A cool breeze is in the air so you know what that means? Back-to-school prep! This will be a big year for O. Grade Nine is on the horizon.
I have…feelings. I’ve always said that the goal was to get though grade 8 and then have a big talk. Elementary education is incredibly important but doesn’t need to be so strict. To receive real high school credits though? I can’t control that. Here in Canada you either forgo the diploma, take the GED (name changing soon I believe?), go to virtual school (private school basically), do accredited correspondence school, or attend your local high school in person. We’ve researched and reviewed these options over the last year. I wanted to make sure he had all the information and understood that he had some choice.
For my part, it’s important to me that he gets his diploma, which means he had to choose a program that is accredited in our province. Just ‘not’ isn’t an option. Private school is, honestly, out of our budget. Come on now. We are not “fancy”! That narrowed the choices down to our province-accredited correspondence school, which has upgraded to an online system (no more packages in the mail) or going to the local school. Spoiler alert: he chose correspondence school.
One of my (many) goals with homeschooling was to offer a safe place that would allow my children to be themselves. Where they could truly be kids. To foster independent thinking without the influence of social pressure. I wanted them to go into social situations with a strong sense of self, armed with the ability to say ‘no’ and the bravery to action it. So far, that has been a success. They are the best little friends another kid could ask for. I wish I had friends like them when I was little. They are so open and cool and make it okay for others to be the same. All that to say that, my son, at his core, is his own man.
As we explored the high school at orientation night it became pretty clear that much of it was of little interest to him. He wasn’t apathetic or anything. In fact, he was quite observant. There were some things he thought were interesting, like the media room, but there was plenty he didn’t care for. He’s a really chill kind of guy. High school is not a chill kind of place. It was big and it was loud. That’s not the O vibe. He meandered from room to shop, collecting stamps and chatting with teachers and student representatives. He listened to his parents ridiculous high school stories. He was put off by the three floors worth of stairs and the maze like layout of the first floor. He loved the newly renovated library, and the fancy engraving machine in the metal shop. The wood shop teacher was decidedly unpleasant, which was a strike against them. All in all he enjoyed the experience of orientation but it didn’t leave him feeling excited about high school. If I’m honest it just became more clear that E will love it next year. After she heard all about it she’s looking forward to her orientation next spring. O came home armed with a list of things she’d like, which is exactly why he isn’t choosing it.
Like I said, I have ‘feelings’. This is a big one. We can do it. I know that, but it’s still a lot. More than that, it feels like a countdown to my baby growing up for real real, but that’s a post for another day…
Now I’m in full research mode. We’re heading into grades 3, 6, 8, and 9 this Autumn and it’s going to be a wild ride!
xxo
C
Bobbles&Buttons 