This time last year, most of my time and energy was focused on getting Brainy Bird off to college for his freshman year at the University of South Carolina. This year, it feels like we are pros at packing for college. Brainy Bird’s dad is taking the reins, and he will be making the drive to Columbia, SC. I will make the trip later this month to see Brainy Bird’s on campus apartment after the school year is underway.
My time and energy this year is focused on getting Little Chirp off to high school for his freshman year. Little Chirp is starting high school. I still cannot believe it. I am excited for him. He seems neutral towards the challenges that lay ahead. He spent all of ten minutes at the self-guided freshman orientation last Friday. I suspect that he simply walked in and picked up his schedule without visiting any of the booths for extra-curricular activities.
Next weekend, we will go to the outlet mall, and I will get him a few new sets of clothes. We will eat a nice lunch, and then we will hit the grocery store. The most important aspect of preparing for a teenage boy to start high school is groceries! Our fridge and cupboards are bare right now. Little Chirp needs snacks, healthy things to make for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and more snacks. I am a huge believer that diet affects a child’s emotional state and academic performance.
On the academic front, Little Chirp got all of the classes that he requested, which means he has no electives. He is taking all advanced classes, including engineering, computer science, world geography, Algebra II, English, Spanish III, and biology. I feel like I should be worried that he is overloaded with his course load, but his confidence and determination make me think that he can handle it. We will know soon.
In the next four years, it will be the norm for Little Chirp to have teachers that his older brother had. So far, Little Chirp has only had two of his brother’s former teachers. This includes the beloved algebra/geometry teacher. Little Chirp loved him as much as Brainy Bird did. Little Chirp also crushed geometry with an overall average of 98 for the year.
I am really hoping that Little Chirp has Brainy Bird’s computer science teacher, but at the same time, I am worried about how much pressure that will put on Little Chirp. In the next four years, Little Chirp will find his own path, his own passions. I think that by the middle of this first semester of high school, he will realize that he is his own person. He will never walk in his big brother’s shadow. Yes, there are things that his brother is extraordinary at, but Little Chirp will find that he has his own special talents.
Part of me is still in disbelief that my youngest is headed to high school. Part of me knows that he is ready. All of me is really excited for him.