Good teachers and the end of cursive writing

Just got in from curriculum night. Always interesting to look around the room and see the parents with Harvard and Princeton in their eyes, the parents with nothing but time and the parents who come in late and then peek under the desk to check their Blackberrys. I am at various times all of them.

My column on good teaching elicited a lot of response and broad consensus on the type of creativity and fearlessness that makes classrooms work. Read and then take a fresh look at your child's teacher. You'll either be reassured or deeply depressed.

Interesting article on a dwindling emphasis on cursive writing, thanks to widespread reliance on computer keyboards and, in a pinch, old fashioned print writing. And wade through this report and see if you're spurred to get your kid to spend more time outdoors in order to boost their academic achievement.

Wow, the look I just got when I told my son we'd have to leave soon for the classroom Open House at school. He knew school was starting soon (tomorrow) but didn't know the final days of summer freedom had dwindled into minutes.

Labor Day used to signal the end of summer and return of school but now most school districts, including my own, are starting early, some in mid-August. Something is lost in the shortening of summer's r&r.

Spent two days buying school supplies and I still didn't get everything on the list. Speaking of which, I support the move by teachers to pass on supply needs to families. Teachers shouldn't have to dig into their pockets particularly. But the lists are mind-boggling. This story adds a bit of perspective. A colleague said I would spend $200 on school supplies this year. She wasn't far off the mark.

Check up this a.m. yielded nothing exciting except I must come up with ingenius ways to inject protein in someone's diet. Meat is out. And so I just discovered at lunch, is peanut butter. Sigh. Thank goodness oatmeal raisin cookies have raisins in them.

After the Open House, it is off to get groceries to supply school lunches. Clothes are laundered and stacked, sheets are clean and all that is left is to get JP to remember where the bathtub is located. (Yes, we really slacked off this summer.)