August crept up on us entirely too quickly. The days we had back at home before school began were spent in the mad rush of collecting school supplies and preparing for one of our most adventurous school years so far. After a wonderful summer of being together constantly (well, wonderful most of the time and painful at least occasionally), this year marked the first year of everyone going in separate directions. Not only will all four of our children be attending school this year, but most of them will be attending school in different places.
With the greatest trepidation, and under the influence of the people most affected by the decision, I have withdrawn my petition to homeschool Theo this year, and agreed to let him have a go at middle school. The decision makes me quite nervous, as I did not much enjoy middle school myself, and I am concerned that Theo's delayed grasp of the importance of organization and diligence will handicap him in a setting with so many teachers and classes. That he fortunately qualified for the district's "alpha" program, an accelerated curriculum that will keep him with the same group of students and teachers throughout much of the school day, gives me some comfort, but not complete peace of mind. Addy alone will stay where she is, progressing from third to fourth grade this year, while Emerson too, by his own request, took the qualifying test for the elementary school alpha program and is matriculating into the program at a separate school. I don't think I would have gone for this plan at all, except that he begged me, saying that Theo and Addy had both had the chance to go to a different school and learn
French and therefore it was only fair to let him try something new as well. How can a mother argue with that? We go into it with the knowledge that we can always pull him back to our neighborhood school (something we haven't remotely ruled out for next year, even if he loves the new school to pieces--three is a lot of schools to have to keep track of!). And finally, the littlest duckling in our flock, Sera, is flying from the nest to kindergarten this year! Although I would love to, I really can't keep her little anymore--aside from being taller than most children a year or two older than she is, she is more enamored of learning than any little girl I know. It takes her mere days to fly through any coloring or activity book I buy her, she spends every hour at home begging me to either read to her or help her practice, and she has already taught herself to read Hop on Pop. It's funny how the child whose academics I've encouraged the least has developed the greatest internal desire for learning. We have no concerns about her success in kindergarten, despite the fact that she (unlike any of our other children) will be attending full days due to a recent change in district policy. I feel like I
should regret this partial emptying of the nest, but once the idea took root in my mind, I couldn't help the growing excitement about being able to reclaim so many hours of my days just for me. It has been a long (wonderful, yes, but also long) ten years!
In the evenings leading up to school's start, we entertained ourselves with some last movie nights, outdoor concerts, and the first run of Theo's play. Spending some time in the limelight has been exciting for Theo, with his acting chops improving with each successive performance. He's lucky to have a dad with plenty of stage experience to give him tips on vocal projection, "cheating out," and staying in character. The plays have been very funny, and a lot of fun. I found myself behind the curtain unexpectedly one night when a stage-hand was missing, and I feel privileged to have enjoyed the play from both sides of the curtain. There sure are a lot of things to keep track of during a play! Theo's favorite part has been the friendships he's been able to make with the other cast members, which come from several different schools and have all sorts of backgrounds. He's really enjoyed the backstage/off-screen time, as well as the chance to "be a star" (although sometimes he gets his diva on a little too hard). He's beginning to get a little tired of his hair, which has gotten quite long and scraggly besides being dyed black for the role, and if nothing else appeals to him about ending his acting days, a haircut is starting to sound quite enticing.
School started two weeks too early for my taste (who decided to move it up from Labor Day anyway?), descending on us midmonth, along with a series of rainstorms for which we've been very thankful. Theo's days have fallen into a rhythm, and he's excited to work toward straight As this year. He likes his teachers and classes with the exception of his "Drugs and Skills" class (or maybe that's just me), which fortunately only lasts 6 weeks. He joined the cross-country team which meets most days after school, and has really gotten into logging miles and working to improve his times. He runs somewhere in the middle of the team, but is really motivated to improve and keep up with one of his good friends, Ryan, who is already running near the head of the pack. I, of course, am thrilled to see him taking so well to my favorite sport, and hope he continues to enjoy it as much as I always have. When I look back on my life and my fitness, I realize now how much of my knowledge about how to keep my body healthy and maintain a strong physique comes from the years I spent running cross-country in high school. I would love for my children to have the same fitness foundation.
Addy has already fallen in love with her new teacher, Mrs. B, whose penchant for drama and the arts are a perfect fit for Addy's personality. Most of her best friends are in a different class, which has given Addy a great opportunity to meet new people, especially since many in her class are new to the school or haven't been in her classes in the past. I always love hearing about the games and activities that Addy and her friends come up with at school, because I suspect that Addy's imagination and creativity are behind many of them. There are lots of role-playing stories that take place everywhere from haunted forests to desert islands, and most of them feature plenty of orphans. Addy has also come up with some pretty creative stories lately, and it's fun to see her writing some of her imaginings down.
Emerson loves his new teacher, Mrs. W, who has a Texas accent he adores. He has enjoyed being back in class with one of his best friends from kindergarten, who is also in his piano class. Between that and their double bus rides (they ride the same bus first to the neighborhood school, then to the magnet school), we hear quite a lot about their adventures. His favorite things about his new school are the trips his class gets to take to the nearby Environmental Center on a property adjoining the school, and frequent hands-on projects. Since growing some front teeth (finally), Emerson has been hard at work figuring out how to make "s" sounds properly again. He had to have his tongue filling in the empty space at the front of his mouth for so long that it's hard for him to remember to keep it back behind his teeth now. He hears quite a lot of reminders and requests to say "sixty-seven" and "suspicious." Luckily he's a good sport and will usually humor me.
As we suspected she would, Sera
loves kindergarten. She has made friends with the people who stand near her in line (she's number 13, she tells me often), and is happy to have at least one of her friends from church in class with her. Though the two boys at her table have bugged her a couple of times about her Dora backpack and lunchbox, her teacher told us that she has no problem sticking up for herself and doesn't take any flack from anyone. We haven't heard much of anything that she
doesn't like about kindergarten, and she has a hard time deciding which of her "specials" (music, art, library and PE) she likes the best. Amazingly, she doesn't come home exhausted at all, but hops straight onto the piano bench to practice when she gets home--her older brothers and sister are learning a thing or two from her diligence.
Aaron is getting back into the swing of things again as well, preparing his choirs for some cool collaborations this fall, including one with a baroque ensemble featuring Renaissance and Baroque works for double choirs. He sometimes feels unbearably busy and longs to cut back a little to spend more time on the parts of music he enjoys, rather than endless administration. He keeps tossing around the idea of writing pop music, or film music, or any kind of music at all that would pay him well. He applied for the position of chorus master with the city Philharmonic when it opened earlier this year, and is hopeful that a successful application might lead to more music-making and less documenting of excused absences, making of flyers, and getting sucked into the doldrums of never-ending emails to students.
As for me, I've pretty much embraced the freedom that comes at last after ten years of full-time and nearly full-time mothering. I'm clocking some serious hours revising the book I finished last year and sketching out the next in the series. I've finally created some characters that I really care about, and I hope I can convince the publishing world to love them as much as I do. As exciting as it is to be doing the work I love to do every day, it would be infinitely more exciting if someone would actually pay me to do it. May this school year bring that day to pass!
