Back to School

My grandson Kerry was glad to get back to school today.  He's in fourth grade, happily back to the routines of Mrs. Ford's classroom at Davidson Elementary School.  Part of that routine is writing sentences, which I help him do on the phone most weeknights.  Tonight's homework was to write a paragraph about "any phylum of animal you have studied in school", using 5 words from the week's vocabulary.  Kerry chose the harp seal, and cranked out his sentences with ease, including one that noted how a harp seal is slower than a motorboat but faster than a turtle.  

Kerry's return to school was probably quite a bit less dramatic than the entry of the Obama daughters into their new school.  I heard a photographer talking on NPR about a photo she took this morning in the Obama apartment, and I looked it up online:  the girls are in their coats and backpacks, smiling up at their dad who's talking to them, while Michelle, wearing her coat and obviously about to go with them to school,  looks on serenely.  A sweet picture, capturing the energy and love in the family.  I wonder if they had homework tonight?