Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson for September 08, 2015

Could you make it tinier? …Tiniest?

When weather fails play the violin.

Phoebe: That reminds me. My piano teacher will wonder why I haven’t practiced since July…

Kids are lucky who don’t have to go to school until after Labor Day. Lots of school districts start in August, some in early August, in spite of the fact that it’s really hot and taxpayers have to pay for that school air conditioning.

@TMO1, Kids who have air conditioning at school are also lucky. Our classroom does not have AC, and it’s supposed to be in the 90s with comparable humidity for most of this week. Just like last week. By the way, teachers and other staff members are taxpayers, too.

The violins may continue the rondo.

Summer vacations are too long. Kids forget half what they learn and get too much time without parental supervision. They should only get two or three weeks off, just like their parents.

Marigold: Very well, no magic at all.

Phoebe: Thank you.

Marigold: I was going to zap all this year’s knowledge directly into your head and then give you nine months off, but I will refrain.

zing

Never lose that acerbic wit, Marigold.

Way to go, Marigold. String her along.

How many kids ride a unicorn to school? Where does she park it?

You can’t beat the classics, Marigold.

“My Heart Bleeds for You”? My seventh-grade Spanish teacher used to pull that one all the time.

For that she has no idea.

Unfortunately school year “creep” reflects the desire to have a two week Christmas/New Year Break, at least a week for spring break, often an Easter Break, multiple holidays (presidents day, MLK birthday, Veteran’s day, state holidays, teacher training days etc. ad infinitum). Also due to the litigious society schools are delayed or cancelled for two snowflakes or patchy fog (Especially fun in my district which is nearly 20 miles North to South so while the weather may be fine in part of the district and awful in the other part, the whole district is cancelled). Add it the mandated number of school days (180) for Indiana and you get School starting about the 10th of August and running until Mid June. We didn’t start until after Labor Day and ended by Memorial Day. My octogenarian mother says they started mid September and were out by mid April as the parents needed their kids to help with the farming. Maybe we just need to go to year round schooling with short quarterly breaks of 2-3 weeks.

A spouse of one of my coworkers brought back a little mechanical doll figure (6 inches high) that “played” a violin to a little tune. I told her to put it on her desk to provide auditory accompaniment whenever someone started complaining about the general unfairness of whatever-usually stopped the complaining and fostered problem solving.

Spongebob World’s Smallest Violin

Violin is playing any of the songs at the end of the 3 Lord of the Rings movies – on loop.

It really IS the world’s most magical violin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXmaW3RgbOE