School days

busesIt’s hard not to wax nostalgic at the beginning of the school year. Here are a few things you didn’t particularly care to know:

(1) I come from a family heavily involved in the education process. My parents were teachers. Lots of aunts and uncles and cousins were teachers. My oldest sister is a teacher. My other sister taught one year as an adjunct professor (like I am now); she now works as a proofreader for the S.A.T. test. My wife is now a teacher. My kids aren’t teachers yet, but they are students, which counts.

(2) I used to love buying school supplies. Did anyone else out there used to have to get a cigar box to keep their stuff in at school? Or remember Big Chief tablets? I remember always being excited to see what size Crayola box we were supposed to buy that year. As a kid, I really longed for the 128-color box. Or at least a big enough one to include a built-in sharpener.

(3) I kept all of my papers from 1st grade. Thought I was going to do it all the way through, but grew out of that. (fortunately) Still, it’s interesting to go back and see those old papers.

(4) I went to an experimental school in elementary school then again for junior high (no, we didn’t have middle school. It was junior high. Get over it. And cut the remarks about the experimental schools, too) My elementary didn’t have class rooms, we had “pods.” We had Independent Study Time (I.S.T.) during the day, which worked great for the nerds motivated students like me, but not so well for those who weren’t into reading on their own. In junior high, we each had different schedules and had to write out a daily schedule, including where we would be during our I.S.T.

(5) A friend in high school proposed that we go to a boarding school to better prepare ourselves for college. (He’s now a rich, famous doctor, and I’m wondering if I should have accepted his proposal) I replied that my goal was to be a youth minister, so the things I was doing at my home church were my best preparation for college. Hmmm…

OK, that’s enough of boring you to tears. If you’ve read this far, I’ll hope you’ll join me in a prayer for all those involved in the educational process. Teachers, students, administrators, parents… may we all glorify God during this school year.

(photo by Andrei Niemimäki)

7 thoughts on “School days

  1. Trent Tanaro

    Our oldest starts K this morning. He is ready! He went through pre-K, but now its “real” school for him. Not sure if Mom and Dad are ready!?!…They grow up fast!…..Praying for the education sysytem we are!! Great post Bro!
    Trent

  2. Tim Archer Post author

    Thanks Trent. Our youngest starts high school today; her brother graduates this year. They definitely grow up fast.

    Grace and peace,
    Tim Archer

  3. Tim Archer Post author

    Ooh… #1 was the least self-centered and it got edited out. Thanks for catching that Mindy. You knew I’d have to talk about my folks when I talked about school, right?

  4. Vicky Pruitt

    I could have written this blog! The nostalgia, the smell of school books and pencils, the security of a schedule, eating lunch with my friends in the lunchroom…these are just a few of my favorite things. I’m in my 6th decade…I still go into a sort of mourning period..at least a melancholy spell for a week or so every year when school starts. Fortunately…I’m back in ‘school’ again, and I love it! Oh, oh. School also ‘brought’ on autumn…which I haven’t gotten to celebrate in years. Seems like we don’t have much of a fall here in Texas.

  5. Greg England

    My wife taught elementary school for almost 30 years. Two of her three sisters are teachers. I taught college level psychology for a while. It’s always a good thing to remember teachers / students in prayer.

    Loved the post as I always enjoyed going with our kids to buy all the “stuff” for a new school year. Especially when they reached that age where they needed calculators. Today I can buy a calculator for less than $20 that cost me hundreds when they had to have them.

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