School life, between the linesBy Admissions Diary
School stories, admissions adventures, and the things parents talk about on the way home.
Parent life · The school stage
British school Christmas plays run on kitchen linen. One mother set out to beat the supermarket's £8 shepherd costume and kept the receipts.
Parent life · The parent group
Parents at one English primary school wrote their own etiquette for the class group chat. Every rule on it has a story behind it, and most parents could supply one.
Parent life · Across the country
The school flour-sack baby is meant to teach teenagers responsibility. One mother in 2002 read the instructions and found out whose responsibility it was.
School culture · Across the country
Every fall, seniors get under a hundred characters to define themselves forever. The adults supervising them have already used theirs.
Parent life · Boarding school
A mother's daughter texted from boarding school to ask where the laundry pod goes. I have been married for twenty years and I had the same question.
Parent life · Beyond the classroom
Education Week asked teachers what they want for the holidays, and the mug lost badly. I was already holding one.
Parent life · School and home
Kindergartens build leprechaun traps every March. Then the traps come home, and a grown-up has to stage an escape at eleven at night without waking anyone.
Parent life · Around the school gates
In a Montessori birthday walk, a child carries a globe around a sun while the class hears about each year of their life. One teacher recalls a family who sent in 117 photographs.
Parent life · The school book fair
A Pennsylvania parent ran her school's Scholastic fair on one rule. That year's bestseller sold for $12.99, $7, $1 and nothing.
Parent life · Missouri · School photo day
A Missouri mother planned her seventh grader's school photo down to the squint. Nobody mentioned the green screen.
School life · Chattanooga, Tennessee
St. Nicholas School marks Shrove Tuesday with a service, a lesson on Lent and a pancake race. The winners' favorite part was not the winning.
School life · Texas · Calgary · Guam
Schools from Texas to Calgary to Guam hold a day when students carry their books in anything except a backpack. The rules arrive about an hour after the idea.
