Thankful Thursday. Education & Teachers.

Thankful Thursdays roll around like, every Thursday & here is the theme ….. Thankful for Education.

I LOVE Thankful Thursdays hosted by friend, blogger, mum, teacher  Kate who is at Kate Says Stuff

I LOVE Thankful Thursdays also because of Guest Posters.

I have wonderful guest posters, who are all writing about being Thankful for Education.

Last week Sif wrote here

This week, Karen writes…let me introduce her first,or as she has done, introduce herself!!

Karen Taylor lives in Canberra with her gorgeous husband and three wickedly funny kids.  She studies Psychology, practises Christianity and has been following Carlton since she was five years old, which (according to her children) is a very long time indeed.

I have three children. By the time my youngest reaches Year 12 I figure I’ll have embarked upon 39 First Days of School. They’re a curious thing, those First Days. I’ve successfully negotiated seven of them so far and they take a bit of getting used to.

Of course, there’s the usual stuff to prepare for a new school year. Uniforms, lunch boxes, drink bottles. Winding back of bedtime and closer attention to fingernails and haircuts. Not to mention my internal fretting about new teachers and new classmates. And then the First Day arrives and my best and worst fears are simultaneously realised with the unfurling of the class list. I kiss the kids and wander home to fret over a nice cup of tea.

Inevitably though, school settles into a pleasant routine. After a few weeks the new teacher is found to be satisfactory, the kids seem to find old friends and make new ones, perennial sports days are celebrated (or survived, depending on the child in question) and the carefully-labelled lunchboxes remain intact. And then we hit a snag. Something isn’t right. It’s the homework, or a friend, or a bully, or an accident, or a personality clash, but there it is. There is always a snag.

The best thing about hitting a snag is the unexpected help that engulfs you and your child. The most recent example of this was in my son’s Grade 1 class. Several students in his year were struggling with their reading so the Principal roused a veritable sleeping giant of administrative and professional skill. She mustered resources, shuffled timetables, reassigned teachers and generally turned the school on its head to meet the needs of those students. It was staggering. I was moved to tears at her passion and for the positive response of her team of teachers. And the kids who were struggling with reading? They *all* bounced up a few levels within a couple of weeks and are continuing to thrive.

Of course, every school year has a Last Day as well. In the evening of the Last Day I send my husband and kids out to buy dinner while I very quickly blu-tac up a selection of their work, photos and awards from the year gone by. I set the table for dinner and just as I hear the family returning I put on some loud music and meet the kids at the door with blindfolds. They put them on and enjoy dancing around the house until they arrive at the dinner table where they remove the blindfolds and spend a few seconds in awed silence as their memories are revealed, spread out in triumph on the wall. Then they scoff their dinner and relive the year that was. It’s the best fun ever and a night that the kids look forward to all year.

I have another tradition on Last Days. I always take a photo of my children and their teacher. The same teacher that was regarded dubiously on the First Day gradually becomes a trusted ally by the Last. Those photos are particularly precious to me, and they always look the same. A teacher and pupil, both flushed with the excitement of the day and the coming summer, tired after months of hard work, but two identical smiles that proclaim they’ve been somewhere together and that the journey was good.

Thank you Karen. I loved your post. Thanks too, for the permissions granted for the photos to be published. They may only be used on this site, and not for publication or other purposes. Karen is the parent that every school needs but doesn’t always have. Karen has told me too, that without the ‘right fit’ of a school principal that makes such a difference. Lucky now, she tells me. Karen and I have never actually met, but for those of you who also read mamamia.com.au  she is one of the friends I have made there. So many others as well. In fact, another is guest posting next time…. Denyse