Loverlies, thank you for joining me for today’s 10 on the 10th 09.2020 post. Just in time for back to school, we are answering 10 school days-themed questions. There is so much craziness associated with back-to-school this year. Masks, disinfecting wipes and sanitizer are at the top of every school supply list. There’s the learning curve associated with all the new technology – Zoom, Schoology or Google classroom. Gone is the sweet anticipation of the first day of school from years past. This year the first day just promises to be super stressful for everyone.
With this post, I hope we can have a little back to school fun. And you can play along whether you have children in school now, had children in school in the past, or were even a child in school yourself once upon a time!! Grab your device or a yellow #2 pencil and some wide-ruled paper and jot down your answers to the questions below.
10 Questions for September’s 10 on the 10th
First 3 Qs & As
- What does back to school look like in your home or community this year? The school year kicked off online on 09.08.2020 for the district from which I retired. They are surveying parents as to what they prefer for their children’s education experience when they switch from all virtual to F2F, hybrid or continued virtual options. For my granddaughter Cadence across the state in Ft. Worth, the first day began online using Zoom. My sister Valerie began the year virtually, as well, using Schoology. Lucia is going to transitional kinder in person at Kindercare. My former school district is using Schoology, too. Bet we should all buy some Schoology stock!! I am signed up to sub again but don’t know how that will look this year.
- Does your state or city offer a back to school tax free weekend? If so, do you plan your back to school shopping around it? What kinds of things do you buy? In Texas, we have enjoyed a tax-free weekend early in August since 1999. According to this story in “Caller Times” during the August 7-9 weekend, “shoppers didn’t have to pay sales taxes on items priced below $100 ranging from backpacks to pens and pencils to shoes, shirts, pants and pajamas during Texas’ 21st sales tax moratorium.” [source] When my girls were in school, I took advantage of the tax-free weekend to buy back-to-school clothes and school supplies. In addition to the $08.25 sales tax break, many stores offered additional discounts. I am not going to school anywhere unless you count the blogging course I am trying to finish online. But have bought tee shirts galore over the last couple of weeks. Planning a post to share them with you. Loving the fall capsule wardrobe Alison at Get Your Pretty On has put together, too. Gimme all the cozy sweaters, graphic tees and denim, shopping deets for purchasing pieces and the formulas for putting outfits together. You can register here and join the fun. And the work wear capsule wardrobe will be coming out next week!!
- Do your children wear school uniforms? If so, what do they look like? If not, is there a strict dress code in place? What are your thoughts on school uniforms? Did you wear a uniform? I never wore a uniform for school nor did my daughters. But in most of the schools in my former school district, elementary and middle school students wear a polo type shirt in school colors and khaki or navy pants. No jeans. I have mixed feelings about uniforms. It does take the fun and individuality away from dressing for school. But it levels the playing field to some degree. I worked in mostly low socio-economic schools and it was good that kids all wore more or less the same thing. And affordable. I always kept extra uniforms, though, in the library because we had children whose clothes were often filthy tatters. Would give them a clean uniform and take their old one home to wash.
Second 3 Qs & As
- What did you want to be when you were growing up? Did you plan to go to college? As a very young child, I don’t remember wanting to be anything!! Ha!! How’s that for a type A personality?? But as I approached middle school-age, I wanted to be a pediatrician and work with underprivileged families in Appalachia. It didn’t matter if I planned to go to college or not. My parents definitely planned for me to. And paid for my college. All 4.5 years + summer school. Took me awhile to figure out I needed to settle on a major and graduate.
- What sports did you play, what clubs were you in? Were you a cheerleader? Girls didn’t have as many options for playing sports ‘back in the day’ circa the 1970s. I was a middle school cheerleader which is completely amazing. And in high school there was girls basketball and a few girls on the tennis team. But I was far too shy to play a team sport. I did begin running on my own in high school. Was the editor of the literary magazine, in the art club, pep club, Latin club (snooze fest), Y-teens girls’ club between 9th and 12th grades. In the pictures below, I am in kinder, first, second, maybe third or fourth, sixth, a sophomore and a senior.
