30.8.21

First Day of School 2021 | 11th, 8th and 4th Grades

On August 11, I dropped all three off in carpool and drove away.  For the first time in six years, we are no longer a homeschool family.  For the first time in over 16 years, I will spend the large part of my day without the children with me.  

I know he looks miserable, but I don't think he is.  He's a teenager, and they don't like having their pictures taken.  Or, at least, this one doesn't.  I think this is going to be a really good year for him.  He has a challenging schedule, but he has some super cool classes, including Sports Medicine.  One of his classes is even an AP class.  I never would've imagined that back in the days of elementary school.

He did oblige me with a grin.  This is about as good as it gets these days.

This girl was excited about going back to school, but she was nervous, too.  We went to Open House, but she wasn't able to go to her homeroom so when I dropped her off, she had no idea where her first classroom was.  But she found it.  And, not only that, but, as the Lord would have it, a girl that she had befriended in 1st grade was in her homeroom class and remembered her.  She walked up to Hannah Kate and introduced herself all over again.  It's so hard to believe that this is her last year of middle school!

And this girl had been waiting and talking for days about going to school.  This is her first time ever in a traditional school setting.  She definitely had the biggest adjustment of everyone, but she totally rocked it.  I was so proud of her!  She, too, went to Open House, and we got to meet both of her sweet teachers.  But we didn't get to go to her classroom so she had no idea where to go her first day.  I couldn't go in with her either.  So when I dropped her off, she had to walk into that big school building and ask someone where to go.  Let's just say this is way outside her comfort zone!  But she totally did it, and when I picked her up that first afternoon, she'd had a good day!

The biggest change for her is getting used to going to school all day five days a week.  She's always done school four half-days a week.  When I woke her up on day six, she rolled over and told me, "I am so tired of this."  Tired of what?  "Going to school."  Well, sister, this is only the beginning.  One hundred seventy-four days to go!

Each student in her class has a job to do.  They got to choose their top three and were then assigned jobs from there.  She is so excited to be in charge of laptops the first nine weeks.  She takes her job very seriously and tells me everyday about picking up the laptops.

The day before school started, she had an orthodontist appointment and came away with a mouth full of metal.  I realize the timing on that stinks, but I didn't realize it was going to fall out that way.  The appliance in her mouth has also altered her speech, especially consonant sounds.  So the very next day she started a brand new school all while getting used to metal in her mouth and trying to speak clearly through not only that but a mask, too!  And, as the Lord would have it, there are two little girls in her class that she befriended on the very first day, and they both have similar appliances in their mouths!  That made Ellie feel so much better.

Peep those fingernails!  She intentionally painted them purple the night before to match her uniform.

I've prayed over this day since November 2018.  It was an odd feeling dropping all three off in carpool on that first day, but I also felt tremendous peace.  So many people asked me what I was going to do that first day.  I'd often asked myself the same thing.  I figured I'd either go back home and take a long nap or go back home and clean until I couldn't clean anymore.  But neither of those were the Lord's plan, and I instead went to work.  I went back to work (as in a paying job!) a month ago and work part-time.  And I love it!

I'm sure I irritate them to no end in carpool.  I try not to embarrass them.  I really do.  And I think I do a pretty good job of NOT embarrassing them.  But I tell them the same thing every morning as they get out of the truck.

Shine bright, little lights!

In the days leading up to the first day of school, the Lord gave me Psalm 40:5.

"Many, LORD my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us.  None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare."