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Things I learned in school

Stabbing yourself with a pencil will give you lead poisoning and you might die. This was the rumour going around, anyway. So when the boy sitting next me in grade 3 decided to stab me with his pencil in my back, it got me worried and upset. I did what any normal child would do - I stabbed him right back, but in the neck, with my pencil. I've never figured out why I was the one who was sent to the principle's office....

During a total eclipse of the sun, it is important to never stare at the sun. In fact, remain indoors and put black construction paper on all the windows. This won't freak out young children at all! ;)

Teachers always have their favourite students - this is more evident if you're not, in fact, one of the teacher's favourite.

The thing I remember the most from middle school was learning about the different types of clouds: Stratus, Startocumulus, Cumulus, Cumulonimbus, Altostratus, Altocumulus, Cirrus, Cirrocumulus. We had different stations set up and we worked on clouds for one week. It was educational, and fun, and believe it or not, one of the lessons I've never forgotten.

Beginner algebra was awesome: 1a + 2a = 3a. I totally understood this and I felt like a superstar in math class, for once. But once we got to advanced algebra, I sucked all over again. Math was my most hated subject. (That is algebra, right?)

I also loved learning about triangles and the Pythagorean theorem. For some reason, as bad as I was in math, this was not too hard for me to understand. Up to a certain point.

Cliques are formed early on. Girls and boys can be incredibly mean. People who bully suck and are probably working at McDonald's today.

If you put a car lighter on your nose to test to see if it is hot, and it leaves a red scar on your nose, the kids in your grade 6 class will call you Rudolph for days on end.

Mom - Wagon Wheels are NOT the same as Jos Louis! It was always a disappointment when you would anxiously open up your lunch bag, only to discover that the Jos Louis you thought you'd be enjoying was, in fact, a Wagon Wheel.

If your boobs grow faster than the other girls in your 7th grade class, the other girls will huddle together during recess, and come back to tell you that they think you're a show-off because you have boobs and they don't.

If you run out of gel for your hair in high school, and you tell your homeroom teacher what a disaster this is, he will be nice enough to let you walk to the corner drug store to buy some so you don't have to spend the rest of the day with frizzy hair.

If you're always late for homeroom, your teacher will track you down before class starts to give you the morning announcements personally. (Maybe I just had a really nice teacher?)

Carrying an egg around in Parenting class is NOTHING like taking care of a real baby. But my baby egg was really cute. I even cut a piece of hair off and attached it to my egg with a pink bow. I left it at home a lot, though. I was a bad high school mom!

Coles Notes were helpful when having to write essays about Shakespeare in high school.

I enjoyed reading Ordinary People, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, and Death of a Salesman in high school and discovered how much I truly loved to read. I took as many English classes as I could.

My most favourite teachers also all happened to be English teachers. I had one teacher in particular in grade 9 who was very much like Robin Williams in Dead Poet's Society, one of my favourite movies.

Drinking Long Island Iced Tea behind the school before a dance will make you so sick you'll never, ever drink that poison again!

You will discover the Playboy room in the auditorium at some point during your high school years. Our 'playboy room' had a blue pleather 70's style couch with a huge Playboy bunny logo painted on the wall. I don't have to tell you what this room was used for, do I? (I do want to know if the teachers knew about this room, though! And if they used it, too? Eww!)

Organizing and participating in the Remembrance Day assembly was a lot of work, and a lot of fun. It was actually a pretty cool accomplishment for a high school student, and I learned a lot. I even used the song Games Without Frontiers in the assembly. Love that song. Same goes with organizing and participating in the yearly fashion show. Sounds silly, but it was not the easiest thing to organize and it taught me a lot about time management.

Having a wide variety of friends from different groups is very important. I was friends with all sorts of people.

Not a lot of studying got done in the library. That is, until University. Then it was all serious. 4th floor, MacOdrum librabry. The best place to study for exams.

Scholastic days were the BEST! I loved getting the pamphlets and selecting the books I wanted. The day the boxes with the new books would arrive was like Christmas! Waiting for the new books taught me a lesson in patience.

Back to school shopping is always fun - for clothes, shoes, and for school supplies. September is all about back to school shopping and now I am enjoying the shopping for my son, who is starting school!

Edited to add: This is just a handful of things I remember from school, of course... I could actually write an entire novel about school itself!

Comments

JR said…
A very well-written article. It brought many fond memories back for me also.

But, the one that brought the smile to my face, was your reminiscense about Scholastic day! That, too, was my favorite day in class .... ah, the smell of the new books when they arrived!

Thanks!
Love this post Loukia!! I may steal your idea at some point - with credit of course!!
I can relate to lots of these. Except the boobs...I didn't get any till I was 17. Majorly picked on for looking like a boy for so long. lol
anya said…
I remember the black paper on the windows too! Great post Loukia!
Totally rockin... I remember some of those days well.. though I dont think we had a Playboy room... LOL
Kell said…
i can totally relate to almost all of these! hilarious .. it's weird how you remember certain lessons from your younger years - but I have absolutely no idea what I learned in half of my college classes. Strange how that works, eh? haha :)

xoxo
Chantal said…
Hmm I think I needed to pay more attention in school :)
Chandra said…
This takes me back...waaaay back! Great post Loukia!
Lady Mama said…
I'm laughing because my husband asked me to get him Joe Louis the other day when I went shopping, I came back with wagon wheels and he was not impressed!

Great post! Enjoyed reading it.
Cynthia said…
Hmmm...why did you stick a car lighter to your nose? Do they still put lighters in cars?

Anyway...I hope school goes well:)
Anonymous said…
My egg baby had plastic arms and legs I had extracted from a doll. That damn egg couldn't handle the weight and cracked all the time. I had half a dozen of them!
becca said…
Loved reading your list... made me laugh aloud in parts! And it's so true how cliques start early. My daughter is 4.5 and I deal with the woes of playground cliques and meanness already. It's crazy! Great post!
I remember that I never wanted high school to end. I loved it everyday and cried my eyes out everyday of my Senior year!
Shannon said…
Oh my gosh. I had a horrible experience with Ling Island Iced Tea and a dance...that may or may not have ended in being suspended. Ooops!! I've never had a drink of it again! BARF!
CaraBee said…
I'm impressed that you remember so much from grade school. I swear my memory doesn't start until like 16. Even that is fuzzy.
Jessica said…
I learned that paste tastes minty fresh and that if you write "I <3 Jason W." all over your sneakers and jean shorts he'll probably find out you have a crush on him. :)
Stephanie said…
LOL You brought back a lot of memories...i would have to trade the Long Island ice tea for Spamonit Bambino (how to you spell the name of that super cheap sparkling crap!!) HA
BeachMama said…
Such a great list Loukia, you brought back many memories for me from my high school days.
Theta Mom said…
My favorite on your list was the back-to-school shopping! As a kid, I couldn't wait to get new clothes and all of that new "school" stuff. Although I'm going it now with my own kids and it's fun, it sure is expensive! Great way to put some of your school memories on "paper!"