What day is it?

As if it isn't hard enough to remeber what 'specials' and lessons the kids have on what days and in what order the school district has decided to do away with scheduling on weekdays.  Now we have everything on numbered days!  Fantastic.  Is gym a day 4 or day 5 special?  Now today is Tuesday, I think, does that mean it is a day 4?  Who knows? 

I get the whole theory.  Mondays are a common day off for holidays.  So if you have Art on Mondays only you would miss a lot of Art class.  If Gym class was on Tuesdays you may miss a day here or there, but I guarentee you, my son will miss plenty of days because I have forgotten to send him with his sneakers. 

I know, plan ahead, write the corresponding day on the calendar and just rotate them that way.  Great, except when you miss a day for a snow day.  Throws off the rest of the calendar.  Now you have scribble marks and numbers everywhere. 

Middle Kid takes trumpet, is in band and chorus.  That is 3 extra specials to remeber in the rotation.  I will be the first to admit, he has forgotten his instrument on more than one occassion.  Along with his 3 'extras' we also have Art, Music, Gym, Library, and Computer.  Some times he has 3 specials a day!  Soon his day will consist of only specials.  In this day and age Computer should not be a 'class'.  All they do is surf the net.  Yeah he does that at home too.  There is an extra 30 mins he can use for Math.  Gym should be audited if the kid takes part in a sport outside of school for more than 60 mins a week.  Middle Kid plays hockey for roughly 240 minutes a week.  He plays year round.  He gets his exercise.  An extra 60 minutes a week to Math again!  A kid that is participating in trumpet, band and chorus is getting their music requirement.  Another 30 minutes a week to Math. 

With that, I have added 120 minutes of class time to Math, and taken away 3 specials to remeber and maybe one day, we will figure out what day to bring the dang trumpet to school!