Day 254 in 2021

Day 250 in 2021

First day of school. Literally. First day of honest-to-goodness brick and mortar school. Full. Time.

And if it seems like a strange decision in the midst of a pandemic, well, it feels like a strange decision. It also feels I have been forced into early retirement and have taken a diminished role as consultant. When we started our homeschool journey we didn't really know that's what we were doing. That journey actually started as a way to avoid having to either submit our toddler to the usual, over-scheduled, hot-media heavy pre-schools or shell out for the pricier Waldorf-esque ones in our area. I researched Reggio Emelia and away we went, but in the process of researching home pre-schooling I came across a lot of literature on the many values of homeschooling just a little longer. I'll admit it was a little like attending a fancy dinner only to find myself being sold to on a vacation time share, and in the end they reeled me in. But only for a little while we still thought.

When I tell our homeschooling story to most people I usually just say that we planned to homeschool only the early years so he could have a looser schedule, but that as the years went by we decided to keep him home because he was happy working at his own pace and we wanted him to love learning. To the more interest people, I elaborate by saying that we were hooked for the long-haul when, after determining that we would notabsolutelynot actively teach reading until at least 7 years or he went to school and they took over, I came downstairs early one morning to find that our 3 year old had not only chosen to get out the new pre-K math book we had just bought as his morning play activity, but had read the directions, taught himself the math, and completed much of the year's worth of book in a half hour. Correctly.

I do not throw around terms like gifted and talented usually. And I think that what looks like gifted in a three year old usually evens out to something more like driven, or simply ahead in later years. We did not choose to homeschool Calvin because in that three-year-old math moment we thought he was gifted, but because we loved the idea of him learning at his pace, which, especially in those early years, was rapid. He took to reading quickly (he read the Hobbit to himself before he was six), and that enabled and drove his learning from there on. We decided pretty early on (about the same time as the Hobbit) that we were committed to homeschooling him right through high school, and that became our goal.

We both met and didn't meet our goal. As expected, Calvin's blinding pace did slow down a bit as he got older and the subject matter got more advanced and mature, but he remained a quick and eager learner. He completed his high school subjects at the end of what would have been his eighth grade year in a traditional setting, just as the pandemic was descending, and we were left to decide what we would with the ensuing four years. We did not consider early college enrollment for a number of reasons, one of the greatest being because the boy absolutely loved (loves) his place in the public school band. So we considered dual enrollments or private online enrollments (what we did last year because of the pandemic), but he did notabslutelynot want to go to public school. Full stop. He made that clear in no uncertain terms. No. Full. Time. Public. School. Ever.

Then he went to band camp this summer and when he came home one of the first things he said was "I want to go to school." And just like that our plan was decided and I was forced into early retirement with a loose consulting role as consolation. He'll be repeating subjects, but that will give him some cushion as he explores learning in a completely new setting and navigates the murky waters of a traditional high school social pond. I'm nervous about it—more than he is, actually—but I'm also thrilled. We all are.

And so here is the kid's very first real first day of school photo, age 15, 10th grade.

Day 229 in 2021

And then this happened...

Day 207 in 2021

Celebrating 18 years.

Day 251 in 2020

Getting ready to upgrade the bedroom from elementary to high school style, just in time for the new school year. It's not going to be the "new start" we had imagined. With Calvin's high school credits basically finished, he had his choice of activities for the coming four years. His top priority is dance, but bassoon brings up a close second, so we entertained the idea of sending him to the public school for the first time, letting him get used to classrooms, note taking, schedules, and the like, since he would be going there for band anyhow. It was an interesting idea, placed just out of reach by Covid, of course. Another idea had been to just homeschool for another four years, but I really feel like that has run its course, so we're going with option three, which is online classes with a private school that caters to families with unique learning styles and placements and culminates in a full diploma. He'll have teachers, deadlines, and grades for most of his classes, and will receive credit for the handful that I will still be overseeing. It's a slight departure from where I thought we'd be, but a great stepping stone that we're all excited about.