The New Year Ahead

1st Day 10th Grade

Summer is coming to an end.  The days are getting shorter and the summer heat is finally dissipating.  And while there are many calendars; fiscal, lunar, Julian - its the school calendar that establishes and forms our year.  January isn't the beginning of the year so much as its the period between semesters. 

This is going to be a big year for this family.

TJ starts kindergarten next week.  Real school with greater expectations and no naps!  Its hard to judge and set expectations on a five year old, but thankfully, my son is a good listener and very polite and respectful.  I suppose that starting out those are good traits to have.  We have been reading over the summer and playing with math on the iPad.  I'm pretty sure he's not a genius but I am also sure he won't be a slacker.

1st Day Kindergarten

Lisa is excited for TJ as evidenced by the collared shirts she has purchased for him.  TJ may not be the kindergarten valedictorian but he will win the award for best dressed.  And best smile.  The one new element TJ brings to our family equation is we now have a hard-time for school.  Whereas in pre-K he showed up whenever Lisa or I could get him there school is different.  School starts at 8:35am.

TJ is going to school on a "traditional" school calendar, meaning that school begins just before Labor Day and ends in early June.  North Carolina also has "year round" school which has the same number of school days but the year starts in early August and has longer breaks throughout the year.  

The other big piece to the puzzle is that Samantha now lives with us and is starting 10th grade at Fuquay-Varina High School.  Big?  I meant, huge.  Samantha lives with us now.  We have a teenager in the house - just like that.

We are fortunate for a few things (so far).  First, Sam is super excited to go to school.  Unlike other kids, Sam actually contacted her teachers over the summer and eagerly engaged them on New Student Orientation Night.  Enthusiasm on the part of a student is a teachers greatest ally.   Second, Sam went school shopping and made very mature clothing choices.  I have been worried about getting into constant arguments over her clothing choices because everything she has now is too tight, too short, too worn, too risque for a young teenager.  I understand you need to pick your battles, but this is one of them.  And then Sam deflates the whole issue by getting blazers and nice tops and pants.  Poof.  Gone.  For now.  Third, Sam is coming into the school as an outsider - and a Northerner at that.  Her clique of friends is back in New York leaving Samantha to learn her way into a new social dynamic.  This might pay off in her attention in class because without her posse to impress with her sarcasm and antics, she might spend more time listening to the teacher and engaging more in the learning process.

Sam's school is also unusual in that it runs its school year like college semesters.  Instead of eight classes for the entire year, she will take four classes in the fall and four other classes in the spring.  Classes will be double the length to make up the time.  The concept sounds great because she can only have homework in four classes at a time.  Of course, the amount of homework hasn't been determined yet.

Unfortunately, Sam provides us another hard-time for the day.  Her bus picks her up at 6:05am!  I'm not even up at 6:05am.  None of us are. She needs to be at school by 7:05am.  The lopsidedness of the two kid's schedules against our work week - or - what we've been used to - has us fretting. 

Last night we went to our first high school football game.  TJ sat with us while Sam hung out with the few new people she knows.  By the end of the game there was a chill in the air as we celebrated a win for the Bengals and the start of the year.