Today was the day – the kids went back to school!
It was a little weird to get Hunter out the door for his carpool, drove the two elementary kids to school, walked Bennett down to his bus stop…and then we came home and remembered we still had a kid sleeping who wouldn’t be going to school this year!
Thankfully everyone reported a successful day.
Both Briggs and Cannon’s classes will be utilizing a teaming model so they will have multiple teachers which gives them a higher chance of having friends in one of their blocks. Which is pretty much all a 3rd and 5th grader care about. Cannon reported a hat trick (three goals) at recess soccer which was the highlight of his day. Briggs is anxiously awaiting the approval for his grade level to play on the “big field”.
Bennett is excited to join the advanced choir this year – and it was his favorite class of the day. I’ve tried talking him into doing choir for some time now and this year he not only willingly obliged, he advocated for it and fought to get in advanced regardless of never being in choir before. (He sings non-stop at our house!)
Hunter said his day was “meh”. His classes were okay – he seems to have friends/acquaintances in a lot of classes. A couple of his teachers were interesting – he’s holding hope they are better than the reviews his peers had given about them. And he’s still trying to figure out the best ways to walk from class to class to optimize seeing friends during his short breaks. (I remember Hallie doing the same thing.) I think his freshman experience was amazing (and it was on every level) and he’s about to witness what high school is really like and it may be a little bit of a let down. Luckily Hunter is pretty chill and he’ll figure out ways to enjoy it.
Our school is working so hard to utilize innovation to change education and they’re making progress but progress is slow. Some classes are still lectures. And some educators just want you to memorize material and test – with no application. And with a school our size, unfortunately, students are stuck without a decision in their education process (Oh how I’ve advocated to give students more agency in their education – which doesn’t have to be as scary as it sounds – and it gives them ownership over their learning which I think is vital and prepares them for future learning and work!)
I’m anxious to see how this continues to evolve in hopes my younger kids will benefit from more engaging learning environments.
