It is amazing how quickly things begin to feel normal.Yesterday was our third day of school schedule and our first full day with Kiki at college. Mostly it felt normal. Okay, I was very tired because I had an anxiety attack at 11:30 pm the night before. I was also paying extra attention to both Link and our cat since they appeared to be the most unsettled by Kiki’s absence. But I just followed my list of things and by bedtime I was having a pretty good feel for how things are currently going.
Howard: on track to have his work lined up the way he needs so that he can disengage the work brain and switch over to convention brain.
Kiki: Had a long-ish text conversation with her yesterday morning. She was a bit lonely and at loose ends. Things got better for her later in the day when there were scheduled events and she met a potential new friend. She is still very much in transition and I’m remaining ready to help and support through the start of classes next week, because we don’t know yet how it is all going to settle out.
Link: Is going to have a rough start. He misses Kiki. High school is big, different, loud, and chaotic. The homework load is heavier than he is used to and the teachers expect more. I’m going to have to hover and be pretty hands-on for the first while. This was about how Kiki reacted to high school, but I didn’t see it until she was completely overwhelmed. I’m hoping to do better for Link. We’re meeting with a couple of teachers today. The good news is that once Link knows what to expect and what is expected of him, he is the kind of person who just settles in and does the work.
Gleek: Thinks junior high is the best thing ever. She has locker decoration plans, book reading plans, and has begun singing snatches of choir songs at home. If we’re going to have stress and trouble, it isn’t likely to set in for another month or two. It’ll be triggered either by homework or by social things.
Patch: Also has settled in well. He’s at the same school and doing work that he watched Gleek do two years ago. The one bane of his existence is the teacher’s insistence on cursive writing. It is going to be another month or two before stress starts to show for him too. He seems to have the roughest times in January/February, so I’ll keep an extra eye out for him there.
Me: Still scrambling to make sure all the pre-convention tasks are complete. They mostly are. I’ve also been quite busy doing all of the assessing listed above. I did not volunteer for a singly thing at any of the schools. Maybe I’ll be able to later when things have actually settled instead of just begun to settle. I also didn’t buy the big bag of tulip bulbs that tempted me at Sam’s club because I’m not certain when I’ll find gardening time. I spent one day weeding about a month ago and haven’t had time since.
All in all, I think it is going to be the end of September before we really find our stride for this school year.
Would a special cursive writing pen (a la fountain pen) help the young master? Would it even be appropriate to his situation? A thought escapes.
At this point that would likely complicate the issue rather than simplify, but it is a kind thought. I expect him to complain for about two weeks and then it will just be the way things are.
I remember despising the one year I had to write cursive all year. I switched back to printing as soon as I could, when I wasn’t typing. =( It does help to have some experience with cursive when indexing or reading my grandparent’s journals and such. Not that that is much comfort to him now. But at least it is just that one year and then you can do as you prefer.
This is his third year working with cursive. The curriculum changed recently and they do cursive from 3rd to 5th.
One thing I know that’s happening this week at our campus is that Callouts for clubs are happening this week. If she is still feeling lonely I would advise her to attend a few of the callouts. She doesn’t have to to join the club, but she might meet a few people with similar interests to make friends with.
She’s been to lots of similar activities and signed up for one club. She’s met lots of potential new friends, but that isn’t the same as familiar things. In a week or two college will start to be familiar.