My 14yo is a bag of mixed feelings. She's excited, sad, scared, nervous... High school feels like such a big deal, what with having to do credits and getting marked and doing tests and all that. She's also had years of seeing two older kids who were here struggling to get all their work done and stay on top of things. But there were many factors involved with those kids having a tough time staying on top of it, including the fact that they weren't mine, which meant I couldn't say, "Well, no, you can't go to such-and-such this weekend because you aren't caught up." I really don't think she's going to find the semester that hard nor is she going to find the work load too much. She is doing a sort of online program and will have grade 10 math and English to finish this semester; she can easily get the daily work done in those in the morning. Her other courses she has all year to finish, which means that while she has what seems like a lot of courses to her, she has a ridiculous amount of time (well, until the end of May/beginning of June) to get everything done for: religion, art, German and phys. ed. I think that's all. Then 2nd semester, same courses except instead of math and ELA, she'll have science and social studies.
Anyhow, she'll have all year for German (assuming we ever actually get the things for it) and that means she can probably spend about 3 hours a week on it and still finish in time. Three hours may even have her finish early! Religion is probably no more than an hour or two per week; she could pick one afternoon to do it all. Art... Art's a little trickier since it can take time to get things the way you want, but she already spends lots of time on art; this stuff will just be more guided, so it's not like she's going to have to find more time to do art! Phys. ed. is partially covered with her dance class and the rest ought to be easy enough to cover with us visiting a rec centre here and there to play sports, swim, skate... She has all year to get all the necessary hours and the few written assignments done. But she probably doesn't realize it. I've told her a bit, but she hasn't gone in and looked at the courses herself. This week will hopefully help her relax a bit!
I know what she will be doing tomorrow:
*log onto the online system
*check the intro information for all the courses and see if there's stuff she needs to send right away (phys. ed., for example, needs us to sign a form and send it in before we can start counting her physical activity hours; religion requires her to plan a schedule and send an email in)
*get her binder(s) set up
*work out a rough schedule for the week
*make a list of tasks to get done this week
*if there's time after all that, get started! (a couple of the courses have quite a bit of intro reading to do and I know at least a couple teachers ask the students to send them a message and/or a plan)
*yoga or Pain Free (I'm leaning toward Pain Free--we've both been having some issues with our backs; we could technically do both...)
Now, for my son. I know I blogged about this already, but I'm still feeling a bit like I don't know what to do. Why is this so difficult? Grr. I think it's because, like me, he finds it hard and uncomfortable to get out of a routine. So, not only am I facing my own difficulty in changing routines but I know I'll be facing his resistance! Even if he doesn't say anything, I can feel it! I see tomorrow as an organization and brainstorming and making checklists kind of day. No lessons, just a look at everything, discuss things, figure out things together, looking at meal planning and snack prep... Actually, we might do some religion, but I think that might be it. It will provide a transitional day with information up front about what we will be doing the next day, my expectations, etc.
To add to that, we have to go to the library tomorrow, I believe I'm picking my nieces and nephew up from school and I need to try to get a vet appointment for our dog. We thought she was just having allergies or something with some mild gunk at the corner of her eyes, but this past week, it's become real goop, especially this morning. Time to take her in.
You know, I feel kind of weird about tomorrow: first school year ever for my kids where it's just us!!! So, another change in routine pushing us out of our comfort zone!
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