First Day of School 2022-23 (The Backlog!)

"Both of my barn assistants are going back to school. I'm all alone. Send help. And chocolate." 

- Carrie on Facebook

The first day of school was a misty morning. Kila had me up way earlier than I needed to be. Shane's bus will pick him up an hour later this year. I'll be on my way before he is (a big change from elementary school!). Theoretically, I could drive him in (and probably will sometimes), but we hope he'll make some friends on the bus.

When the sun came up, Carrie had us pose for a picture to mark the occasion.

After that, I left. Carrie waited with Shane at the bus stop and the day was a go!

My day went well. I like my schedule at least 10 times better than last year's, and the year feels far closer to normal. I have kids seated in groups rather than alone. Most masks are down, cell phones are away, and kids talked to each other (even if it took a little prompting!). 

Shane's school day ends near the same time as mine. I was easily able to beat him home, though, thanks to his stop being in the middle of the bus route. 

Carrie and I sat outside with the dogs to greet him.

Kila was terrified of the gate, but Loki charged out to see where his human brother had been!

Kila joined the party when Shane got closer to the house.

Shane said the day went well! He missed recess, but he'd seen Dylan during break/lunch. Middle School is a big change from Elementary School, so hopefully he'll continue to feel that way. There will be a much greater academic demand on him at Walton. We signed him up for the compacted math class. Whereas Shane was able to twiddle his thumbs, stare into space, hum, goof off on the computer, and then snap back to answer whatever math questions were posed to him at Scottsville, the compacted math class will be much more difficult. I'd prefer if the County didn't push kids into Algebra at 7th grade, but Shane's talented at math and there should be an entirely different crowd of kids we hope he'll fit into.

But speaking of groups of kids, Youth Group was Wednesday night, too! Shane and I got some dinner and then I drove him into town. I parked at the bottom of the hill and tried to catch up on my Spanish Bible verses. With my window down, I could clearly hear Shane roaring and yelling from time to time...

It was a busy, but good start to the school year. Hopefully, that trend will continue even when we start hitting the inevitable bumps in the road.