For years, we've done special things on the first day of school. It's been pretty much our Not Back to School Day since we homeschool. This year, it snuck up on me. To me, it feels like summer has been about a week long.
The summer has been so full (the musical, visits, Asheville trips, older son going to Prague), that it has flown by. I was just getting to the part of the summer where you can say, "What a nice day to go to the pool!" (Or not.)
We're not doing anything particular on Not-Back-to-School Day today. In previous years, we've done picnics at Duke Gardens, hikes, trips to the science museum, lunch at the Mad Hatter Cafe, etc. Last year, younger son and I went to Frankie's Fun Park for go karts and arcade games.
The first day of public school was more noticeable when I was homeschooling all three. This year, older son started at NCSU while daughter was still home from UNC-Asheville. She's already settled into the room she rented over the summer so we didn't even bring her back before school started (sniff!). She headed back up with a friend. I've been hearing about college classes for a week and a half now. I'd forgotten that the local schools started today until younger son mentioned that he was one of the only kids at home on the court now (there's another homeschooling family a few doors down).
I asked if he wanted to do something special today. He looked at me with wide eyes. "Do I have to?!"
He's been in an amazing growth spurt the last year. He's grown almost six inches in fifteen months. He's only 13, and he's been mistaken for a 15 yo. He spends lots of time sleeping and lots of time by himself in his room. 13 has been a hermit-ish age for all three kids. Unlike the other two, he's often too tired to go anywhere (but the other two never grew this fast). He was even too tired to go to the Paperhand performance last night. If he were the oldest, I'd be worried, but I know, from experience, that this is just a stage and not to worry.
Instead of going somewhere special today, we'll have a nice quiet, special day - the sort he likes. He's been reading the book about the Udvar-Hazy Space Museum this morning (and making catapults out of Legos, and letting me try his remote control truck, and playing Kerble Space Program...). We'll watch more of last week's So You Think You Can Dance while we eat lunch. We're listening to a mix of music he likes - The Veronicas, the Slackmates, the soundtrack to Victor/Victoria, Ingrid Michaelson, and the soundtrack to Come Fly Away, the musical based on Frank Sinatra's songs.
I'm never sure which music he will or won't like (except that he dislikes country, doesn't care for folk, and only likes about 5% of rap).
He was walking around the house earlier and snapping his fingers in time to a Frank Sinatra song.
Makes me smile.
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The writer in me says that I should stop there for this blog post. However, the musician in me threatened to beat up the writer in me if we don't include this song (younger son agrees). Here is Futura by the Slackmates:
