Schools almost here!

Less than one week until school starts and panic has set in here. Kristin is totally freaked out about Middle School. As the time approaches to go back to school, she gets more and more upset, crying and looks of terror on her face when I suggest we go down to the school. I know going to middle school can be challenging, but it shouldn't be that big of an impact for her. The reason I say this is that she goes to a K-8 school. So she has been attending this school for the last two years, knows the school, has meet most of the teachers already and has tons of friends. It doesn't matter what I say though, she is freaked out.

I called the principle yesterday to talk to her about it and she was able to give me a general idea about who her teachers were going to be. The only teacher we weren't sure about was the core teacher and that was narrowed down to two. These are teachers who have been there for the past one to two years already and I believe she has already met them. The principle said she would also be willing to talk to Kristin too. I don't know if I should follow up on this or not.

I did get Kristin to read a couple of books put out by American Girl about feelings and about going to middle school. We talked about what she was afraid of and what she could do if those things were true. That seemed to help her to strategize different options. She was perkier after that.

As for Ian, we are still in a little bit of a quandary. He is supposed to go to a counseling enriched program run by the county as a student of his current school. However the county program is in a different school district. I've explained to the new school that he is not a student of theirs but is on their campus as part of the county program, and that he goes to a different school and is enrolled there. It's complicated. The staff looks at me like they don't understand, but the principle seems to. At least I hope so. The staff at his regular school keep asking if he is attending or not. I've told them in the meantime that he is still a student of theirs. Does this sound confusing?

So, why am I doing this? Well, Ian's school has a waiting list. If things don't work out at the new program, I want him to still have his original place. The teacher knows he may be there and even if he isn't, he has said we could bring him by to still participate in special activities and events. We also have to wait for the doctors to finish their assessments and tests. Their results may change everything. We don't know! I was hoping all this would be settled before school starts, but oh well. Just more waiting. You'd think I'd be used to this by now.

As for me, I'm taking classes at the local community college. Our classes started yesterday. I'm quite pleased and have been looking forward to them. I've had one class already and I think I'll enjoy it. It's called "Drugs and the brain". My other class is "Mental illness and the Movies" which starts today. I'm taking it from one of my favorite teachers. I know I'll enjoy that.

I'm actually off to attend a parent meeting about home schooling. We tossed the idea around for a few years now, but always end up deciding against it. It wouldn't hurt to attend the meeting, I might change my mind. That is Kristin's other option, to be home schooled, I just haven't decided if that would be best for her or not.


We are still trying to decide about Ian and his schooling. He is signed up for a counseling enriched program through the county, but it takes