Back to School

JT returned to college on Saturday.  His classes don’t start for another two weeks, but he’s got two-a-day practices for the indoor track season so he’s running.  It was nice having him home and I will miss the sounds of my boy, but he had a good rest and was ready to get back to his teammates and his routines, so it was time.  This morning, I head back to classes myself.

The last two weeks have been a lovely, much-needed rest and I return refreshed and ready for January.  Spring Break is a little over two months away and there is plenty yet to accomplish in the school year.  I expect that this time will pass quickly, as it always does.  I like a life with regular routines at the center of it and this chunk of the school year is good for a girl who enjoys certainty in her habits.  The bustle of the holidays is behind me and the house has been made tidy.  There is an amaryllis to admire each day and seed catalogs to fuel my gardening daydreams.  The days are getting a tiny bit more sunlight with each rise and set of the sun; by February, the day’s light will have extended to 5:45.

This period of the school year is traditionally a point where my 7th graders make tremendous strides in their ability to absorb and understand complicated ideas.  We’ll study Washington, Jefferson, and Jackson and then get into the 1830s to learn about the reform movements that begin to take hold in America.  They’ll learn about Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, the Grimke Sisters, William Lloyd Garrison and others; people whose ideas and actions will help these young minds to set their moral compass for a lifetime.   I always enjoy working with this material.

So I’m ready and it’s time.  Here we go…….