January 04, 2004
Getting Ready for Change
Tomorrow is a brand new day for our family. Zach and Jenna are heading off to school at OCA ...Their first day in an "institutional" school (--well, their first day since they left OCS three years ago after only one semester there....)
This school change will mean a life change for me as well as for them. For the better part of the past seven years, home schooling has been my life from August through May each year.
For them, they will have to get up by a certain time, get themselves together and ready for school, spend seven hours away from home, with homework to do as needed. Their "free" time will be diminished considerably. They will be surrounded with other children their own age, with teachers they can't call Mom, and rules they'd better not break! (They know that if they get into trouble at school, they will also get into trouble when they get home.) And they won't have each other to pick on or play with all day long. (Yes, I'm looking forward to this change!)
Jenna, our third grader, is looking forward to going to school. She is ready to have lots of girlfriends with whom she can talk incessantly--during recess and lunch, anyway. Zach, on the other hand, values his "free" time, and is reluctant to lose that. (He will mourn the loss, but he'll get over it; I have no doubt.) Being in sixth grade, this is actually a very good year to make this transition. Next year--middle school--will be a whole new ball game.
So here's to Zach and Jenna and their first day at school! I salute them, I have faith in them, and I will be praying for them every day.... (And I'll probably pray for their teachers as well!)
(Note: The above photo was taken on our recent road trip. They're really not insane... When this photo was taken they had just indulged in a boat-load of chocolate at Hershey's Chocolate World in Hershey, PA.)