6th grade (20-21) – More Than Expected

I was posting on instagram about our homeschool day. In that post I wrote that 21 years ago I was starting my first teaching job.

21 years.

It feels like a lifetime ago, and at the same time, I can close my eyes and be right back in that room. I can see the faces of my co-workers and students. I can remember the placement of the desks and the layout of the lab.

I was 22. A short 10 years before that year I was a 6th grader myself. I was mistaken for a student more than once.

I taught at that school for 3 years. During that time I worked with some amazing people and I worked with some really terrible people. I wrote curriculum. I parted ways with my first long-term boyfriend. I drank more than I should have. I dated guys I shouldn’t have. My last year there left me a parting gift of three ulcers and a slew of mental health issues that would plague me most of graduate school.

21 years after that year I am teaching 6th graders again. This time they are my 6th graders and our school looks a bit different. It is our 8th year of homeschool. I don’t just teach science anymore.

Today was the start of our third week of 6th grade. We are sliding back into routine easily. Emory is already wishing to hear less of my voice and I am working hard to set the routine so they can work more independently. A couple more weeks and I think we will be there.

21 years from now I will be 64 and the boys will be staring down 33. Our homeschool years will be long behind us. I might even have a daughter-in-law or two and, if I am lucky, a grandchild or two.

21 years ago I never could have dreamed I would be homeschooling my own 6th graders.

But here I am.

I wouldn’t change a thing.

The boys are about to enter 6th grade. It doesn’t really mean much since we homeschool. We probably only know what grade they are in because they are grouped by grade at church. Then again, my former public school teacher brain definitely keeps up with what grade they are in!

Middle school.

Long ago I was a middle school teacher. I taught 6th, 7th, and 8th grade science during my years in public education. I taught 6th grade exclusively for 3 years, 7th grade for 2 years, and 8th grade for one year. I loved every minute of it…except for state testing…I didn’t like that part.

Middle school is my place. It’s funny to think I am about to enter that time period with the boys. It seems different. Then again, homeschool is very different that public school.

Months ago when I started thinking about the 2020-2021 school year, the plan was to follow the schedule we did this year. 9 weeks of school, 1 week of fall break. 9 weeks of school, 3 weeks of Christmas break. 9 weeks of school, spring break. 7 weeks of school so we finish at the end of April with an optional few weeks of May if we were to need it. This schedule worked great for us this year.

The original plan was to start on July 27th when Nathan went back to work.

Last week Nathan’s contract was changed and he now goes back to school on the 15th of July. Provided schools open with the increasing numbers of COVID-19 in the state.

The boys decided we should start then too because it gives us an extra 8 days to use during the school year. The hope is that by early 2021 we can get shots for this virus and get back to doing things in a more normal way. Those 8 days would be used for trips to the zoo and museum and such. Or maybe just a random day off after a particularly hard week!

I am a little sad I haven’t recorded more of our homeschool journey somewhere to look back at one day. But, we have 6 years to go so I might as well try to do that this year.

I think I will make a tab at some point for this year with a run down of our subjects and what material we are using. I am always interested in seeing what other people do and maybe someone else would like to see how we do school. This year is a definite increase in workload…as it is in public and most likely private school. We are closing in on the high school years and leaving elementary behind. I expect some pushback, however, we have also been implementing things over the last couple of years to help ease the transition.

I will post a link here when I create a landing page for our coming year.