First Day of School! (Ever.)
Their faces in this pic kind of says it all.
Eden is not happy to be going to public school, but I think it's not nearly as bad as she thought. She came home grumbling, but she kind of had a smile on her face as she did so. She'll get used to it. I know she has a hard time around a lot of people, but there's only ten kids in the 8th grade class (unless some were absent yesterday).
Maya and Ivy are excited. Seems like it all went well. They're struggling with feeling rushed because they only give 4 minutes between class changes. I worry for Ivy most of all, because he has to go all the way up to the third floor to use his designated bathroom. I told him that if he doesn't have time, he should just get his books during break and ask for a hall pass to use the bathroom during class. His teachers should hopefully understand. The PE teachers were really cool at open house and said that they'd dismiss him early from class so he can go have time to change. He only has PE twice a week.
He was supposed to have band, but he ultimately switched out of that class. Apparently keyboard was not an option (he's self-taught, and he's GOOD already), plus he can't read music and the teacher told him he'd be way behind everyone else. There wasn't another instrument he wanted to try, so he swapped out and has a study hall hour instead. We all feel good about it, because we got an 'asshole' vibe off the teacher at open house. Josh says he's met him before and our vibes are correct.
Eden has an art class, which I'm happy about. She's a great artist, and I think she could get really good if she studied other/proper techniques. I've tried to get her to do so before, but she's so stubborn and has this 'The way I do ANYTHING is the right way' attitude -- which made it very hard to teach her anything. So hopefully school will be good for her.
Maya seemed happy enough with kindergarten. Her teacher is nice, she said, so that's a plus. I still have to find her a nap mat. She hasn't had naps in years, but apparently she needs one for school, so that's on my to-do list if I have time today. Ivy and I are going to St. Louis for our Transparent/Gender Creative Kids Club meeting. I'll stop at yet another walmart if I have time and see if I can find a nap mat.
I was iffy about doing the transparent meetings on a school night. We live 2+ hours away, and we usually don't get home til sometime between 11 pm-12 am, depending on if I have to stop at the store on the way home. Ivy claims he can do it and really wants to go, so we'll see how it works. I told him he'll have to do his homework on the ride (he forgot his homework at school yesterday...supposedly). We'll see if either of us can get up at 6 am tomorrow morning. He just had a birthday, so now that he's 12, he should be moving up to the teen group. We'll see how he likes that one.
All in all, it went pretty well. I had a GREAT day, personally! The house was so peaceful and nice. I got my chores done by 10 am, had a write-in, and then Josh got home from his half-day so we got some alone time to watch some shows together (which actually loaded and played for us without everyone else online). He's off for the next few days, so we can even have date time for a change if we want! This is fabulous. I do kind of wish we'd done this earlier. I always loved homeschooling, but it's been 2 or 3 years now where I just can't seem to get them to do anything for me anymore, so ultimately it was no longer the right choice. I don't feel nearly so guilty anymore. Hopefully school will go well and that feeling will continue.