Filed under: public school
So we happen to live in a district that requires school uniforms in the public school. I have issues with that, but that’s another post at another time. I had to take Doodles shopping for the dreaded uniforms. As someone who had to wear hand-me-downs and garage sale finds for most of my childhood, I wanted to make sure that Doodles had clothes that would help her fit in rather than stand out. One of her best friends had already endured her freshman year at high school and knew which clothes would be acceptable both by the administration and by the students, so we dragged her along on our shopping expedition. First we ventured to the mall where we could hit up Aeropostale, PacSun, and American Eagle. We ended up buying all of the pants and shirts from Aeropostale as they were on sale and were popular with the kids. I took advantage of the opportunity to quiz her friend on everything school related that I could think of. I’m not sure if she was annoyed or amused by my questions, but I ended up with a better understanding of high school life. We also had to go buy a $50 pair of canvas Converse sneakers because apparently that’s the thing here. I couldn’t figure out when Converse got so popular or worse yet, so expensive. Yikes. Belts were also on our shopping list as they are required to wear a belt with anything that has belt loops. Doodles picked out a couple of ugly ones that were on sale. I did refuse to buy her the $35 backpack that she was admiring. She had a couple of perfectly fine, nearly new, non-embarrassing backpacks at home that she could use or she could pay for that herself. Of course the week before school started, her Godmother e-mailed her asking if there was anything she wanted/needed for school yet so she suckered her into buying it for her. Spoiled brat.
Filed under: homeschool
I maybe should just change the name of my blog since I’m sure I will be focusing way too much on public school for now, but I’m not going to. Today, I decided to write about getting Doodles signed up for school. It really caused me a lot of stress, but ended up being no big deal.
This was a very stressful summer for me trying to make sure Doodles was thoroughly prepared so as not to embarrass me or add to the negative stereotype some people have of homeschoolers. So, I had her review algebra to make sure she could pass the test that they would give her in order for her to get credit. She didn’t work at it as hard as I would have liked, but eventually I told her it was enough and we went to meet with a man from the school district who would determine if she could go to 9th grade. She had taken the Iowa Test back in January, so we were hoping that would be sufficient and they wouldn’t make her take another test. The man from the school told me to bring that in along with the curriculum we had been using, especially her algebra book. We packed up a rolling back pack with as much as we could fit in it and ventured to the district office. I was prepared to present our philosophy and the materials we used to him. I was prepared for a fight. Not only were we homeschoolers, but Doodles is actually too young for 9th grade by one month, so I was unsure of how they would handle things. We trudged nervously into the building, were led to his office, and I pulled out her Iowa Test results. He took one look at them, made a phone call, barely flipped through her algebra book, and told me he didn’t really need to see the curriculum we used. What? He then started telling us all about the school, almost trying to sell us on it, and told us she would need to take the algebra test if we wanted to get credit for it instead of her taking it over. That was it, in and out in 15 minutes. She went the following week for the algebra test and he was not surprised at all that she passed it just fine. He called the freshman counselor to let her know that Doodles would be coming in to sign up for classes. We went to the school and filled out the many forms they require and after an hour wait, we were finally able to meet with the counselor. Not once did anyone mention her birthday; I was very relieved. She helped get Doodles signed up for the required classes, which included the 3 honors classes that are available to freshman, which left her with 2 electives to take. Because we were so late in signing her up, the electives left were what amounts to a computer keyboarding class, home ec, and speech. The computer class is required sometime during the 4 years so she went ahead and signed up for it. I was pulling for speech while she was wanting to take the easy way out with home ec. In the end, I coerced her into the speech. So her first semester consists of world geography, honors English, speech, and p.e. Her second semester will be honors geometry, honors physical science, computer keyboarding, and health/careers. I must admit, getting her signed up was far easier than I imagined, and much easier than the school uniform shopping that came next.
No, this isn’t one of those posts making a big deal about nothing. I’m not making a big deal about anything. Well maybe I am, but my life really will never be the same. Doodles, after homeschooling through 8th grade, started high school this week. This is a life changing event. We won’t be able to take trips in the middle of the school year just because Boxman is traveling and we want to go with him or because it’s the best time of the year to travel. We won’t have the time to sit and read together. And I’m quite certain that I won’t be able to talk her into chanting Latin declensions and congugations with us anymore. We won’t sleep in on a rainy morning just because we can. Lunch time won’t be filled with the laughter of a brother and sister playing, or the yelling of them fighting. Our school room, although overflowing with books, will be lacking something (or someone) special. And although I kept telling her that I was going to cry the other day as she got on the bus for the first day of school, I didn’t. Until now.
