My first day there I was thrown a couple of curve balls, including an 8-year old asking one of the most complicated questions I have ever tried to decipher. It was like I was trying to unravel the Da Vinci code, trying to understand what this kid meant. And every time I would ask her a follow-up. more of the puzzle would tumble out of her mouth. Next was the damn library computer system. Damn, who designed this thing? Finally, I realized why they ask for these library volunteers. Because they have this poor librarian who has an endless stream of classes coming in all day. Literally one class in, another class in, first class out, third class in, second class out, and so on... They don't even schedule a lunch time for this woman. They have to ask for volunteers and IF they get enough volunteers to cover the library at the right time, ONLY THEN can she have a lunch time out of the library. And BTW, she also leaves the library for an hour to cover the desk in the front office. Good lord!
My next volunteer opportunity was to be a guest reader for Jack's class. Seemed simple. Show up, bring a book, read, leave. Give the teacher a 5 minute break to catch her breath. I show up at the allotted time and sit in the OFFICIAL ROCKING CHAIR FOR READING. I show the class my book (Officer Buckle and Gloria- one that Jack and I had selected the night before as having a great storyline and some really funny parents). I was promptly told by one of Jacks classmates "Oh, we have that in our reading area. That's an old one." I bucked up and soldiered on! "Great, then I guess you guys can make sure I read it correctly!"
...still looking for the awesome volunteer buzz...
Finally, I heard they were starting a garden. A garden??? My ears perked up. Right up my alley. I contacted the person in charge and joined the committee. At the first meeting, I discovered they had constructed the raised beds already...
under a stand of oak trees where it only gets some morning sun...
with no fencing to protect from the deer...
with pressure treated wood for the beds.
And of course everyone thinks it would be FAN-TAS-TIC to let the kids plant vegetables...
that need 6-8 hours of full sun...
and taste absolutely delicious to the deer...
and should not be grown in pressure treated wood lest we leach chemicals from the wood into the veggies.
- sigh-
And I'm quickly learning the challenges faced when you deal with an entire school district that has to weigh in on every decision, like where the beds go and whether we can have a water spigot.
How many more years will my kids be in school??
