School

BW returned to public school today. We decided if he wants to try it, the sooner he starts the better.

It seemed to go well. He seemed pretty happy with the whole thing. His teacher seems nice. My only issue so far is an HOUR (or so) of homework in 3rd grade. Really? An hour? Seems a tad excessive to me, but this is all new to us so maybe it's not. I will say that I don't remember having that much homework in high school. But then, I wasn't exactly focused on my education in high school. I was focused on, ah, other things.

Anyway, he was happy and he had a good day. He wasn't stabbed, beaten up, bullied, and (to the best of my knowledge) was not getting high in the vacant lot across from the school at lunch. All in all, a successful first day in elementary school.

In the meantime, I am adjusting and making the best of this. MM and I got BW situated this morning and then walked a mile. I counted calories and ate healthy and vegetarian all day today. If BW is going to be in school maybe nursing school is back as an option, and I really want to get rid of this excess weight before my knees wage a bloody coup at their burden. Wish me luck.

Ugh.

So my homeschooled son wants to go back to school. To try it out for a year. And he's convinced he wants to start NOW.

I'm so unhappy about it, I can't even begin to tell you. But, I've always said that if he wanted to try it, he could, so we'll be registering ASAP. Even though Momma DOESN'T THINK IT'S A GOOD IDEA.*

Our life has changed so much this year. I'm having a hard time keeping the faith that it will all work itself out. And I'm having a hard time not being petty and sending out "Congratulations! You've WON!" cards to everyone out there who said homeschooling wouldn't work. (Thanks for your support, everyone!) But those are more my issues then BW's, so I'm trying to let it go and be supportive of his new desire.

I kind of feel like there's not much I can do at this point. I don't want him to be resentful about never really getting to try school if it's something he thinks he'd like to do. I'm working full time, so I'm really not getting a lot of time to spend with him, and MM and him have begun clashing so much it's really not working out with MM trying to be the primary stay at home person.

And since homeschooling has always been my and BW's thing, and he's no longer on board, what can I do?

Ugh.

I feel like he's been told by so many people that he needs to be in a "real school" that he's been brainwashed. Am I bad person for hoping it goes horribly and we can get back to our regularly scheduled programming soon?**

*****

*And is making it pretty damn clear, in case there's any doubt.

**Kidding, kidding. Of course I don't hope it goes horribly. I don't want him to have a horrible experience. I just want him to get a better education then the crappy ones his father and I had. And if he can get that in public school, well, great. Right?

Vacation

I have a few days off this week, so we're heading down to Southern AZ. We plan on spending a day or two in Tucson, some time in Tombstone, maybe Bisbee. We're going to take a few days and explore Arizona's mining and western roots.

I'll be back with pictures in a few days! And THIS time I'm going to remember the memory card for my camera.