Our first semester as a non-homeschooling family is at an end. Well, after Tuesday…Corra (being in middle school) still has to go this coming Monday and Tuesday. Saying it was a roller coaster would be trite and cliche and so so accurate. I don’t have pictures of the drama Layna had with her teachers after a staffing shake up. There are no pictures of the difficulties inherent in trying to explain to my new 6th grader why 6th grade girls are awful. No pictures of me bringing forgotten supplies, lunches, and charging cables back to school after I already did drop off. Luckily I did get pictures of some of the awesome stuff:
Ms. Louis-Jean’s art class was the highlight of Layna’s days. She quickly became one of my favorite people and worth every second of drama with the other teachers. Layna got a few field trips (Naomi got to be her buddy for one of them). I got to cook and eat lunch with Layna’s class a few times too. Naomi and Corra got to show off their projects and Corra leaned into all the spirit days. Naomi leaned into her school play with a role as the Big Bad Wolf (and also Mama Bear). Layna ended early so we snuck into the last Gigi’s class of the season and Daddy came too before flying out to Vancouver. Voice lessons started again this semester and Naomi finished strong with a beautiful performance at her recital. I got to end by chaperoning my very first school field trip! Corra’s class went to the Natural Science Museum and I got to be the boss of her group and 7 other munchkins. It was so much fun. They were adorable and it gave me hope for being a sub at some point.

This is life now. There are lots of things that have kicked me and my younger girls clean out of our comfort zones, and I’m happy to report that we’ve survived. For now. New semester will bring plenty more “valuable lime lessons” (right, Bluey?) but we are ready.