3 of 4

Daniel and Nathan started school today. Nathan had 7th grade orientation yesterday and came home feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. They tossed so much information at him that he felt like he didn’t catch it all. And because of the dumb way our school assigns lockers, he will have to share a locker with a total stranger. At least there aren’t three kids sharing his locker which happened to some of the kids in his 7th period class. Instead of assigning lockers in advance like I’m used to, our school gives each 7th period teacher a certain number of lockers and they have to make it work for the number of kids in the class. Nathan’s 7th period has about 40 kids and only 15 lockers. Seriously dumb. His locker frustration was amplified when he looked down the corridor and realized that other classes had only one person per locker. Like I said, super dumb way to assign lockers.
By last night he had calmed down and while he still wasn’t super excited about some things, he was getting excited about his actual classes again. Two of his good friends, one who lives just down the street and one that has been in the same class as Nathan every year since first grade (except for sixth grade because the boundary realignments that came with the opening of our new elementary school put them in two different schools), are in his first three morning classes. So that is a definite plus. His art teacher believes in teaching the kids what they want to learn, not just what she wants them to learn, so the kids have input into what techniques and skills they work on and that is exciting to Nathan. The school play this year will be “Annie” which doesn’t have hardly any speaking parts for boys, but since there are not many middle school boys who try out for the plays, Nathan is pretty sure he will be able to snag one of those “human scenery” type parts. And next semester will bring choir which Nathan is very much looking forward to.

So I’m hoping today will go better. And I’m hoping that once he feels like he knows how the school works he will be as happy there as Daniel has. And speaking of Daniel, he is a mighty 9th grader this year and he has been super great with Nathan, sharing info and providing support. He has been nothing but excited for school to start, not only because he will have band again, but because he is in a bunch of accelerated classes this year which means he won’t have to spend as much time dealing with the kids who just don’t want to be there. He had some struggles like that last year. Being assigned a group assignment with a bunch of people who don’t care and don’t do their part was totally frustrating for him.

As for me, I’m looking forward to having a few hours a week all to myself. Matthew has been in school for a whole month already, but Malia won’t start until after Labor Day…just as Matthew goes off track. So for now I’ve got 3 of 4 in school and five weeks until I get to 4 of 4. My solitary hours will have to wait for a while longer.