It’s hard to believe our first official year in school is over. Well, technically it was her first year, but we put in quite a bit of effort too! First we agonized over which school was perfect for our angel. Then I cried when she left me for a full day for the first time…all day. And then of course I volunteered to be room mom, because I wanted to still be with her….and spy on the administration!
They say everything you need to know in life you’ll learn in Kindergarten, and boy did I learn more than I bargained for the second time around. If your child is graduating from those comforting walls of your small and loving preschool, savor your last few days. And then prepare for this next journey. There’s the fun of buying new school clothes, and then shopping for school supplies…but please hide your wallet when you enter your new school!
Photo Credit Al_HikesAZ
1. We are ATM’s. Fundraiser? Sure I can donate! Printer ink, (scratches head) um that’s kind of expensive, but I guess. Laminate the placemats the kids made? Sure. It cost $40? What – Huh? You get the picture. Once you enter the walls of public school be prepared to be asked for money every week. Donations for snacks for special holidays, Thanksgiving feast costs, holiday gifts for teachers, the list goes on and on and on, and so does your debt.
2. Car line is hell. I’m not joking, I even wrote a blog post in car line that Huffington Post picked up immediately. No one knows how the system works the first few weeks of school, so just inhale, bring coffee, and ignore the no phone zone. Because what else are you supposed to do while you wait for two hours?
3. Being a room mom is a full-time job. At least in the beginning of the year. There are birthday parties, math workbooks that need the pages torn out, paper to be sorted, and all sorts of projects that never end. It is fun to get to know the kids and be active in the school, but it’s no fun to constantly shell out money. If you do become room mom, do it with a friend. Co-room moms rock.
4. Some parents are jerkfaces. I can’t tell you how many emails I sent out that went unnoticed. Or requests for volunteers that no one had time to even respond to. I had to beat parents over the head by creating a Facebook group to get them to participate. I get it, you work. So do I. But guess what, your kids are worth it. Make a little time and at least have the decency to respond to the parents that are there every week trying to make things awesome for your kid! (rant over)
5. Covering a door in paper is a mission impossible. Did you know teachers need their doors decorated monthly? I sure didn’t, and was lucky to have an artistic parent to take over this room mom task until this last month. I sucked so terribly at it that my patient husband had to come in and help me. (total cost of door make over: $47)
6. Pack lunches. I’ve volunteered in the lunch room. Trust me, pack lunches.
7. Teachers are saints. My daughter’s teacher is amazing and she has totally inspired my six year old. She is patient, loving, and deserves our utmost respect for the endless hours she puts in. I am thankful that someone so caring has spent so much time with our daughter.
8. Homework sucks. Or so I hear. We go to a no homework school. (yay for us!)
9. Mornings really suck. Because we go to a no homework school, the children have a longer day and the last hour of the school day is review. So we get up at 6:00am and leave at 6:50am for a 7:30am start. We have to arrive prior to 7:15am to avoid heavy carline, and it’s a longer day, but hello? No homework from Kindergarten through eighth grade! Some of my friends children had book reports every weekend in Kindergarten?!
10. School is fun! It really has been a fun year. To be involved and see your child thriving and learning…it really is incredible. Yes there are mean girls, and she learned to flick me off, but that’s all part of life right?
YES! Bless you for being a good Room Mom. I volunteered for Kid #1’s KG year, but thankfully had 3 Co-Moms who already knew their way around school. I wasn’t able to keep up…or bring my younger kids with me when volunteering. Also, there really should be a notice at the beiginning of the year about how much you are expected to spend during fundraisers! I am all about helping out and doing my bit, but COME ON! I am not made of money! And next year I will have 2 in school so it all doubles…and the following year TRIPLES!
Sigh. At least we have all summer to save our pennies.
I forgot about not bringing the littles in to volunteer – so hard! And yes we are broke!!
Every one of these, especially class mom, as I was the class mom this year and definitely found myself adding another full-time job to my resume!
It’s not just public school! We pay tuition and STILL are asked for donations all the time. And I know the teachers must put a ton of their own money into their classrooms, so we really want to help whenever possible!
As a Kindergarten teacher I love this list! Kindergarten is such a great year. It’s amazing to see how much the children grow and learn in one year. I do hear you on the money thing. It may have been different in the school I taught, but the teachers spent a crazy amount of money on supplies. I worked in a high poverty area though, so we really didn’t ask for donations. I had to decorate all of my boards (5 big boards) at least every month. That paper is expensive (as I’m sure you found out)! We didn’t have a room mom, so just know that I’m sure your time and effort was greatly appreciated. I would have loved to have someone to help out like that! That’s also nice about the no homework!! I’m a big fan of that policy. I don’t even think you need the extra hour. We just sent home a bunch of activities the children could do with their parents if they want (except for read every night).
Even working as a teacher, I realize most of these are spot-on. Can’t wait to be on the other side of the desk 🙂
So glad I am not imagining this! lol
Kudos to you for being a room mom. I like to get ours a end of the year gift for all that they do!!
You would be a non-jerkface parent! And I will NEVER be room mom again….SO much work. I love volunteering and helping out, but it really is TOO much!
i’m a room mom too… the $ thing is irritating, the door thing is they most difficult task to pull off by yourself (and 2 kids), i won’t even ATTEMPT the car line (I park and walk to get her), some teachers are jerk faces too mean girls are everywhere and parents sometimes just choose to ignore the emails. it’s easier that way! but we asked for the job and probably glad we did!
