First Day of 6th Grade

Jordan's first day of 6th grade was yesterday. Sunday night he could hardly calm down enough to go to sleep -- he was so excited. He jumped up yesterday morning without any encouragement and I barely got this photo of him as he was on his way to the bus stop. He came home beaming and very happy saying it was THE BEST. He said school was the best thing about his day (which also consisted of playing with a couple of friends at their houses). So it made me think of a few things....

I think I'd be a big fan of year-round school. The summer gets long and it's so easy to get out of the habit of getting up early and keeping a schedule. Also, at the beginning of the summer Jordan was off to a good start by writing in a journal daily and reading - keeping up his skills in general. By the end of the summer none of that was happening -- we didn't slack off intentionally. I think he was suffering from a major case of ennui. With year round school I think the 3 week breaks would be much easier to maintain good habits and provide nice little breaks throughout the year and allow no time for boredom to set in. Ah well...summer is over now and he had a pretty challenging homework project last night. So we're back in the swing of things.

My first day of 6th grade & Kristin's first day of 2nd- 1981

The other thing I was thinking about is the traditional first day of school. I remember always feeling a little anxious the night before the first day of every grade! Anxious not in a happy, excited way - more in a nervous way. I was shy and a little apprehensive to meet new teachers and possibly new kids and just get used to going back to school. It was such a big deal - a momentous event and major change at the end of every summer. None of those feelings seem to exist for Jordan, and I'm glad about that. I'm not sure if it's because he's much more confident and outgoing as a person, or if our whole culture has changed in a way that school seems somewhat less formal now. It was no big deal for him.