A Short Time In My Life

Hello, I am here to tell you about a part in my life, so terrifying, even Chuck Norris would be scared. You know what I’m talking about, yep, PUBLIC SCHOOL!!!

As you can all probably tell I didn’t have a great experience with public school and I am here to tell you my story.

It all started one cold September day. We were driving home from my grandpa’s house and I was reading one of my favorite books, “A Wrinkle in Time”.  That’s when I saw my brother laughing or giggling or whatever you prefer.  He wouldn’t tell me what he was laughing about.  Then he gave me hints like “how is school going?”  And that was when I got suspicious.  I tried to think of things school related but I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

When they finally told me I was going to public school I felt betrayed.  I just couldn’t believe that they didn’t ask me for my opinion first. It had been decided.

It was my first day in public school and I was very nervous. My teachers name was Mrs. Steinman. In the school it was this name that struck fear into the hearts of children and adults alike. I didn’t know if it was supposed to but it did.  Mrs. Steinman walked into the room and the room fell silent.  Then we heard the principals voice over the loudspeaker telling us what was for hot lunch, it was left over taco salad from Friday.

As class got started I looked around me and saw two kids passing notes.  Mrs. Steinman must have seen them too as she gave them both one “strike”.   The strike system worked like this:  one strike meant a warning, two strikes meant 15 minutes inside from recess and the third strike meant the principal’s office.

After math, history, and science we had lunch.  Lunch was located in the gym, and boy, was the gym messy.  In class there was a lot of yelling going on from Mrs. Steinman.  She is very uptight and very precise on what she wants.  She leaves out no details.

Tuesday was almost the exact same thing but instead of left over taco salad it was beef burritos.  At lunch that day, me and my friend Ethan were talking when out of nowhere a kid walked up to me and put his arm around me and started talking to us.  That’s when I noticed he was stealing my turkey sandwich that my mom made for me.  I didn’t say anything because it was against the lunchroom rules to tattle. My mom MADE me ride the bus home that day.  The bus was very noisy and stressful. One reason for all the noise was because the bus driver was yelling a lot.  There was one little kid that kept hitting me with a rolled up newspaper that resembled a caveman club. It didn’t really hurt but was very annoying and a violation of my personal space.

When I got home and told my mom about the lunch burglar, she couldn’t believe it. The more she thought about it the more she wanted PAYBACK! She shared her idea and I couldn’t believe that! Her idea was to get an innocent and delicious donut, carve out the filling, and refill it with cinnamon toothpaste! So, preparations were made, and the trap was set.

At lunchtime the next day I saw the burglar coming towards me. I quickly sat the donut down on the bench and went to the bathroom to watch in safety. Instead of simply taking the donut and gobbling it up, he sat on it. I’m not sure if this was on purpose or by accident but he sat on it. He quickly got back up and threw the donut in the trash. Nobody seemed to witness this assault on my donut but I had seen it all. Unfortunately, since the rules state, no tattling, I couldn’t do anything about it.

Not being able to do anything about it made me realize how much I missed homeschooling. Being able to work at your own pace and not hear someone else get yelled at because they were talking. Being able to take breaks when you want to is a great freedom. The biggest thing is just being with your family. Talking to them about what matters to you or working on projects together, It’s because of my family that I had to go to public school but it was also because of my family that I was able to survive this chapter of my life called, PUBLIC SCHOOL!