An Era Begins to End
21/9/06 14:37YG will be starting middle school next year. She has been agitating about choosing a middle school since last year, discussing imponderables and asking questions I am usually in no position to answer (like, say, "what percentage of kids who apply to X Middle School get in"--asked while I am driving down the highway). So this morning we had our first visit to a middle school. To say the kid was excited is an understatement. We were taken through the school by a lovely Chinese woman whose English was imperfect, with the result that I got answers to questions I never asked, and didn't get answers to the questions I did ask. Still, she's obviously proud of the school, and was very interested in seeing that YG saw everything she was interested in. And it's a terrific school; we liked the teachers, the (huge) physical plant; the range of electives and the afterschool program--the only strike against it is that it's way-the-hell-and-gone across town, with no school bus.
Afterward we took YG out for an early lunch, as she'd missed lunch at school. She was totally intimidated: from being excited and confident, the actuality just overwhelmed her. It's too big; there're too many kids; she'll get lost. I forget sometimes, because the kid is so confident and full of energy and ambition, that she's just a little kid. So there was pizza and cuddling, and occasional reminders that she would be one sixth grader among a couple of hundred at whatever school she's in next year; that we would not be pushing her out of the plane without a parachute; and that this is only the first school we've looked at. She was happier after the pizza, and angling to play hookie for the rest of the day. So we'll keep looking at middle schools, and I'll keep reminding myself that, despite her vocabulary and her sophistication, she's really just a baby and needs frequent cuddles.
Afterward we took YG out for an early lunch, as she'd missed lunch at school. She was totally intimidated: from being excited and confident, the actuality just overwhelmed her. It's too big; there're too many kids; she'll get lost. I forget sometimes, because the kid is so confident and full of energy and ambition, that she's just a little kid. So there was pizza and cuddling, and occasional reminders that she would be one sixth grader among a couple of hundred at whatever school she's in next year; that we would not be pushing her out of the plane without a parachute; and that this is only the first school we've looked at. She was happier after the pizza, and angling to play hookie for the rest of the day. So we'll keep looking at middle schools, and I'll keep reminding myself that, despite her vocabulary and her sophistication, she's really just a baby and needs frequent cuddles.