Back to School!

After a busy summer, Phoebe went back to school on the ninth of September. As most of you know, she started a new school this year--Doane Stuart. It was originally an Episcopal school, but now it seems to encompass all the major religions. For example, next week, there will be a Chapel for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. DS does go from Preschool through High School, but the individual grades seem to be small. Middle School, which is grades 5-8, has a total of 60-70 kids, and there are about 20 in 7th grade, which is where Phoebe is this year.

DS also has a uniform--two of them actually. For "regular" days, Phoebe wears a blue, green, or white polo and khaki shorts at the moment. As it gets colder, she will shift to the same color rugby shirts and khaki pants. Girls can also wear a khaki skirt, but Phoebe didn't like not having pockets. Kids can also add a green or navy sweater/sweater vest or a navy fleece as it gets colder. And she can wear sneakers, so we got her some sparkly purple Converse and another pair that are purple and black to add some pizazz to her outfits.

On dress uniform days, which she had for the first time yesterday, girls need to wear a white dress shirt, a plaid kilt (with tights) or khaki pants, and a navy blue blazer. And dress shoes. Actually, she pretty much looked like she was ready for Hogwarts in her dress uniform yesterday! It seems that they wear this for special occasion days. Yesterday was Picture Day, and, next week, she has to wear her dress uniform again on the day of the Yom Kippur Chapel.

"Regular" Uniform

Dress Uniform

She has a gym uniform too--a t-shirt and shorts.

On the second day of school, the entire Middle School went on an overnight to Skye Farm, a retreat center in the Adirondacks. From what she said and what we read online, it sounds very similar to Camp Chingachook, which she went to in 5th and 6th grade. It is for team building and friendly competition. She has made a few friends, so a lot of her "starting a new school" fears have lessened. 

She's got some new classes. She decided to try French this year since she has studied Spanish since preschool. So, right now, we have been working on salutations. Luckily, David and I both have some French, so we can converse a bit at dinner. I was the only one who had Spanish, so conversations were never as inclusive as they could have been! Her cousin Belle, who, along with her sister Vivian, Phoebe has been writing, emailing, and, as of yesterday, talking to on the phone, is also learning French, so they can practice in their letters!

She is also taking Religion, which she has for the first time today. Her other classes she has experienced in some form or other before, but these seem to be a bit more structured than what she has had before--and she has a different teacher for just about everything. Religion and English is the same. Her math teacher is undecided, because she is doing assessments. Apparently, the other seventh grade girls are mostly in 8th grade math, with a better teacher, so that is what she is hoping for.

She had a summer reading assignment for the first time, which is a great idea for all kids. She actually enjoyed the books, even though the topics were a bit heavy. The 7th grade book was The Lions of Little Rock, which dealt with school desegregation in the 1950s. She also read the 8th grade book, which was Between Shades of Gray, which was about the Soviet invasion of Lithuania. We haven't heard what they are actually going to be doing in school with them. 

Today she had to give a "book talk" in class about a book she read and liked, and she picked Counting by 7s, which was one of the free books she got from Barnes and Noble this year for filling the reading journal they gave her. She actually filled two! Plus she got her reading money from CapCom, the bank she did her school banking with. We haven't heard if DS does school banking, but she can keep getting the book and report card money through high school.

Today, she is buying lunch for the first time, so we will see how that goes. Today is Taco Day, so Phoebe was excited for that. Since David is going to be away overnight, I expect we will be having Mac and Cheese for supper.

The only school-related problem, so to speak, is getting there and home. While DS isn't horribly far away, it is enough of a commute to make it not worth the gas, so she takes the bus in--and the bus comes at 6:30AM. We have all had to adjust our mornings a bit to get her out on time, and having a uniform has made this a little easier! Monday-Thursday I pick her up after I am done teaching. I am done about 2:30, and she gets out at 3:20, so there is a bit of a wait for me, but the bus wouldn't get her home until 4:40, so it is the better alternative! Fridays she gets out at 2:20, so the plan is that she will ride the bus, and she should be home around 3:40. Last Friday was unusual because of the field trip, so this week will be the first Friday she rides the bus home.

Phoebe was busy with camps over the summer, as usual, but it does seem she is starting to outgrow them. We tried some "older" camps, but they were disappointing, so we aren't really sure what we'll do next year. Plenty of time to figure that out! She did enjoy Stained Glass, Comic Book Design, and Filmmaking.

Dance is still the main extracurricular activity, but we have decided to try Modern instead of Ballet. If she stayed with Ballet, she needed to move into Pointe, and we weren't sure about that, so we decided to have a bit of variety instead, which is not a bad idea. She would like to continue with the clarinet, but we have to find a new place. Even if there are lessons after school, that would make too long of a day.

I think that is all she's done/is doing. Of course, she read a lot over the summer, as usual. We finished all the Rick Riordan books that are currently out. Right now, she and I are reading Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, which was a recommended book on the 7th grade summer reading list (she had to read at least three books of her own choosing in addition to the required book), and I have been wanting to read as well. We only have a couple of chapters left, and next may be The Hobbit or The Hunger Games or something else--there is a stack of books at home that she wants to read together.

She is also loving more geeky TV. Her cousin Vivian recommended Sherlock, which I was already a fan of, so we have been watching that--and she has a bit of a crush on Benedict Cumberbatch. We've also been watching Warehouse 13, more Bones and Charmed, and we started The X-Files. Since it is coming back in January, it would be cool to watch all together.