First Few Days of High School and Sixth Grade in In the Meadow

The kids had three days of school this past week. Timmy and Kayla had ninth grade orientation on Wednesday, then classes on Thursday and Friday. Aaron had sixth grade on Wednesday through Friday. I waited with Aaron at the bus stop. I didn’t walk with the twins (they never would have permitted that) but I did wait anxiously in the house until the time I knew the bus would have come. I knew the school would call me if they were not there so I tried not to helicopter parent and accept that they were okay.

So far high school has gone well. On Wednesday the twins were assigned their lockers. They had an assembly in the morning where they discussed the school rules. They also had speakers who talked about time management, staying organized, substance abuse and dating violence. They had lunch in the cafeteria. The kids said they liked the food in the cafeteria. They have several lines with different options. During the afternoon they followed their class schedule. They spent a few minutes in each class. Their teachers talked about what the school year would be like. They had to get a loose leaf binder for math class and a composition book for English. There was no practice after school on Wednesday, so they came right home after school. The twins are not in any of the same classes, which I think is good. They will also have different lunches. They’ll be able to develop their own identities.

Thursday was the first day of classes. It was also the first day there were tenth through twelfth graders in the building. Kayla and Timmy are figuring out the most efficient way to get from class to class and when to go to their lockers. They have been doing pretty well with their homework so far. We have been writing out their assignments in their planners so they can keep organized. They already knew some of the kids from middle school and from sports practice. They have an intro to high school program as part of their school day which is helping them with study and social skills.

Starting high school is exciting and definitely a big deal. This is the first time in a while they will be in school with much older kids, some of whom have cars. It is kind of scary, but I have to talk to them a lot and trust their judgment. I started hanging out with the guy who was my date for the senior prom during ninth grade. We went to the prom when he was a twelfth grader and I was an eleventh grader. I wouldn’t exactly say he was my boyfriend, but we did hang out with each other quite a bit.

Aaron is in sixth grade this year. His first day of school was Wednesday. This will be his last year of elementary school. My baby boy is growing up. Some of his friends are in his class and some are in the other sixth grade class. He has a desk and a locker in the classroom. His teacher sent home a note saying that she focuses on hands on learning. That works best with upper elementary students. Aaron is going to be doing safety patrol this year. He has a station near the school door and he makes sure the kids don’t run. He is great with younger kids, and I think he will do well as a safety patrol. The class is doing common core, which helps Aaron to understand material better, especially in math.

It is hard to believe that it has been fifteen years since the September 11th attacks. The kids are studying about September 11th in school. For them it is an historical event. It is similar to when people my age learned about the Kennedy assassination and Pearl Harbor. I was thinking that for people my age in the United States the September 11th attacks were a shared experience of feeling like we could be in danger. We have not had many shared experiences like that. For my grandparents World War II was a similar experience where many people fought or had to make sacrifices. For my parents there was the Kennedy assassination and the Vietnam War. Even though not everyone fought in Vietnam all young men could possibly have been drafted into the military. September 11th is a memory just about everyone my age has, based on their own particular experience.