Back to Public School ~ My Day and a Few Thoughts

It was back to school yesterday. Celeste went off on the big yellow bus this year, to the local junior high school in grade seven. This was her first time in public school for almost her entire school life. She attended senior kindergarten in Ontario (look how cute she was here!). She was homeschooled all the way to now, minus about 3 days of public school in grade 3.

She was looking forward to it and I was excited for her too. The day was unbelievably quiet and I might have shed tears. I tried to make the best of it though, with all this new free time. I think it will take several days at least to get used to this new routine for both Celeste and I. 



So...what did I do yesterday? I took Orion out for a nice walk along the waterfront and in Victoria Park. I cleaned the house, even washed the floors. I remember years ago, when my three kids attended public school after several years of homeschooling that my house was the cleanest! That was the year Celeste went to junior kindergarten. It is a lot easier to have a tidy house when the kids are gone most of the day...

I read. The library book club meeting was last night and I finished the book just in time! I watched an episode of Orange is the New Black. I did a little cooking. I applied for a part time job at my favourite tea store (fingers crossed!). I looked at a few online workshops I might want to take. I drew oracle cards and tarot cards, because this time right now feels like a big transition and I was curious to see what the cards would say. 

Mostly though, I relaxed. I decided that this week would not be about starting projects or making big decisions. It would be more about finding myself again. Homeschooling takes a lot of focus, at least for me it did, so not having that anymore in my life...I kind of feel a little lost. I catch myself thinking that I need to make sure I know which history time period we are studying next or which math topic Celeste is learning and if she is comfortable with it, or even which Brave Writer Arrow novel we are reading aloud this month...No, none of that applies to us anymore. I have to let go of being the main education facilitator and instead sliding in to a supportive role. Her school teachers will be on the main lines now and I will be able to offer support and help when she needs it. 

These thoughts were swimming in my head yesterday and I was mostly OK with it. This is what Celeste wanted, to experience public school and everything it has to offer. The good and the bad. She is ready. We had talked about the educational and the social ups and downs she might go through being in junior high. I support her completely. 

When it was almost time for Celeste to arrive, Orion started looking out the window. I had told him Celeste would be arriving soon. He was so cute, watching all the cars go by (see photo at the top of this post!). I think he had missed her too. The bus stop is right at our house, across the street, so I was able to watch her and I knew everything had gone well for her as soon as I saw her big smile. 

She told me all about her day. She told me about the friends she had lunch with, a group of friends she had made during the band day camp she attended a couple of weeks ago. She also mentioned a couple of girls from cadets. Having these connections already in the school made a big difference. I think this is an important point for homeschoolers, the benefit of attending community activities and making friends outside of homeschool groups. You never know what life will bring and I am glad Celeste had these social opportunities. We hadn't planned it that way, but it helps. 

Celeste is very much like me in many ways, she is happy with the simplest things often...an example is how super excited she is about having her own locker. The only negative thing she had to say was that she was really hot at school and on the bus. It was a very humid day here yesterday. 

I hope Celeste's grade 7 year goes well. She will have rough days...don't we all? But hopefully the good days far outnumber the not-so-good ones! As for me, I have ideas and projects I want to concentrate on and I will very soon. One of these is definitely to write more. Blogging is a good outlet, so you might see more personal posts from me, like this one. I feel like I am just starting to digest everything about our homeschooling adventure and I feel like I will have more thoughts to share with you soon....