And they are off...
(to school).

He was the first to go and was off to college the second week of August.
His school is a 20 minute bike ride away across a field, along a bike path
 and then through a neighborhood. 

A week later, the big girl returned two days a week to the charter high school as a junior.

This is the first year she has not had the overseeing eyes of her brothers

watching her every move.  Who knows what she might do with all of that freedom.



 

Probably the most excited of all was the happy 3rd grader who declared that she

felt so grown up.  That happy feeling lasted until the first difficult math page and then

completely evaporated.

 

The last to return was our other college student who drives 30 minutes to school.

It is also his first year of college and he is finding it shocking and exhausting to go somewhere five days a week (pampered homeschooler by any chance?).

  

 

I have resumed my part-time job as teacher.

When you home school, depending on the number of students and the type of curriculum,

it is equivalent to a part-time to full-time job on top of the duties of being a home maker

and a mom.  That in itself is an adjustment for the mother of the family.

 

To make life even more exciting this year, I also helped the boys buy

their college books and I had almost as much to learn about the process as they did.

When I was in college we had one option and that was to go to

 the college bookstore and buy the required books. 

 Now there are so many options and ways to find books

but it takes time and energy to find the best deals.

Then it is further complicated by books that have internet codes and need to be bought new.

Many $$$ later and with lots of packages delivered to our house,

everyone was finally outfitted with their books for the semester.

Then I had to inform them that they are going to have to repeat this whole

process for the next semester in just a few months.

 

A few weeks in and we are starting to get a handle on who is coming

and going at what times and who will or will not be home at any given time.

We will probably get it all figured out in time for a new semester to roll around!

 

Happy Back-to-School

 for all of you going through the process.

 

********************

Nathan informed me that the first lesson he learned in college was that

you can wear whatever you want and use whatever kind

 of language you want in college. 

(Let's just say that sagging pants, immodest women, and foul language

have come as a bit of a surprise).