first day of school

Reggie is in 7th grade!

Since I am writing this at the beginning of the second trimester rather than on the first day of school, I can also share that with one trimester down, Reggie has done a great job of adjusting to his new school.

The middle school is twice the size as their old school so that gives him more room to avoid his sister, and the feeling is mutual.  There are six lunch shifts instead of three, and from what I've been told, the lunches are the same amount of gross.

Reggie is taking band again and plays percussion.  His favorite teacher is his social studies teacher and his hardest class is intermediate algebra.

Lydia is in 8th grade!

She jumped right in and joined the volleyball team.  She chose band and gym for her electives. She joined the jazz band and got to participate in a district and metro honor band.  

As we had hoped, the expectations in the new school are different from in the old school.  The kids aren't given limitless chances to turn in and revise their work.  There are actual deadlines and sometimes even homework.  The band students were expected to participate in the winter concert as a part of their grade. There are less fights aand less kids wearing pajama pants to class.  The teachers send out forms with expectations for parents to sign, which seems so odd.  

A 3 out of 4 is actually a C and not a B. And there are things like expectations of respect and detention.  It's called the "Wildcat Way."  

In essense, the teachers haven't given up.  Our old district focused on serving the needs of a certain population.  It had some great teachers who were overwhelmed. And they were doing nothing for my kids.  

People can argue that there is school choice, but in reality that's not true.  There are transportation barriers to school choice, and the more resourced districts are full with no room for open enrollment. And the quality charter schools have lotteries. In reality, privilege begets privilege.

Brett is in 9th grade!

His transition was the biggest transition of all, and he has us all impressed.  He went from full-time homeschool to full-time public highschool.  For Brett, my primary hopes are growth in independence, social navigation, and contentment.  I think he is making progress in all of those areas.  He rides his bike to school. He spends half of his day in general education classes and half of his day in special education classes.

Brett really likes going to school.  As expected, his favorite class is gym, and I've set it up so that he will probably always be taking gym. ; )  He also took drawing and enjoyed it. This trimester, he is taking Fundamentals of Food Prep.  I told him that after five years of homeschool, he should be able to teach that class!!  But I suppose they will teach him the "right" way to do things rather than my way -"cooking with your five senses". 

Brett likes going to sporting events and sitting in the student section.  He also joined a social club called Royal Connections and he enjoys it.  I'm proud of all his work!