Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Back To School

We are coming up on my absolute favorite time of year: back to school. As a child, I loved school. I grew up on a farm so back to school meant my life got easier. I only had morning and evening chores, but the rest of the day was spent in school and on the bus. I was at the top of my class all through school. It was fun being the smartest kid in class.In 7th grade, my friend Tracey and I taught ourselves to solve the Rubik's cube . In 9th grade, I was the star of the academic team. I was asked to be on the varsity team because of my superior agility in mathematics! Yep, I was a nerd even though I would never have admitted it back then.
College back-to-school time was awesome! The college bookstore with all those new and used textbooks, 5-Star binders, pens, pencils, collegiate apparel, the beginning of new classes, the hustle and bustle of campus life, cooler temperatures: ah, heaven!
Not surprisingly, I became a teacher. While all my colleagues anticipated June with growing enthusiasm, I always had a sense of sadness as the school year came to a close. Don't misunderstand; I love summer break (but that is another post)! The last days of school would always be filled with students coming to my classroom, playing games, helping me clean out my room to get ready for the summer crew. The best days were those teacher workdays in the fall getting ready for a new crop of students. I loved getting my room ready and planning out the year's goals and objectives. Often, my team mate and I would spend hours over the summer writing our own texts because we couldn't find anything published that met all our standards for teaching algebra. I love the first days of school: teaching the students how to set up their binders, going over expectations, having them write about themselves, learning their names, the first test (admittedly, calling parents after the first test wouldn't make my Top 10).
Honestly, for the 13 years I taught school, I barely slept the night before the first day of school.
My oldest child started kindergarten last year. A whole new level of back-to-school excitement! Hannah learned so much in kindergarten, more than I would have thought a kindergartner could learn in one year. It was a good experience.
But my little Hannah has different plans for her education. She wants to be home schooled. I've spent the summer researching, reading, talking, thinking about home schooling. And I have decided it is a great idea for our family at least for now. Frank and I are in agreement that if Hannah wants to be home schooled this badly and I am qualified and available to do it then we should go for it. Yesterday, I sent in my paper work to the NC Dept of Non-Public Instruction to "be a home school". It is really exciting and daunting at the same time.
When people ask Hannah where she goes to school, she immediately and enthusiastically looks them in the eye and says, "At home!" All summer, I have tried to "talk her out of it". Not because I don't want to do it, but because I want to be sure she understands what it entails and what she'll miss out on by not being in a traditional school setting. Hannah totally gets it,probably better than I do at this point. Every day throughout the summer she has asked, "Can we do my home schooling now?"
We are officially starting with the rest of North Carolina on August 25. I'll let you know how our first day goes and how much sleep I get the previous night.

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