Back to School

Well, both kids are back to school and getting into the routine of early mornings and schedules and homework. This will be a very different year for us because for the first time ever, from preschool until now, the twins are in different schools. Different buildings, different classes, different classmates and, gulp!, different calendars! So far things are gong well. DS is driving this year, letting his sister off at her school and then picking her up after he gets out. Once she gets her license, we'll have to work on a car schedule so that it's "fair share," but as of right now, he has about 40 minutes to wait for his classes to start in the morning, and she has to wait about 25-30 minutes in the afternoon for him to get her. She actually could ride the bus home and be here before he could get to her at the high school, but it's so not cool to be a junior and still riding the bus. :-)

Besides the logistics of 2 different schools, it's apparent right away that their days are very different. DD has 6 accelerated academic full classes this year. Right now she is also a library aide one period and next semester will be taking a fun elective - Food for Life. She had wanted an art class - Jewelry - but it didn't work in her schedule, so hopefully she will get that next year. She has been in school 3 days and has had homework for all 6 classes each day. Her chemistry intro letter home stated that students should plan to spend 6-10 hours outside class every week on chemistry and that forming study groups or having a tutor would be a good idea. I didn't take chemistry in high school, so this will be completely new territory for all of us. She needed enough 3-ring binders for her classes this year, that should she need to bring them all home some night, they will not fit in her backpack! I think I spent $25-30 to get her supplies that first day.

On the flip side, DS has been back to school for a week and a half and has just 3 academic classes at the joint vocational school (JVS) he is attending - English, math and science. The rest of the time he spends in the classroom for his field of study - culinary - or in the kitchen. He wears his uniform to school every day, consisting of a school T-shirt or sweatshirt, his chef pants and work shoes and wears his chef coat and hat while in the kitchen. We qualified for financial assistance with his uniforms, so I spent around $100 for that back in June when we pre-ordered, and all he needed otherwise was a 2-inch binder and the usual paper and pencils, and that totalled around $6. So far he has not brought home any homework, and I'm sure he won't in the future if he can help it! His school is also providing each student with a notebook/laptop type of computer to be used in conjunction with schoolwork, so he's looking forward to that.

It's hard to believe they are juniors already. We've celebrated each "survived the first week" by going first to the root beer stand for dinner for DS and to Dairy Queen for ice cream for DD. Each time they have compared notes as to what classes are like and who is in what class that they might know.....and what colleges they want to take visitation days to and how at this time 2 years from now they will be getting ready to move into dorms.....I was okay until that last part! haha These last 2 years are going to fly by, and all I can do is pray, encourage them to work hard and leave the rest of up them and God!