Hanging on the front gate

Yesterday I got to be in kindergarten when they were taking their naps. they were very wriggly at first, so I was going around giving them back rubs, feeling like I was spinning plates. But then they all settled down and went to sleep. Donna says thats the best time of the day.

I'm feeling better about my job and my capability to do it now. Its hard, especially with the older kids. We had a workshop on Saturday where I found out that it takes 2 hours of intense remediation to get 6th graders to catch up. I don't have that much time to spend with them. The good news is that it only takes 15 minutes with the younger grades to bring them up to speed.

This 7th grader has been hanging around my house the last three days wanting to see my clarinet. Yesterday I was finally home when he came by, so I invited him in and showed him it. I was a little nervous since I haven't played in five years, but he's only learned five notes so far. But then he just hung on our front gate for the next three hours, watching us make dinner and then looking at us eating. Barb gave him some meatloaf and told him to go home, but he said no one was home anyway. The former volunteers told us kids would come by the house after school, and this week they've begun, but I didn't think they would just hang out outside if we couldn't play.