I have neglected this blog for a few months. Mostly because I am no longer downshifting like the title implies but UPSHIFTING as a houseparent to 26 girls aged 14-17. It has been a crazy, frenetic pace.. non stop planning, coordinating, counseling, coaching, laughing and sometimes crying. Many have asked, "what exactly do you do?".. my answer, "MOM duties x26" (Plus managing my own teen girl and almost teen boy and one neurotic dog). The day starts at 7 when the older girls wake up the younger ones. At 7:30 I turn off the intruder alarm so they can go to breakfast up at the dining hall and the day is off to a loud, rushed start as girls come in and out, make-up and hair is fixed, things are needed out of our "house study". We have roll call every morning at 8:25 in the house lounge then we all walk up the hill to chapel and sit together as a house. The girls have lessons all day but come in and out at breaks. A deputy Houseparent comes in the afternoon to do laundry, run the office and communications. We are a close team: houseparent, deputy HP, pastoral assistant and three teacher tutors who run evening prep 3 nights a week. Tuesdays are our house nights, after evening prep (homework) we all gather in the lounge and do house bonding activities.
Some of our favorites are fondue, quiz nights, indoor smores, decorating our house for Christmas, and a recent house night ended with dancing the Macarena and singing at the top of our lungs. Curfew is 9:15 for the younger girls (freshman/sophomores) and 10:15 for the 6th form girls (Jr/seniors). They have varying bedtimes depending on year group starting at 10 pm. The biggest discipline challenge is monitoring use of devices after bedtime. No one is allowed on their phones after lights out so I have to sneak around and check. The girls are really good at picking up on the creaky floorboards and miraculously when I open the dorm rooms it is usually eerily quiet and dark (I am pretty sure they are hiding them under duvet covers) I have only confiscated a handful of devices thus far. Good thing the school shuts down Wi-Fi after 11:15 anyways. The day before Christmas break the fire alarm went off at 7 am, right in the middle of shower time. The impromptu fire drill in frosty English winter and towels was quite a scene. Turned out that one of the seniors had sprayed deodorant in her room which triggered the alarm. Despite the craziness and occasional drama of 26 girls in one house the overall spirit is joyful and there is a sense of sisterhood. We recently went on a house trip to see Mama Mia in London with the other senior girls house. In total there were 70 of us, singing, dancing, laughing and smiling.. these are the moments that make the late night phone raids and early morning fire drills worth it. Below are a few glimpses of daily life..
Some of our favorites are fondue, quiz nights, indoor smores, decorating our house for Christmas, and a recent house night ended with dancing the Macarena and singing at the top of our lungs. Curfew is 9:15 for the younger girls (freshman/sophomores) and 10:15 for the 6th form girls (Jr/seniors). They have varying bedtimes depending on year group starting at 10 pm. The biggest discipline challenge is monitoring use of devices after bedtime. No one is allowed on their phones after lights out so I have to sneak around and check. The girls are really good at picking up on the creaky floorboards and miraculously when I open the dorm rooms it is usually eerily quiet and dark (I am pretty sure they are hiding them under duvet covers) I have only confiscated a handful of devices thus far. Good thing the school shuts down Wi-Fi after 11:15 anyways. The day before Christmas break the fire alarm went off at 7 am, right in the middle of shower time. The impromptu fire drill in frosty English winter and towels was quite a scene. Turned out that one of the seniors had sprayed deodorant in her room which triggered the alarm. Despite the craziness and occasional drama of 26 girls in one house the overall spirit is joyful and there is a sense of sisterhood. We recently went on a house trip to see Mama Mia in London with the other senior girls house. In total there were 70 of us, singing, dancing, laughing and smiling.. these are the moments that make the late night phone raids and early morning fire drills worth it. Below are a few glimpses of daily life..
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This is Severn house where we live, work and play Scruffy is now "Deputy House Dog" and our mascot at interhouse competitions. Our house color is green so here he had to dress up appropriately. He get lots of extra walks, treats and love.
Above we are practicing for the interhouse singing competition which was held in the chapel against all the other houses. The girls sang "Man in the Mirror" and had the best harmonies of the night
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| We have an apple orchard so it is great for providing apples for house night treats such as Apple crumble, Apple pies and Apple butter.. here I am knocking some down |
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| Getting to be goofy is a perk of the job, here we are preparing for In-house night which is every Tuesday |
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| The girls making "Baubles" for our house Christmas tree |
Our recent trip to London.. we charted a bus since there were 70 of us!
Mamma Mia- a great way to end 1st term, singing, laughing and dancing together!
