Howdy

Thus far, Dixie has had three perfect days of school. Melody has been described as 'a pleasure to have in class' and Charlie's teacher has described him as being 'like a four-year-old.'

I think that's as glowing as it gets.

My students seem to be within the realm of what I can handle. Having all 450 of them each day is mentally exhausting and I'm finding it hard to accomplish much in a 20 minute period. It isn't that the classes are too big, it's that the lines are too long and wiggly. Bringing 12 double classes in and then out each day means I spend over an hour each day telling people to turn their voices off and point their noses and toeses my way.
Still, we manage to get some actual music in. Today, we even played drums.

I am proud to say I know seven students by name.


The family we are staying with is fabulous. For those of you who knew me in middle school and high school, we are staying with Mindy the viola player from German class. She and her husband Kevin have an 8 year old boy and a 10 year old girl. The age difference is perfect and both us moms have detected a remarkable lack of in-fighting amongst the ranks.

Still, 9 people in one house is a bit much at times. Gryphon, unaccustomed to having a little guy attack him from behind, fell backwards onto the boy. As we were trying to determine the series of events that led to Charlie's wailing, Morgan succinctly explained it this way: Charlie broke Gryphon's fall, but Gryphon practically broke Charlie.