- Did you buy lunch or take lunch? If you took lunch from home, who made your lunch? What was your favorite school lunch? Too shy most of my childhood to buy my lunch so mom packed us a lunch. We ate weird things like triangles of Gruyere cheese and smoked meats. Like a mini-charcuterie board in a lunch box. Rarely, I would buy spaghetti. And we would attend the school’s spaghetti suppers. By high school, I could occasionally gather up my courage to buy lunch. Usually a turkey sammie or a cheeseburger. But in my senior year, I was anorexic so didn’t eat lunch at all.
Third 3 Qs & As
- To what group or click did you belong? At my school we had the jocks, the parking lot gang, popular kids. Where did you fit in? Were you in a sorority? If so, which one? I was on the distant fringes of the popular kids. My best friends, Sharon and Nancy, were popular. But that danged shyness thing kept me from being able to talk to anyone except Sharon and Nancy!! My high school boyfriend was in Future Farmers of America. I attended a small private college in my freshman year was initiated into Delta Delta Delta sorority and chosen best pledge. Loved it. But when I transferred to the University of Tennessee in my sophomore year, I found not all Tri Delt chapters (or any sorority, for that matter) are the same. Was not active in ΔΔΔ at UT. And I missed it. Took this online quiz to see which sorority would be my best fit (at 62). The answer was Alpha Chi Omega. Huh. What did you get?
[source]
- Did you spend much time in the library? What was your favorite class? In high school, I used the public library far more than the school library. I did have to take all of my mid-term finals in the library in my senior year on a teacher inservice day because I had been sick when the tests were originally given. Horrifying!! Had an AP history-English class called American Studies in my junior year of high school that I loved. And really enjoyed senior English, too. Oh, and art. And Latin but just because my BFF and I cut up in there together. Poor Ms. Eason, the teacher, was as old as Julius Caesar himself.
- What are some of your favorite high school memories? Homecoming? Prom? Have you returned for any class reunions? Being goofy with my friends at the Raleigh Springs Mall. Riding the escalator backwards (going up the down escalator). Doing cart wheels in the mall. Going to football games. Hayrides. Formals. Acting in little skits. Pep rallies. Glen was the perfect high school boyfriend and I was blessed. Have only returned for my 10th high school reunion, and then just for the tour of the campus. Too shy for that stuff.
Final Q & A
- How old were you when you started school? Did you have a favorite teacher? I was 4 when I started kindergarten. In fact, had just turned 4 a few months before school started. My mom said I had to be lifted onto the school bus!! I cannot imagine us sending Lucia to school on a bus – much less on a bus that she can’t get on and off of by herself!! Really don’t remember any of my teachers other than poor ole Ms. Eason in Latin, my American Studies teachers, and my art and senior English teachers. Even then I don’t remember their names. I did have a very good 5th grade teacher in Boston, Ms. Hardin, who built a conestoga wagon in the classroom. And Mr. Carruthers in 7th grade in Memphis who let me use an assumed name and dress in costumes all year. Yes, I was a weirdo.
YOUR TURN
Hope you have enjoyed this walk down memory lane. Have had fun hosting these 10 on the 10th posts. Last month our theme was 10 favorite books, movies, podcasts and TV shows (lately). Picked up so many great titles and shows from everyone who played along. If you need some inspiration, read last month’s 10 on the 10th post, here.
Next month we will get in the spirit of Halloween by sharing 10 superstitions or old wives’ tales, bits of family advice, and things we are OCD about. Might even get a peek at our Halloween decor and costumes. Will post more info the first day or two of October. Please be on the look out.
Now it’s your turn to share answers to the 10 on the 10th 09.2020 questions. Link up your blog post or answer the questions in a comment below. Grab your laptop or #2 pencil and get started.
Hugs and kisses,
Dee | Grammy's Grid
Enjoyed reading your answers, have added mine to the linkup.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
So glad you joined me!!
Dara
This was fun to read. I’m surprised you were so shy! It seems like you had a group of friends though! And had a good time with them. I love that you gave kids uniforms if they needed clean ones.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
I read your comment on Morgan’s post. I didn’t fit in really either. I had my group of friends and thankfully, a very sweet, good boyfriend who didn’t push me to do anything…if you get my drift.
