25 days until school starts

This year the State of Texas finally decided to start school on a decent date, August 27th! Hurrah! I hope some state legislator will read this and learn how delighted I am that the kids got 3 whole months off from school this summer.

We were always starting school here sometime between August 7th - 15th, which makes absolutely no sense because it is the hottest month of the year in Houston.

To the school districts, it made a lot of sense, as the State would pay the schools a certain number of dollars a day, per student, for how many days the children attended school. That extra week or two of time adds big bucks to the coffers of a school district.

It also puts a lot of pressure on the parents to keep the children in school all year. After your child misses a certain number of days of school, whether legitimate or not, the district sends you a nastygram about your child's absences. We've always made sure we get our flu shots and try to stay as healthy as possible. And inevitably, my son always comes down sick on the last day of the school semester, after his finals are finished.

I've got to admit it has been challenging to keep my child busy this summer. However, that extra time has allowed him to spend time with his grandparents, start taking guitar lessons, and also learn that he loves computer animation.

Now it's time to start that back to school shopping. At least I have 25 more days, instead of 5 days to get it all done. Thank you, Texas!