Back To School 2014

Welcome to 7th Grade

Here we go. Back to school. When our whole schedule changes because we are a family of night owls and school starts at 7:30am. And we start hibernating a bit to accommodate homework and projects and regular sleep habits.

Summer is fun for us; we do lots of fun things. We also stay up late and sleep in. There were a couple times this summer where Dex proved he was headed towards bonafide teenhood as I woke him up around noon. But eh. It’s summer.

And all of a sudden, it’s not. School kind of snuck up on us to the point where I completely messed up the correct registration days and we both completed all the necessary paperwork as well as finished all that dreaded school supply shopping late Friday. School started for him today instead of yesterday because they allow 6th graders a day alone in the school to get better acclimated before the big kids come back.

Dex is definitely becoming a big kid, both in terms of height and maturity. We measured this week; he is now 5’2″. In some ways, he never seems as tall as he is because many of his classmates are almost a year older than him. But he’s tall. He turns 12 next month.

A friend who has a daughter on the young side of her class asked me recently when you stop wondering if you did the right thing by letting them go early. The answer is never… along with all those things you never know where the right call was until hindsight. Sure, Dex is mature in so many ways, but he is also a young kid just like all the rest of them… and in general, middle school sucks.

He’s watched several friends leave the school because of bullying, although we have been lucky that he’s only encountered run of the mill kids-being-dumb sort of stuff. It still makes him (and us) question whether he is at the right school, so he is considering looking at other options – we’ll just see.

But the first step is the first day. He has several teachers again that he liked and interesting subjects. He made out a list of goals that included staying organized AND having fun. We’re looking forward to meeting the new friends he just started to hang out with at the end of last year and maintained text relationships with over the summer while we all had our family adventures.

It’s a brand new day for my handsome young man.
Let’s see where this year leads us.

FirstDay7thGrade

This article has 9 comments

  1. Will F

    Have a great year, Dex!

  2. Sue

    Dex looks so grown up – hope he has a great year! T is also young for his grade, and while he is academically advanced, he is socially not always as adept as the older kids in his grade, which leaves him vulnerable. So yes, I question sometimes whether we should have let him go early, and probably will until he is grown!

  3. Jenni

    Awww, this is so sweet. Our daughter just started 2nd grade and it seems like everything is moving so fast! I bet it speeds up even more in middle school.

  4. Hannah Duggan

    I love him and I love you guys. He won’t have any problems because he is normal and smart and funny and kind. If he can hang out with a bored 38 year old and make her laugh, I can’t imagine that we will have any issues. It was in 7th grade that I made my friends for life. I still talk to them all. Good luck to him and give him a big fat kiss… or no… don’t. Give him a high five.

  5. Amy Evans

    He looks so grown up!!!

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