The kids at my former school are so poor. It is terrible, the shape of their uniforms. I just couldn’t bare to see them wear filthy clothes that smelled awful from lack of laundering. We had a washer and dryer at school for the dire cases. But most of the time, I took their dirty things home to wash.
Jennifer Smith
You were so shy…but managed to be a cheerleader. Good for you! Trying out for cheerleading in junior high still ranks as top 10 most humiliating ideas I ever had!! Loved your school photos…so impressed you have them all!! Thanks for sharing. Hope you are able to do a least a bit of subbing this year:)
Leslie Roberts Clingan
I tried out for cheerleader with my best (also shy) friend. We both made it and then she moved. And there I was!! Ha!! The first year was miserable. The older girls were years more mature than I was. I went home from school and played Barbies. They were kissing boys.
Carrie @ Curly Crafty Mom
Love this post, such perfect timing for it and even better with such a ‘weird’ school year for us all with Covid. My kids are in person now for 4 weeks. My daughter’s school is K-8 and no cases so far and my son’s school has had 4 cases (all students that picked it up somewhere else, not at school). So, it is going better than I had thought it would for now. It is def. a day by day thing! My kids do have uniform as they are in private schools, but I went to both of their schools back in my day and we did NOT wear uniforms back then! So, times have changed. I get Autumn’s uniform clothes at Old Navy, but Nathan’s polos I have to order from an embroidery place and it is a bit pricey. I never knew you were a cheerleader, how fun! Loved learning more about you. I hope you get some sub jobs, might be kind of fun to do it virtually and see how that all works.
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
Leslie Roberts Clingan
How interesting that the kids where uniforms now at the schools you attended and didn’t have to wear a uniform when you were a child. I guess uniforms make things easier but Cady has gotten in trouble for the jacket she has worn. It had a rainbow or unicorn patch or something and that wasn’t acceptable. I think they are too strict.
I was a cheerleader but a shy, awkward one!! Ha!! Does that count?
Donna Connolly
HI, Leslie – I absolutely LOVE your school photos across the years. Thank you so much for sharing them — and for getting us all in a September frame of mind! 😀
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Aww, thank you, Donna. My mom gave us all of our old photos back on a recent trip or I wouldn’t have had all the school pictures. Still missing a few but I pretty much looked the same from one grade to the next.
Jo Kitty
Raleigh Springs Mall–haven’t thought of it in years, but I shopped there whenever I was in town. Thank you for sharing your memories!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
So nice to hear from someone else who remember Raleigh Springs Mall. It was a very nice mall back in the day. Our malls here in El Paso are all really struggling and looking pretty sad.
Dani
Wow, so lucky that your parents paid for all of your college, I’m STILL paying back my student loans! You seem to have traveled quite a bit in middle school, that probably would have made me shy too! And I have an assumed name story! During my Sophomore year in high school, I got tired of my first name, so I tried to get everyone to call me by my middle name, including teachers. A few times my science teacher called on me and I got the answer wrong, and he would say “You were smarter as Danielle!”
Leslie Roberts Clingan
LOL, I always wanted to change my name. Even talked about doing it once I was an adult but then got over it all. I still don’t like my name but I no longer make up names as aliases.
Joanne
Most of our school polled parents on schooling options too but were overwhelmed with how many wanted to send their kids back in person so they devised their hybrid learning with each student taking turns on in-person or distance learning. It makes for super crazy schedules!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Oh, my gosh!! Too many schedules. Our parents here in El Paso preferred not sending the kids but we are such a low income demographic that most parents can’t stay home from work to school their children. Not sure what kind of education most of our babies are getting. So sad.
Sharon
BFF! Oh the stories I could tell but we certainly had some great times back in the day. Smartest friend I ever had and the hardest working friend too.🥰 I know you remember Mrs Wilson and Mrs Jeans. They should have separated us at times for laughing so much. Loved this post. Brought back memories. XO
Leslie Roberts Clingan
We have had some fun, haven’t we? I think we were just getting to know each other in Ms. Wilson’s class. But we were really chummy by 8th grade in Mrs. Jeans’s class. And all the giggling in Latin!! Good times.
