At my giant-choir school, things are really chugging along. I am directing a 6th grade class, and a non-varsity women's class, which will combine with classes the other director is teaching, and then I'll direct them in concert. I am handling all the finances, and so far, I'm on top of it. There's no money left in the choir office that hasn't been turned in, which is my goal for every day. I have turned in a deposit nearly every day. That part of it is pretty tedious, but I'd rather be diligent with it in small doses than to let it pile up, and then it takes a whole day just to get caught up. Besides, it's policy to get it in. (I'm sorry... I know you don't care about this stuff. It's just what I'm thinking about at the moment.)
My tiny-choir school still has a tiny choir, but the culture is shifting somewhat. This year it seems like the kids aren't afraid to SING!! Amazing, huh? AND I have 2 BOYS in the class. That has changed things more than anything else, as the songs I pick now have to have parts for the boys. It's been a fun challenge. Unfortunately, there's so much more good music available for treble choirs than for 3-part mixed choirs... So far things are going pretty well.
Choir club is a bigger problem than I'd like to admit. I have lost 4 kids who were enrolled last year in my class who changed their electives to something other than choir because they can come to my after school choir club and participate that way. The problem is that I'm not paid for choir club (well, I get about $3/hr for it). My enrollment numbers are what matters to administrators for justifying my job, and while an increase from 9 to 12 is good, 16 would be far better. Again, I'm 6th grade heavy, which compromises my eligibility for the biggest contest we do all year...
This is definitely the last year I'm going to do the choir club. I just can't do this to myself, or my family. If not for choir club, I'd be able to pick up my kids from school most days. I could probably work it out for my mom to cover for me the other days, and then we could not be paying for after school care. When you take what we pay for the girls to have a place to go and offset it by what I'm paid for the club (that $3/hr), we're so far in the hole, it's really not worth it at all. Couple that with the fact that it's undercutting my enrollment... definitely not doing this again.
Big Girl is sailing along with 2nd grade. No surprises there. She really enjoys school. She's good at it.
Little Girl is having a little bit of difficulty adjusting to Kindergarten. She spent most of the first few weeks of school being very tired. It's a long day for her, I know. She's not used to paying attention for that many hours in a row.
I'm sitting right now, between schools, at a local sandwich shop, taking advantage of their free WiFi. My sandwich is long since eaten, and now I'm jamming to Huey Lewis & The News, "Happy to be Stuck with You." It's a nice break. Unfortunately, I need to go back to school. Class starts in 20 minutes... TGIF!!
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