Disappointment

The first major disappointment of the year happened on the 6^th.  MAC found out that she did not audition into the women’s choir.  Auditions were held on the 4^th and she didn’t check the list until the 6^th when she had chorus class.

It was a great disappointment for her and she didn’t even go into class that day because she felt if she wasn’t good enough for the women’s choir, she didn’t want to go somewhere that she wasn’t wanted.  It took us the whole weekend to convince her that she had a lovely voice and that she should continue to sing.

 We didn’t quite understand why she didn’t make it and I sent off an e-mail to the director on Friday to which I received the following answer on Monday:

With regrards to MAC not being selected for our women's choir:  I can tell you that, although she has a big, Broadway type voice, that is not the refined, controlled type of voice I was looking for to add to an ensemble which performs mostly classical choral repertoire.  

We didn’t quite understand why she didn’t make it and I sent off an e-mail to the director on Friday to which I received the following answer on Monday:

She felt that everyone else who auditioned got in and felt very aggrieved until she found out that the school’s anime club met on Thursday’s too.

When she got picked up from Anime club last week she was very excited and said, “I’ve Found my PEOPLE!”

Hallelujah

Well here we are almost done with the second week of school.  MAC has tried out for the Choralaries (women’s chorus) and has asked that I contact the Anime Club sponsor to see when they meet.  She has made it through six days without needing her stress pass and being able to sit in the cafeteria during lunch.

I have been very proud of her remembering to put her house key in the same pocket, being able to put her hands on the $100 graphing calculator when I have asked to see it, and waking up when I ask.  We have reverted back to her asking for an extra 5 minutes (I’m her personal snooze button) which I usually give her.

She has changed girls groups and is now in the high school group which meets on Wednesday evenings.  Most of the girls from the Middle School group moved with her but it seems as if all of the parents are getting tired of a 5:30 group that doesn’t start until 6:05.  Hubby has been wondering if we need to change practices, I’m not sure…

Life hasn’t quite fallen into a pattern yet but it is getting there.

Things that Make you go “Huh?”

For the second day in a row I have woken MAC up before I left for work.  She has been unhappy to have to get up so early, but has done it when I remind her that school starts in __ days.  I know that I have read studies that state that teenagers work better when they sleep later but school will be starting on Monday and that means she will have to be up and at school ready for the day by the time I have been waking her up!

I guess that tomorrow will be closer to 6:30 instead of 7 (which is going to be the time that we’ll have to leave the house!).  I have told her that I will drop her off so she only has to ride the bus home.  This means that I’ll have to be getting up earlier too!  ***Sigh***

Why high school starts so early and the elementary school (you know those kids that wake up at the crack of dawn!) starts so late I’ll never understand.  A lot of the parents I’ve spoken with have the same question, if the older kids do better if they sleep later why not start school later?  If they switched the High School and Elementary school times the kids would be working when they are really awake and there would still be time to do after school activities.

You would think the “powers that be” could figure this out.  Oh well, here's to the start of school!  :) 

A Summer of Growing

It has been much to long since I last blogged, please forgive me.  I have been trying to work a few things out in my head before I put them on the internet where as my mother says, “they’ll stay forever”.

It has been a pleasant summer here on the East Coast.  MAC has figured out that since she doesn’t have any place to be that she can sleep in as late as she wants, which most days is until well after 10am.  When school starts next week it is going to be hard for her to wake  up at 6am!  We have tried to get her to wake up and start her day a little earlier but she has been saying, “It’s Summer!”

She did the horse camp again this year for 4 days in July.  They said that they saw a lot of progress since last year and hoped that she would come back again next year.  She says that she really enjoyed it and even though she missed her father and I she would like to go back.  I think she enjoyed the tubing, boating, and swimming too.

She and I will be going to the high school on Friday to “check it out”.  We may get to meet the teachers if they’re in, and if nothing else we should get her schedule and be able to walk out where her classrooms are.  She starts on Monday (and luckily it will only be the 9^th graders).

I see so much more maturity in her and look forward to her moving forward!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy two year anniversary every one!  It is hard to believe that 2 years ago I was sitting at the Caribou with a Newused laptop and a thought to put our story "out there".  MAC was still in middle school and we were hoping for a better year.

 Now here we are, the summer between middle school and high school...the start of a new adventure.  Not much has changed, we are still hoping for a better year and less calls from the school.

She and I talked about school supplies and what she thought she might need or use this year.  The school supply sales are beginning and you can find lined paper for .25 a ream. All she wants is lots of .9 pencils and erasers.  (Of course none of those are for taking notes, just for drawing.)   This is not the best of starts is it?

I promise that I will work harder at posting this year.  Happy Anniversary!

What to do over the summer?

I know that MAC is getting tired of everyone asking her what she's doing for the summer.  While we have had several hic-ups with camps and such in the past there wasn't really anything available for her now that she has hit the teen-age years.

There are a lot of sports camps available and there is even a chorus camp.  Unfortunately all of those require that she work in co-operative groups, not on her own.  I don't want to "set her up" for failure as I know that being in the hot sun/humidity and having to watch what she does/says will put her in a horrible mood and then if one person does something she doesn't like I'd be getting a phone call.

No, I have been a horrible mother and made her stay home by herself this summer.  She has done exactly what she wants to do for 5 weeks.  She and her cousin, Aunt, and Grand Parents went to spend a week at a time share in Virginia where she got to go to the pool every day.  Next week she'll take a week long trip to Virginia to stay with her Grand Parents while she does a 2 hour a day horse camp.  She is looking forward to that.

Summer is great and relaxing for her.  Her favorite phrase is "it's summer, I'm not supposed to learn!"  We went veggie picking at a friend's garden yesterday and she did learn about honey bees.  It was nice to hear her asking questions and figuring things out.

To paraphrase Phineas and Ferb, "Four more weeks of summer vacation, and school comes along just to end it.  So the annual problem for our generation is finding a good way to spend it!"

Almost Happy

Well here we are a little over a month since the end of school and MAC is still enjoying her self. She has been having a great time sleeping in and then eating what ever she can find in the house.  It has been a great time for her and she has even says that she is "almost happy".  She is still looking forward to the rest of the summer.  I am counting down the weeks until school starts again.

I will be contacting the school in the next week to set up our walk through and hopefully get a copy of her schedule.  She isn't looking too forward to that...