kid hate chemistry more than mine, but I can't blame school since she hated it at home and at the commu it's college class she attended when she homeschooled.

 

Her love is language arts and theatre. She's in honors English and Spanish, and I'm pretty sure her English teacher will funnel that entire class into AP next year. She went in an excellent language arts student and a decent math student, and I have seen measurable progress in all areas.

 

DD is in the school play this year, so she spends a lot of time at rehearsal. She already had friends there from our neighborhood when she enrolled, but this year she has become a theatre kid, so she never really had to struggle with not having a niche in school. This week is Spirit Week. She phoned in Pajama Day and just wore sweats, but the rest of the week didn't offend her fashion sense TOO much. The homecoming dance is Saturday, so we did the whole bonding-over-dress-shopping thing and she is going with a lovely group of girls (who I've known for a few years). She's looking forward to it all.

 

The drawbacks of school are the long hours and loads of homework. I'm glad she wasn't fried out from 9 years of schooling before she went into this! Another big disadvantage was that she got sick (ironically, her hsed brother brought her some co-op cooties) and had to scramble to make up homework from missed days.

[Joker]

Dd is in her second year of ps. She started the middle school last year as a 6th grader. She did well academically, but struggled making friends that she would talk with outside of school.

 

This year she's made lots of friends. She's still doing well academically (she's in the Honors program), but we're less than impressed with two of her classes. We're having to afterschool math because her teacher doesn't really teach, and when she does it's not challenging.

 

Overall, she's very happy with ps middle school and all the kids have been nice. It hasn't been anything like a lot talk about, as far as the kids and behavior.

[----]

.

Edited September 11, 2014 by amana

[Night Elf]

It's nice to hear how well everyone is doing, except for a couple of you and I am so sorry! I sure hope things get better quickly!

 

It's also nice to see how many of our kids are faring well after homeschooling. It looks like there are several of us with kids in honors. We're already thinking ahead to AP classes. I'm not really sure how I feel about that though. The only AP class my dd is looking forward to is Psychology because that is what she wants to major in at college.

 

I do miss her being home. It's been 9 weeks and I still find myself wanting to go to her room to tell her something. Then I realize she's not there and it feels very strange. I'm still homeschooling ds16 though, so I am not totally done with that. He'll be graduating from home. For her, I'm really hoping she can get through the 4 yrs. at school, although coming home will always be an option. Our county has a home program that would be paid for and will let her take their classes online. She would still be considered a public school student and would earn a GA accredited diploma, which is a good thing. So at least we have an alternative if things don't work out.

 

Oh, and she's nervous right now because she's taking the PSAT next Wednesday. I was surprised that her teacher recommended it for her grade level. I'm not sure if all the English classes are talking to 9th graders or if it's just due to her being in Honors.

[Mekanamom]

Well, my older 2 are both going to the local public high school this year. This was specifically so they could be in the marching band, which they love! Between marching band and music lessons, they dedicate about 20 hours/week to music.

 

Academically, they are both doing great. Oldest has a 4.0 and is taking AP classes; Middle dd transferred in after school started, so her grades are still a little jumbled until the teachers can finish giving her make up work and/or cancel out what she missed. But she has high scores on everything she has done since she started.

 

I think I can safely say that using the K12 curriculum prepared both of them very well for high school. :001_smile:

 

Youngest tried a site based charter school last year, and the first couple months this year. She is back home now. Nothing wrong with the school; she just needs more individual attention to succeed than the school can give her. This year, we are not using K12 at home. I think she needs a concentrated, straightforward, no frills approach to really build up her skills in the basics this year. She's always had to share my time with her older sisters, so it's nice to be able to spend one on one time with her!

[amyco]

My dd is in public high school this year and doing very well. She played a fall sport--how on earth these children manage a life with a sport is beyond me. She was putting in 11 hour days before she got home to eat and do homework. Somehow she managed to keep her grades up. She likes all her teachers, loves a few of them, is meeting new people and going to homecoming dance with friends. It's not all rosy, though. She hates getting up so early (school starts at 7:10 a.m.! I am still asleep when she leaves.) Also we've noticed a few subtle things that we've had to call her on, little mean behaviors that are not like her at all. It's no wonder they call the teen years turbulent--it's up one day and down the next, depending on a grade, a game, whatever. I'm kind of exhausted already.

[Samiam]

DS14 in 9th and doing amazingly well! And so am I, haha!!

 

His first few day hiccups:

1. Had a bit of trouble navigating the lunch line...apparently stood in line only to get to the front to realize it was the desert line, then felt "obligated" to buy a cookie since he was there (he's that kind of personality, lol), and then wasn't sure if he had enough to buy a real lunch (no prices posted), so just bought fries. Took a few days, but he has the hang of it now (and we've got his badge that they swipe loaded with some funds too.)

2. Couldn't figure out how to open locker, how to get from locker to class waaay on the other side of the building in the four minutes....very concerned with not being tardy :D. Carried a backpack FULL of books, binders and and arm full of books and binder around ALL Day cuz he couldn't get into his locker. We told him not to come home the next day with all of that, it's waayy to much to carry all day and he'll get the nickname "binder boy", lol. "Get to your locker and get help if you need it. If you come home tomorrow with all that stuff, then your father is going in with you and getting it done for you. " He got it done :)

 

3. We didn't know what "bellwork" was. He had to bring notebooks by a certain date for "bellwork". No idea. Turns out it's when they get to class, and take the first five minutes to do something in their notebooks. (what they do depends on which class)

 

Other than that, it's been great for him!! He's figured out everything he need to figure out, best part of being a adaptable human. Teachers are open and communication is welcomed.

