From Nerd Academy to Arts Academy

Only three weeks into the school year, and already I feel like our little family has taken giant steps into a new odyssey. William has left the Open Classroom behind and has started Middle School at the Arts Academy. An enormous transition year, I envisioned some hiccups in the process, but nothing prepared me for his second day of school. After starting his first day of school with an attitude of excitement mixed with a normal dose of nerves, I thought it was under control, that the worst was over. I was wrong. Day two arrived and found him screaming at Bill and I that he would never go back to that school and we couldn't make him. The best way to describe the hour between him waking up and time to leave would be to call it a "melt-down of EPIC proportions". William usually keeps his cool and seldom is reduced to irrationality, so we knew this was big. Bill and I both assured him it was totally normal to feel that way after starting a new school (both of us were pros in our day) and that it would get a tiny bit better every day. Luckily for us, and most importantly him, it didn't get a a tiny bit better every day. It seems to get leaps and bounds better with each passing class and I knew he had turned the corner when an acquaintance asked him about his new school and he said "It's good, I like it." A few days before and the question alone would have reduced him to tears. Homework is a new experience for him (and us) and it seems to be going well. He is doing things I didn't even know he was capable of doing and learning how to make new friends while keeping his old ones. After second guessing our decision to take him out of the Open Classroom at the beginning of the first week, it has been amazing to watch his transformation and growth only three weeks in.

William is not the only one transitioning this year. Romney went from going to school for 3 hours a day/ 4 days a week to being asked to stay 7 hours a day/ 5 days a week in a classroom full of strangers. None of the boys from his Kindergarten class were put into this 1st/2nd grade classroom. I knew that would be the case at the end of last year and I was glad since he didn't really bond with any of his fellow boy (or girl) classmates. I was excited that he would have a new crop to choose from this year. However, the new crop of first grade boys is a strange mix with no one really a good fit for him. There is a group of 3 second grade boys that is super cute and funny and is a great fit for him. Romney picked them out right away and wanted in with them. The problem: they have already bonded a year together and are second graders who were hesitant about befriending a "little kid". Romney struggled with remembering how to make friends, even asking me for suggestions on how to do it. But three weeks in and he is an official member of the "Nerd Academy" (which is what this group of boys call themselves). He came home today with another grand announcement: "Today didn't feel quite as long", which is Romney speak for "I enjoyed my day for the first time all year".

Another person facing a major transition: the mother who has no kids at home during the day, me. This is the first time in 11 years where I have had more than a couple of hours at a time to myself. In fact, I am only co-oping 3 hours of the week with only one kid at the Open Classroom this year. I am on a 2 month vacation where no one is allowed to ask me what I am going to do with all my free time. I figured after 11 years, I earned 2 months off. After that I will start to think about productive ways to fill my days while still being available for my youngsters. I must admit, I am not having a hard time with my transition.