Not to sound like a broken record or anything, but seriously, where in the world does the time go? I can't believe we've come to another back to school post. And not just any back to school post. But the back to school post that I have been dreading ever since the day I figured out the my oldest would start his last year of high school the same day that my youngest would start kindergarten. How has this happened? I still remember Taylor's first day of kindergarten like it just happened. I've said for years that I feel like once they start kindergarten, we might as well start saying goodbye because life just fast forwards after that. And this just proves my point. How can he be thinking of leaving us already? ( I was just thinking of leaving my own family for crying out loud!) And now seeing that Taylor is here already, I'm watching Kaya head off to school everyday just knowing that it's going to be over before I know it. I try not to make a big deal about it because I know the kids love each new year and each new experience, and really, I would never hold that back from them. I'm happy for them and I love the people they are becoming. It's just killing me to watch it all play out is all.
Taylor is experiencing some fairly major changes for his senior year. The first is that it has worked out this year for him to have early morning seminary rather than the online class he's taken for the last three years. As hard as it is to get up so early and try to be alert at 6:20 every morning, he is loving the experience and really enjoying being with the other youth from our branch. The reason it has worked out for him to do the early morning seminary which is in Marshall, is because we no longer have an Albion High School. After years of declining enrollments and declining budgets, the decision was made last spring to have Albion become a K-8 district and to send all of the 9-12 graders to Marshall High School. The decision was met with outrage from many and resignation and sorrow from others, but it has turned out to be a positive thing for those high school kids. All the budget cuts here meant that they had virtually no extracurricular activities and really slim pickings for classes. Now, most of those kids are finding that all those extra opportunities are worth leaving town for. Taylor has enjoyed the classes that he has there and the bonus of going to school with his friends from church too. He also is continuing to split his day between MHS and the Battle Creek Math and Science Center which just opened a seriously awesome new building in the old Kellogg Cereal City museum. He's continuing to enjoy the teachers and friendships that he has made there. He's participating this year with the National Honor Society and Boy Scouts (he has his Eagle project approved and now just needs to do it), and even managed to make the Cross Country team this year--something we've been encouraging him to try since middle school.
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With the school changes, Kendall went from being among the youngest of the students to the oldest. They wound up closing the elementary school across the street from us (to me the saddest part about this whole thing) where all of our children except Kaya spent their elementary school days and they put kindergarten through 8th grade in the former junior high/high school building. At first Kendall was very upset about the idea of going to school with little kids again, but he's now really enjoying the experience. He's always been such a kid magnet (see photo in previous post of him dressed as Snow White while playing with his cousin and sister) that most of those little kids just adore him and he has become quite the popular guy. He's doing well in all of his classes and is a favorite among his teachers and his own classmates as well. So pretty much like always.
Lynnsey is enjoying her first year in the 5th and 6th grade program called ALTEC (Albion Technology Education Center or something like that). All of the kids get an iPad to work with and use so many resources for learning that would have seemed impossible when I was in 5th grade. She is having a great time. She loves her teacher, she loves her great big but cozy classroom, and she loves that all of her best friends wound up in the same class with her.
We thought Spencer would have the best year ever this year considering that his 2nd grade teacher from last year moved up to 3rd grade with the rest of the class. But the new school threw him for more of a loop than we could have expected and that combined with the new classroom being very small and crowded seems to have contributed to a rough year so far. He does still adore his teacher who is amazing. And many days are just wonderful. But other days we get the call from the teacher or the social worker or once even from the in school suspension teacher telling us that he had an outburst or was refusing to cooperate. I am convinced, absolutely, that he has sensory processing disorder. Taylor underwent treatment several years ago and I would like to do the same for Spencer, but the place we took Taylor to has changed. The lady who ran the center has retired and now they don't do as much occupational therapy with kids so it is a harder process to even get them evaluated. So right now we are working closely with his teacher and the school social worker who is also amazing, to help him develop coping methods. At home we have a reward chart that he colors in after each good day. It's a big chart and will take a long time to fill in, but the end reward is a new bicycle which he desperately wants, so he's trying hard and we are seeing some improvement. He's an incredibly smart kid and is excelling academically (when he isn't throwing his math in the trash). He has a very high reading level and is one of the top math students. So hopefully we can get him through this tough adjustment and on to a fabulous year...
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