First Week Back at School

After almost 6 weeks off, my boys are finally back at school.

We've gone from this 9 years ago when he first started kindergarten…

to this:

For my oldest son, it's his first year in high school - such a huge step in the world of Australian schools. For my youngest son, he's now considered to be a 'senior' in primary school, in Grade 5 in a 5/6 composite class of only boys, a rarity in public schools.

So, with 3 days down, were their some teething problems? Yes!!

The first day was great… they both made their ways to school and back again without a hitch. My oldest, the first on public transport by himself, so a really great feat. The only problem was, as he received all his books for school, I did tell him only to bring home the books he needs for homework, but he brought all his books back… making it a heavy trek back home. He did come home excited that he was actually LEARNING something! He was confident in his French class, thanks to about 2 weeks in French speaking countries last year, he was excited about learning the history of numbers in his maths class, and absolutely loved drama. My youngest didn't have much to report, except he wished that certain friends were in his class, even though he does have a handful. Makes it hard when half the class are older students.

The second day, wasn't so good, in terms of logistics. I told both my boys that I had a 4pm appointment and that they had to make their own way home. At 3.45pm I get a phone call… "I caught the wrong bus." O-oh… "Where are you?" I asked. "I'm in Caulfield." "Where in Caulfield?" I asked. "On Glen Huntly Road" "I've just hit Glen Huntly Road on the way to my appointment. I can pick you up. Can you see anything that can help me find you?" I asked. "I'm outside a car wash." Now, there's 2 car washes I know on Glen Huntly Road, and of course I go to the first one and can't find him. I call him again, to ask him if can identify the cross street, and he confirms he's at the other one. Literally, from the time he first called me, to the time I picked him up, it was less than five minutes. I guess it was good timing! AND I got to my appointment on time :)

At the same time, I get a text from my youngest son saying he forgot his keys. And a text from my neighbour saying that he was at her place playing Minecraft with her son. Thank God for neighbours! But you can imagine how much now I drum into them that they need their wallets, keys and phones ALL THE TIME!

Day 3 went well, but then I was home for both of them when they got home, AND my oldest son remembered to empty out his bag into his locker so he didn't have so much to carry… but for some silly reason, he left his pencil case in his locker. I told him that he needs to keep his pencil case and diary with him all the time. Everything else will depend on what homework he has.

So now, we have homework on weekends, which never happened in primary school. Homework that needs to be finished at the end of each day, rather than before the end of the week, and a little more responsibility because we three are going our own individual ways each day. Their social lives are becoming more active, with my oldest going to the movies with a mate last night, and I doing the 9.30pm pick up (there goes any chance of me having a social life!). As long as the attitude doesn't start creeping in, I am sure I will be fine with it all.

So life is a little different, but 'good' different. In a little over a week, my oldest will be at school camp for a few days and he'll be wiser in the ways of teenage life. But at the moment, I'm loving that he's keen to be independent, keen to learn, happy to do his homework and still enjoy time with his Mum and brother.