Buckle Up, 5th Grade Is Upon Us!

And, by virtue of working from home and being right down the street from the school, it looks like I’ll be before and after school care for The Kid.

The school offers before and after care, but the spaces are still limited. Perhaps you’ve heard about our record low unemployment numbers lately? Yeah, so that means that there really aren’t a ton of qualified people clamoring to work part time for shit money in the county schools’ before and after care programs. And private slots are equally hard to come by for the same reasons.

She’s going into 5th grade and really is mature enough to walk home and not get into trouble in the hour between when she gets there and when her mom gets home, BUT, this is Florida, and the heat and the storms around 3 p.m. are epic.

So, I work from home about a mile from the school, and I can mostly flex my hours as needed. So it was kind of a no-brainer that the kid could walk to school from my place, and also a no-brainer that I’ll give her a lift for a chunk of it and she can meet up with friends and do the last leg with them. I can be at my desk by 8:30. Same drill in the afternoon, she can walk toward me and I’ll snag her along the way and save her from heatstroke.

She really wants to be a walker, but I’m guessing two days of walking will cure her of that. I walk this neighborhood regularly very early in the morning before the real heat, and though Florida is flat compared to places with real hills, the road to her school is a steady, subtle uphill grade. I know this because I’ve been walking it daily lately. Add a huge, heavy backpack on her 90 lb. back and that walk will get old fast. Maybe in the winter it’ll be fun, but maybe by then she’ll have a slot in the before and after program.

So, tomorrow is Meet the Teacher, and once again I’ll be Ubering her to the school so she can lead me around and do her social thing. Wednesday the school year begins. I think it will be fine.