Greetings! As I write this, there are only 3 days left until the first day of school. I hate to bring you late news, but that’s kind of how this works, I can’t write too much about things that haven’t happened yet.
The teachers are all here, the rooms are just about completed, and I do know all their names and faces now! We had a training seminar by our Abeka rep the other day, which I sat in on, and it was interesting to hear the different ideas and discussions about how each of them plans to start out the year.
Not sure I mentioned it before, but we will probably have 46-48 students, not sure the exact number is fixed yet. Wouldn’t be surprised to get more after school starts. I had also mentioned that we will need to get the resource room prepped for use. That is in full swing. New lighting is in, and we found a window AC/heating unit to work until we get a more permanent setup. That’s a new one on me, didn’t know there was such a thing. We need to move in some desks yet, and we will probably get some room dividers to give students help in focusing on their work.
We are still putting the library together. I have spent hours lately reading books to make sure they are suitable for our students. It’s amazing and annoying how some people write books for children. I guess it all depends on your mindset. I have also realized that some books probably shouldn’t have even been written! I have read a mystery with no mystery, books with no particular point, and one with a title and cover photo that has very little to do with the actual subject of the story. The real story was much more exciting and could have had a real eye-catching cover photo.
We are using an online library database program to keep track of books in the library and when they are checked out. We set it up for 1,000 books, but went over that the other day, so I had to upgrade it to 5,000. We also had to order more barcode stickers for books. The shelves still look so empty, but we decided we didn’t really need to fill them before school starts. That’s a continuing process any of you can help with, when you get the urge to clean your own library! Right now we are kind of short on books for older children, fiction or nonfiction. Fiction for older kids that has good morals, characters, and stories is kind of hard to find.
I spent some time the other day putting new feet on our folding chairs. Even with tarps on the gym floor, since folding chair legs aren’t cut off even with the floor, all the weight is on one edge of the bottom of the leg and tends to cut through the rubber foot. This will soon cut up the tarps and the wood floor.
We had purchased a bag of new feet, and I was fast running out of them, when I noticed that many feet that were showing signs of being cut through, had a perfectly good side across from the cut. Many of them looked like they had never touched a floor. So I just rotated the feet 180 degrees, and presto, new feet! At least for a while. There’s your free household tip for the day.
I also need to to get to the school and do a bit of tree trimming. There is one tree that is near the road, and has a couple low hanging branches that restrict the view down the road. With parents coming and going next week, they need to be able to check traffic.
As far as my work goes, it seems to be slowing down. I hope to find something to stay connected. After being really involved for almost a year, I have grown used to being there and doing things. I will be working on fundraisers, reading library books, working on the website, and a few other tasks. If I was more handy with tools and handyman jobs, my work would probably never end. And please, no one suggest that I teach a class! That’s one job I am not made for.
Speaking of the funding committee, we are kind of working on an idea for a small fundraiser. I can’t talk about it right now, but I will be featuring it here as soon as I can. We are about ready to have our final wrap-up meeting for the pulled pork supper. Got to get all the details down on paper before we forget them! We certainly don’t want to repeat any mistakes next time.
In addition to library books, we are always interested in any offers of items for the school. If you have something you think we might need, please contact us. At this point, our most urgent need is for funds to replace the existing shingle roof with metal. If you want to help with a financial donation, you can go on our website, www.uccs.school, there is a Donate button there, or you can contact us for more information. If you would like to make a totally anonymous donation, there is a button on our website to go through the Anabaptist Financial group. You can direct them to send your money to us, and your identity remains private.
