Back to School

Our family has had lots of new transitions this month. Alex started high school, Jesikah started middle school, and Jarem is starting Kindergarten. Everyone was a little nervous the first day of school, including me.
Today, Friday, August 6 was their first day of school, and it was a half-day.   For Jarem, he and I only went for about an hour and just got the Kindergarten orientation, then came home. He was very nervous. He didn't want to go to school. This is him with his teacher, Mrs. Williams, on that day.  She is a very kind and loving teacher.  I am very happy that he got her.  I told him that I thought she was the nicest teacher at school.  Now he tells everyone that. :)

Jarem with his nervous face

Kind of a smile while sitting at his table, still nervous

Jarem was the only one that I got a picture of on that day due to all the nerves and numerous trips to school.  Everyone did pretty well on the first day.  Then they had the weekend and Monday off, and went back Tuesday full-time, except Jarem who went back on a flexible schedule for the following two weeks (more on that in my next post).  Here's some pictures that I took of the rest of them on different days during the first two weeks:

Tessa was the only one who didn't change schools.  She was very excited about school.  I am happy with Tessa's teacher, Mrs. Harrison.  She is very organized and does a lot of extra things to challenge higher students.  I think it will be a very good fit for Tessa.  Tessa has realized though that she has to be a little more responsible this year about getting things turned in on time and listening more closely the first time.  She has always been an excellent student, but can tend to get distracted at times and last year her teacher was good, but quite laid back.  She is happy and has already made some friends.

Jesikah was probably the most nervous on the first day because we missed the middle school orientation while we were in Nauvoo.  At her request, I went in and stayed with her for a few minutes on the first day while they all got assigned to their classes.  They all met in the auditorium and then were given their homeroom teacher and schedule.  The teachers watch out for them, and she got put on a team with several of her friends. 

She was excited when I picked her up that day.  She said she had at least one friend in every class except one.  She has an advantage this year because she attended one year at Glen Ellen Elementary and one year at Rossview Elementary both here.  Both of those schools are feeder schools into Rossview Middle School, so she got to see a lot of friends again from Glen Ellen, and knew twice the people.  She is trying out band this year.  She says she wants to play the clarinet. 

We went to her open house last night, and she has a good set of teachers, one of which goes to church with us.  All of her teachers said that she seems to be adjusting well, and I think they are right.  She is very responsible and makes sure she is always prepared.  We practiced locks before she went to school so she could open her locker and it really helped.  She seems happy and likes school thus far.

This is how Alex looked the 2nd week of school when I finally got organized enough at 5:45am to get a picture on his way out the door to seminary.

This is what he looked like the 1st week of school. 

He had grown his hair out for the Nauvoo pageant, and it was getting quite long and curly.  It was longer than he had ever had it.  When we got back, he was so sick of that hair and ready to get it cut, but then he went to the high school orientation and all the girls he hadn't seen all summer loved his hair so he wanted to keep it long for a little longer.  I was ready to cut it, but Eric told him that his parents always let him have his hair the way he wanted it, and he said he always appreciated it and wanted to give Alex that freedom. 

Last Sunday, Alex got home from church and said that he wanted it off.  It was bugging him too much.  So, I didn't waste a minute in getting the scissors out. :)  He said he just wanted about an inch and a half cut off, so I tried to do that, but it didn't turn out looking very well given my amateur hair-cutting skills.  A little later, we got the clippers out and I gave him his typical shorter haircut.  I think it looks nice, but it looked good longer too.

Anyway, I digress, back to school.  Alex loves high school, and is so glad to be done with middle school.  He has the classes that he wants, and goes to an excellent school.  He doesn't have many friends in his classes, but he likes what he is learning and has remained friends with his group of friends from last year.  He does miss his good friends, Nick and Jeremy, that moved over the summer, but they are just a 20 minute drive for now. He especially likes learning about the middle ages in history.  He has always been fascinated with History and has a great, but hard, teacher this year in History.  He has spent time teaching his younger siblings about Black Death and all the scary things that happened during the Middle Ages while he babysits (which isn't always a good thing). :)  He is now going to seminary every morning before school which starts at 6am.  This is a program through our church where high schoolers go to one hour of scripture study before school every day.  He really likes seminary.  He has always enjoyed learning about the scriptures, and he tends to be more of a morning person anyway.  Not only that, but he gets to see all his friends from church every morning and they walk to school together.  It makes a good start for his morning and it makes him want to get to bed earlier, so it's a win-win!  Eric and I have traded off taking him.  He takes him on the days that he could benefit from going to work early and I take him on the other days.  It's worked out quite well since I think he drove 4 of 5 days last week! :)

Having the kids at 3 different schools makes for an interesting morning routine though.  Alex leaves at 5:50am, Jesikah leaves a 6:45am, and Jarem & Tessa leave at 8:20am.  I drive some and pick some up after school.  It's kind of a crazy schedule, but I'm just glad everyone is happy so far.