Thank you for walking through life with me!!
Kellyann Rohr
How fun! I am so impressed you have all your school pictures, I sure as heck do not and doubt my mom knows where they are. She loves photos but is not organized at all.
I was a Kappa Delta, not surprised at all you were a sorority girl, you are so friendly and creative!
School this year is so crazy, I sure hope it gets back to normal for our kids!
xo,
Kellyann
Leslie Roberts Clingan
My mom cleaned out pictures and gave us most of our childhood photos or I wouldn’t have mine!! My daughter is saving all her childhood photos by scanning them onto the computer. I wish we had had that option when I was younger.
Loved Kappa Delta gals when I went through rust. Actually felt most at home there but had a few Tri Delt pals so wound up pledging there.
Christie Hawkes
Thank you, Leslie, for giving us a glimpse into your school days. I too was quite shy. I still remember having an accident in kindergarten because I was too shy to ask the teacher if I could go to the little girls room. Boy! The accident turned out way more embarrassing than raising my hand and asking a question.
That was so sweet of you to bring extra uniforms for the children at your school. Once again I am inspired by your kindness and caring.
Our grandchildren have started the school year mixed–two in class full-time, one hybrid, and the rest online. So far so good, though we hear each night on the news an update on outbreaks in schools, so we’ll see how long it lasts.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Your grandbabies are all doing something different as far as school goes. My littles are both going to daycare. Lucia, my 4 year-old middle granddaughter is doing transitional kinder all morning and the early part of the afternoon then remains at school for daycare until 5 pm. Such a long day. Her baby sister goes to daycare from noon til 5 pm. My fifth grade grand starts about 8 am and doesn’t really even get a true lunch break. She is expected to do P.E. and art during lunch. Ugh.
ShootingStarsMag
Fun post! I had a uniform all the way through high school (except for like pre-school and kindergarten) but I really loved it. I didn’t want to worry about figuring out clothes every day. I started school at age 3, but I’m a nursery school drop-out. LOL I went back for pre-school at age 4 and then I was in school for a long time as I have a BA and an MS – still paying back all those loans, not that they are going away anytime soon. LOL
-Lauren
Leslie Roberts Clingan
LOL, I paid off my Master’s degree loan then retired the next year. So sad. You were a teensy baby starting school at 3 years old.
Daenel T
I barely wanted to send my kids on the bus at five, I can’t imagine at 4.
I feel you on the shyness, although I wasn’t so much shy as I was awkward. I still am.
This was a fun read…
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Lifelong shy, awkward introvert over here!!
Joanne Tracey
Okay, here are my answers to some of these – all the way from Australia. Our school year runs from the end of January and this winter term in my state has been business as usual, although part of term 1 & 2 was home-schooling. Most schools in Australia have uniforms – the exceptions are rare indeed.I went to university and did an economics degree. I didn’t have to go away to uni. Also, my cohort was the last of the “free” degrees – a prime minister we had in the 1970s introduced free uni tuition as a way of getting people to go. Of course it’s not the case now. Mum packed us a lunch every day – usually a vegemite and cheese sandwich and an apple & we were allowed to do a lunch order once a week. Cheerleading wasn’t a thing & nor was sororities. For sport I was a swimmer. So, there you go…school days downunder!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Thank you for playing along and giving me some perspective of school days in Australia. My sister lived in Australia for a few years and her son was in elementary school and wore quite the uniform with a little hat of some sort, too.
Danielle
This was so much fun to read! I loved learning a little more about you.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Thank you for stopping by!!
Liz Klebba
Thank you for the peek into your present AND your past! I think that 7th grade teacher sounds phenomenal. Considering what an impact teachers have on our lives, it saddens me that they (we) are so low on the respect totem pole. I never went to Kindergarten! I attended Montessori pre-school, and started 1st grade early and graduated high school at 17. Heading off to uni at 17 was an adventure… We’ll leave that right there.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
I can sure relate…started college just a few months after turning 17. Had just given up my Barbies.
Amy Johnson
School is definitely different this year for everyone. It’s all sad. I just want everything to return to normal.
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Me, too. A healthy normal.