We aren’t allowed to park and walk. School policy.
I will not miss packing school lunches. Dismissal is always so chaotic too. I have never done carline before but finding parking can be a real pain. Kudos to being room mom. I haven’t done that yet but I help out in the classroom every week. It is frustrating when other parents can’t send in a white shirt for the school play or school supplies and the room mom has to pick up the slack.
Great insight…ah, I have so much to look forward to..hehe!!
It’s not so bad, just don’t become room mom!
We go to a school where most classes have book reports every week, on top of the assigned homework. I like the sound of your school MUCH BETTER!
It IS pretty awesome.
I cannot even imagine the amount of work that goes into being a room mom but I’m sure the teacher appreciated all of the help! We didn’t have those back when I taught but it sure would have been nice 🙂 As would that no homework policy! Where was that when I was in school? 🙂
I volunteer in the boys’ classrooms but I give you mad props for being a ROOM MOM! That is a full time job! I met one of my best friends via my oldest son’s class…she was the room mom 🙂
I was able to volunteer at school for the first time this year. I love being there with the kids. God, I haven’t done kindergarten in years. Can’t wait to get back to it. One of the best years of school for parents and kids. And you are right, some parents are just jerks!!
Yes I DID love being there, but there was so much more work than expected! And I love our school!
And at the end of the day I bet you would not trade any of the room mom duties for anything! You were able to be a part of your child’s days! That equals priceless!! 🙂
Hehe…. I remember last year you debating where to send her, and this just had me laughing….
Oh the ATM machine, yep every year, and I just love it when the registration fee goes up and the services are cut!!! Our school does the fund raisers at the beginning of the school year, by now they know at this time of the year not to ask for money!
Oh the car line….. Our school is in our sub division so the kids walk, but in bad weather I drive them. This is where I want a very large sign that says, for the love of all that is holy MOVE UP!!!!! Rant over 🙂
Here is the sad fact, there are those parents that just dump and run. True story here, I have been room mum and team mum. When I started attending the oldest sports events, I noticed that most kids did not have parents cheering them on. So I started to cheer them on. Then as the years went on, I would be asked by the kids if I was coming next week, and they were so happy. They would ask me to come to other events that my daughter was not participating in to cheer them on!!!! I did go when I could. You will end up being like me, at graduation you will be cheering on MANY children, because they all become yours, oh and your house will be the house to be at!!! This is a good thing.
I have always packed the lunch, and in a rare occasion I will drop off a salad from a restaurant. The kids HATE the school lunches….
Love you list and yes most teachers are saints!!!
xoxoxo
And I thought being a homeschool mom was tough, LOL! This sounds crazy. I, of course, was never a room mom or volunteer though. Sorry, not sorry.
I’m class mom this year. I don’t have to do nearly as much as you! Still a lot of work and never doing it again 🙂
TRUTH! I had no idea public school would be so expensive!
As one of those pain-in-the-butt parents…THANK YOU for volunteering. I volunteered once or twice, but because I worked most of the school year with little or no leave available, and since siblings are not allowed for school events, it looks like I won’t be able to do much volunteering for a few years. I know that class moms put in a TON of time, and ours were awesome. Love Lauren’s idea of getting room moms end-of-year gifts, too.
Yes to #7! Ours is retiring and I’ll miss her so. She won’t be Des’ teacher. Sob.
#8 too. We go to a no homework for kindergarten school. I’m all about play-based learning for ages. Heck, even at age 34. Right?? (maybe?)
We don’t have a car line but I’ve often said that someone needs to give IQ tests to people before they drive in the school parking lot.
It’s kinda.. amazing.
I couldn’t be a room mom because of my PTSD stuff from my own kindergarten, but I’ve made a lot of progress and have big dreams for the future.
Oh just wait it gets better and more expensive! We finished up school today, hooray now I get to entertain 4 children for the next 2 months…. At least there is no homework and packing lunches, right????
I have to smile at this post because I’ve lived it, as well. I didn’t decorate a door, but needed to create a school committee bulletin board and it was much harder than anyone would have guessed. This year has been such an education on so many levels but what brings me to tears is that our kids are really learning the basics for life in KG. Did you ever read “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” by Robert Fulghum. It was one of my favorite books in the 1990s. I almost used it for my presentation last week, too…xoxo
Lol I was not the room mom last year and I was still tasked with ripping out workbook pages and making labels. I was in the class each week.
My daughter is going to have the same first grade teacher that my son had. I love the teacher but I am praying she doesn’t ask me to be the room mom. It’s a full time job! She’s awesome though.
I refuse to participate in the car line. I either park and walk or I wait to be one of the LAST moms and zoom right through lol. (My kids hate it when I do that.)
I’m actually sad that I now have a first and second grader. My babies aren’t babies anymore 🙁
I am going to figure out a way to remind myself to read this at the beginning of next school year. I feel like I slacked as a Kindergarten mom. All of the things you mention completely overwhelmed me and I think I backed off too hard. I need to go forward and be a little kinder to myself and to do what I can to be a more engaged “first grade mom.”
And yeah…the car line. Ugh. We live within walking distance and we only do the car line when it’s pouring rain. I’d rather have a pap smear.
My baby is finishing sixth grade so it has been a while since we had a kid in kindergarten but I have fond memories of it.
The good news is that some things never change, pick up and drop off remains a nightmare, some parents are jerks and you still find some awesome teachers.
It is a wild ride.