Middle School: The Next Frontier

Random confession—I just don’t get into the elementary school thing.  Of course now I’ve just publicly alienated myself from the many homeroom moms, field trip chaperones, party planners and project lovers…not to mention earned the raised eyebrows and perhaps covert snickering of those who are savvy enough to do the math and realize I have 8 more years of said “elementary school thing”…and gathered the contempt of those that have already been where I have not yet and are thinking I better watch what I wish for.

Not that I wish for my children to hurry and grow up.  I’m just not dreading the next phase, is all.

So Tyler is going into the sixth grade, which is considered middle school at Shiloh.  He will have a locker, change classrooms, and be able to order off of the ala carte menu at lunch.  He gets to have a teensy say in what classes he takes (he chose band over choir/art…I didn’t persuade him, I swear).  He will have to keep up with his own assignments.  And he doesn’t go to car line at the end of the day; I have to find him instead.

Many, many changes.  But he is ready, and so am I.

We moved Tyler into his locker the other day.  He was so excited, 

he could hardly stand it.  Of course, reality crashed when neither of us could get his locker open.  Embarrassing.   Once it was open, courtesy of one of the sweetest teachers the school has on staff (and gracious enough to not make me feel like a middle-school reject for not getting it open myself), Tyler decided he wasn’t manhandling it enough.  So he’ll probably pull it off by the hinges on the first day.  (Wish I could be there to see that…not that I would be anyway because I'm not a hover-mom...but no, I’ll be dropping off Hannah for her first day of PK3, on the elementary side.)

Anyway, after we got everything neatly placed into the locker, we walked through Tyler’s daily schedule.  Fun stuff.  Across campus to the band hall, back up to Christian Studies, across campus again to the Learning Center and back upstairs again for Social Studies and Math.  We even opened the locker “in between” classes, and took a visit to the office to see Aunt Lizzie, making us “tardy” to keyboarding.  All in the 150 degree heat.  We glossed over the afternoon classes of Science, English, and Enrichment (fancy for study hall) since they are all in rooms adjacent to his locker…and opted to play hooky instead, skipping out to Sonic for some milkshakes.

Good times.  He looked at me, all sweaty and happy, and said… “I think this is gonna be a GREAT year”.

So do I.