Parent Projects

I've decided that I'm not a fan of projects that the kids have to do for school.

Today Sydney was supposed to go to school with 100 'things' on her shirt. Goodbye to the baggies of marshmallows, cheerios, etc. Now they want stuff attached to a shirt. Brett's idea was to actually write '100 THINGS' on a piece of paper and attach it to her shirt. Clever. I actually decided that we would make a necklace that has 100 things on it. I read somewhere that some parents were gluing popcorn kernels on shirts, or 100 pennies, etc. My friend had the idea of safety pins on a shirt. I had a bazillion of those, so I decided we would string them on as a necklace. That took much less time than actually 'pinning' them on. Except that when I went to put the necklace on Syd I dropped one end and 1/2 of the pins went scattering so I had to re-string them.

At Christmas the kids were supposed to come to school dressed as elves for elf day. Luckily for me I had some scrap fabric that I could put a little costume together. What do parents do that can't sew? Stimulate the economy?

The school is having a contest tomorrow too. Each grade has a 'theme' for Valentine boxes. Sydney's is Nursery Rhymes, and Ryan's is Simple Machines. I had a bright idea late last night that we could make a Wheel Barrow for Ryan. That is a Simple Machine. He informed me this morning that his teacher told them that if their box looked like a Simple Machine, they wouldn't win, but if it had a Simple Machine 'in' it they might win. I highly doubt we will win. We never do. This is project is more for parents than it is for the kids. It is something that Ryan really wants to do though. He has his vision. I just don't know that I can help him execute it.

I'd like to be in on the "bright idea" meetings that the teachers have so that I can offer a 'parent' perspective. I have two kids. What the heck to people do that have more than two--those that have 4 or 5 or more, all in different grades.