First Day of Public School for Cade and Caressa

 Cianna leaving at 6:50am

Cianna was well prepared for her first day of school, and didn't seem to be nervous at all. Of course, choosing her clothing was the most important thing on her mind...and since our straightener was accidentally left at the Grange Fair, doing her hair was a real challenge.

CJ...doesn't really want to be a part of the "last - first day of school picture op" 

CJ missed the bus the first day, as he went to last years bus stop, but they had moved it a block north. Thankfully the neighbor kid missed too, so his mom gave CJ a ride -  which was super helpful, since I needed to be here for Cade and Caressa their first day…talk about a moment of panic that hit my heart when he texted me that he had missed the bus and needed a ride in.

 Caressa -raring to go to her first day of school. 

So, the first day of public school! Caressa couldn’t wait to start school, and was begging to go for many days before hand. Cade was a bit apprehensive, and although he had fully accepted that he was going, he wasn’t thrilled with the idea of being gone from home for 8 hours straight. He is still a super-homebody, and will always have a sleepover here, but not go to someone else’s house.

At the bus stop.

 Everyone was up and ready in plenty of time. Cade’s bus was supposed to come at 7:51, so he was out the door and there, one block west, at 7:35am. He had his map and room number to find where he was going. The bus was about 20 minutes late, but he was excited for his first ride on a public school bus...with no seat belts, as he put it.

We were there Way Early...the excitement was thick!

Caressa...being Caressa :)

 Caressa's bus was 30 minutes late, as there was some confusion when some high schoolers apparently got on the elementary bus and they had to be dropped off at the high school. There are no shortage of buses on these streets. Pennsylvania requires all schools to provide busing, apparently, so there is a bus that comes for the Jewish school, the Catholic School, and the new magnet school. And that's just what I see on my street! They are keeping the fuel industry in business.

Me adjusting Cade's back packstraps

Cade came home very tired, but ok. When he got off the bus, I asked him how it was, he said alright, but had tears in his eyes, as he turned to walk home. At dinner, I asked him if anyone remembered to pray silently before lunch at school. Cianna and Caressa said it was so crazy, they forgot. Cade said he did, so I asked him what he prayed. He answered, “I thanked God for all his blessings and food, and prayed and asked God to allow me to live through this day..” Later, I asked Maddy if she saw Cade at lunch. She said that they all sat together, Logan, Elijah, Titus, her and Cade. She said Cade just stared out the window while he ate. I really do believe he was in shock all that day. He said he got in trouble several times because he didn’t know the rules that all the other kids knew, but he couldn’t remember exactly what he did.

On the second day, I was surprised when he was up early, ate breakfast, sprayed and combed his hair, brushed his teeth, and was off to the bus stop 15 minutes early. He seemed ready to take on the day. He came home in a good mood, not quiet and shocked as before. He went outside right away to get some air and sunshine time in. He even went to Logan’s and played for a bit, which is unusual for the homebody kid! This morning he was a bit tired, but still in a good mood as he went off to the bus stop by himself.

Caressa is adjusting well and says that her 2^nd grade teacher, Mrs Babb, Looks like Lacee and wears the same pants that Lace did. She seems to be enjoying school, but hates the bus ride. She says the kids are wild, the bus driver has to stop every 5 minutes to threaten the kids to behave as some of them are standing on the seats and getting into kicking fights with each other. They were 20 minutes late coming home because of the stops, and were threatened that she was going to go back to the school and get the principal involved. This surprises me because it is a bus load of K-2^nd graders only! I thought the newbies would be timid and shy, but apparently not.

It is definitely weird having 4 kids, in 4 different schools, and on 4 different buses.

Cianna did well, and really enjoys going back to school, seeing all the 12 year old boys, who were shorter than her in May, now taller than her, after their growth spurt. She started field hockey practice after school, 3x per week, and is thoroughly enjoying it. She doesn’t get home until about 6pm, and yesterday, was ravenously hungry…kept searching for food- and eating it!

CJ got his schedule changed yesterday, and is thrilled that he got to drop Chemistry, since it has the reputation of being hard to pass with this teacher, and since he had 3 other sciences already, and NCAA rules for Division 1 football only requires 2 sciences, he was off the hook. I would have preferred he take it, but he is happy not to. I told him expect to take it in college if he gets a scholarship, it will be required at some point.

CJ does have a sociology class of only 8 students, which means a lot of discussion time. He is enjoying that! Also, he has art class and chorus…singing bass, he is! He also has consumer math this year, so feels like he is on easy street! Very cool for him. Now he can focus on football and prayerfully, getting a scholarship. Otherwise, it’s off to the workforce or a tech school after graduation. Because of football, he also has practices after school, and does not get home until 6:30 or 7 pm...and is also ravenously hungry.

Perhaps I should set up a "Help Me Feed My Kids" Fund on here, and add a donation button... since I do have a Paypal account already. That $200 a week grocery budget doesn't seem to go very far, but that's a different story!