 

Dress code is strict, no loitering in halls, in parking lot...overall, it's a pretty controlled environment and I like that. I guess I had pictured high school in movies, where it's chaos everywhere. Geesh, even some crazy things happened in my high school parking lot in small town Nebraska, back in my day. Nope, not here..park your car, and get in the building...teachers monitoring the student parking lot.

 

He's made friends, participating in the football team. He doesn't sit by himself at lunch (one of our silly fears).

 

He's in four Honors classes, and 3 regular classes (P.E., Intro to Engineering, and Spanish). Had 5 A's and 2 B's. B in Honors Composition...not an surprise there, that's ALWAYS been his struggle. B in Honors Biology.....apparently science was a gap for us!!! Learning point for me there,...we'd always been jumping around science curriculums over the years, half-hearted attempts....so it's all kinda new to him and its' a bit of head-churner. Something for me to improve on with his younger brothers.

 

Honors Comp teacher wants them reading REAL books!! Yes, there are assigned books in class, but she pushes them to read REAL books (so I get a say in that!!!).

 

I get access to his grades every day. I know some of his test grades before he does!

 

His days are long, but that's because of football. He leaves around 8a, we drive him and we pick him up at 7p after football. He may have 30 minutes to 2 hours of homework, just depending on the day. But once football is over, then his day won't be so long.

 

He's not really integrating himself, beyond football. I mean, he hasn't joined clubs,. etc....I ask him to, but he's just not interested. That's kinda his personality though, so not unexpected.

 

Just last night I asked if he was enjoying the lecture part of class. The part where the teachers stands up in front and teachers and then there's interaction, back and forth conversation (I was fully expecting him to say no, that it wasted his time to get on with the work). He said YES!!! He says it's more interesting then just reading from a book, he likes to be able to ask questions, etc!!

 

Wow, so that was a eye-opener for me, because these last few years of middle school, at home, he was on his own quite a bit. He's a good independent work, and I had to really focus on my younger two, as one really struggles. So while I often felt bad that he was left to "read these pages, then do these problems, and then show me your work", and I would often have the intention of conversing about it afterwards, often the day went on and we never got to that conversation. Now that I realized that he enjoys that interaction I'm even more glad that he is getting that, because I know I was lacking that part of our schooltime for him.

 

Note: Did want to add that I do miss him and it has dawned on me that we only have four more years of him being at home....this time away every day has made that ever so apparent. Sad :(. And I hate that our family life is scheduled around school, ie when we go out of town etc. Missing too much time from school means too much homework for him...don't want to do that!

Edited October 12, 2012 by Samiam

[Night Elf]

1. Had a bit of trouble navigating the lunch line...

 

Dd14 too. There are multiple lines offering different lunches. A pizza line, deli line, chicken line, and hot lunch line. There were several days she ended up with lunches did didn't like because she couldn't tell what was what.

 

2. Couldn't figure out how to open locker, how to get from locker to class waaay on the other side of the building in the four minutes....very concerned with not being tardy :D. Carried a backpack FULL of books, binders and and arm full of books and binder around ALL Day cuz he couldn't get into his locker.

 

Again, dd14 had this same issue and she does pass by her locker's location, except it's on a different floor than most of her classes. Also, someone with a sense of humor set her schedule because she literally goes from one side of the school to the other every single period. No two classes are close. But her school doesn't allow backpacks during school hours. She got around that by carry a messenger bag. She has the weight of the bag and binders in her hands and carting them from one side of the school to the other. Thankfully she's gotten used to it.

 

B in Honors Biology.....apparently science was a gap for us!!!

 

Dd14 has never done a full science program until she started high school. We put her into honors Biology anyway, and it's her favorite class. I thought she hated science!

 

Honors Comp teacher wants them reading REAL books!!

 

That's fabulous. Dd14's teacher hasn't even told us everything they are reading this year. So far they've read Fahrenheit 451 and Anthem. I'm hoping he has more books scheduled. She joined the book club and is the only freshman. That teacher was delighted a freshman was interested in books. How sad is that??

 

I get access to his grades every day. I know some of his test grades before he does!

 

Yes, this is new for me. We have Parent Portal. I can text her when a grade shows up during the day that she hasn't yet seen. :tongue_smilie:

 

He's not really integrating himself, beyond football. I mean, he hasn't joined clubs,. etc....I ask him to, but he's just not interested. That's kinda his personality though, so not unexpected.

 

It sounds like his plate is full. He may join more stuff when he really feels a part of the whole environment. I wanted dd to join a couple of clubs but she only went for book club. I decided to be happy that she took the initiative to be involved in something. I bet your son makes several good friends from the football team, right?

 

Just last night I asked if he was enjoying the lecture part of class.

 

This has been a challenge for dd. She's has always been an independent worker so having to be taught by someone kind of rubbed her the wrong way. She is liking it though because she feels good about participating in the discussions. That surprised me but I told her she would have to get used to it because that is what college is like as well.

[Elinor Everywhere]

My son is a Freshman and he's going to school for the first time. He doesn't love it, but is getting used to it. He REALLY likes his ROTC class and his Honors English class is a favorite. He's getting all A's so far.

 

He doesn't like the disrespect that some students show the teachers, he doesn't like so many kids around (he was in an orphanage until age 6 and has issues with tons of kids), he doesn't like how some kids break the rules. He hasn't made any real friends yet, but he's always been like that so he doesn't seem to be bothered.

 

My dd is also a Freshman but only going to school for marching band and choir. She is my social child and predictably she LOVES it. But she's ridiculously busy...heavy academics, which is fine, but band/choir takes 25 hours a week right now, not including band competitions on Saturdays, which take about 10 hours. I'm looking forward to marching band ending in Dec - she'll transition to Concert band but that is only an hour a day. Marching band is ruling our life! :tongue_smilie: