Jumping into the middle of it...

Ah, Summer...the season of sleeping late, lazing by the pool, spending countless unscheduled playtime hours pursuing pleasure in whatever way you choose, right? Well, yes...and no. The life of almost-8 year old Riley does in fact follow the Summer Ideal almost to the letter (except for those pesky assigned Math and Reading Packets...but we can work on those outside, underneath a shady tree somewhere, so it still counts as relaxation). For Derek, however, after two blissful weeks of an easygoing, slow-paced existence, the Academic World suddenly returned with a vengeance, intruding on his vacation like a shock of Summer lightning. First, there was the horror and indignity of parentally-imposed Tutoring Sessions. Now, before everyone gets all up-in-arms about what kind of mother subjects their kids to (shudder) MATH during the school break, let me just...foist the blame off on a fellow Mom. You see, a friend of mine, whose son happens to be one of Derek's best friends, wanted to preview the Advanced Math Curriculum prior to just throwing her son into it blindly in the Fall when school starts again. So, she arranged a few tutoring dates for S, and inquired as to whether we would like Derek to join the fun. Of course we would! Why didn't I ever think of that? Besides, we're talking a total of 5 meetings altogether, after which the boys get fed a snack and taken swimming...so don't cry too much for poor old Derek.

But then, we encountered our first evidence that this whole Middle School thing is serious business. All of the incoming 6th-graders were placed into an optional Orientation (in addition to the Official one in August!) to become acquainted with the school and some of its procedures. Derek's slot came up this week, so for two days he had to revert to being woken up. (Not as early as he will be rising in the Fall, but earlier than he has been since mid-June...also, the pain of this is heightened by the fact that Husband shakes him vigorously while commanding in an obnoxiously chipper tone, "Wakey, wakey!" I fear we'll know we have a full-blown adolescent on our hands when Derek hauls off and slugs him one day.) Then he attended school for 3 hours (!) on 2 consecutive days (!!). Now, Derek is an extremely laid-back kind of boy, but I wondered if he might be feeling some stress about his crash course in Introductory Middle School. My concern proved valid, as he shared with me at breakfast before being dropped off for his first day: "I had a dream that I went to school, but I forgot to wear a shirt so we had to go back home and get one." (Oh, how cute, he experienced the universal "naked at school" dream--Freudian Analysts, have at it! But remember: at least he wore PANTS!)  Then when we pulled up and saw a group of kids sitting outside the school, he remarked, "I don't see anyone I know" (slightly morose, but calm)...quickly followed by "Everyone has a backpack!" (and he hadn't brought one--slightly worried). Super! He'd been a 6th-grader for approximately 5 minutes and already he was voicing several common pre-teen areas of angst: "I only want to hang out with people who are already my friends" and "I don't want to be different in any way." As it turned out, the backpack-toting loiterers were waiting to catch a bus to camp. Plus, not 30-seconds after I bid him goodbye and headed back to the car, I passed one of his Elementary school buddies walking into the building. (Takeaway Life Lesson: Everything will work out fine, and what's bothering you so much at this exact moment will be either completely insignificant or forgotten in 10 minutes. Welcome to Adolescence.)

I watched him tentatively wander off down the hallway of his new Scholastic Home for the next three years, looking for all the world like a little fish unceremoniously tossed into an unfamiliar, too-big pond. Of course, when I returned 3 hours later to retrieve him, he was brimming once more with confidence and enthusiasm (and maybe just a bit of relief). He reported all of the fun things they got to do, such as learning to open a combination lock, taking a Scavenger Hunt to find things throughout the building (high on Derek's list: the gym...and the cafeteria), and creating a Time Capsule. This last one was particularly intriguing to me; they were supposed to fill a manila envelope with drawings, handwritten notes, and small items that explain who they are, in the Summer before 6th Grade. These will be tucked safely away in a secret location somewhere in the school until 8th Grade Graduation, when the students can open them and examine their past-selves. Derek's choices revealed (no surprise here) a boy who loves soccer, music, and video games. I don't really expect these things to change over the next several years. But Middle School is a period of intense growth--physical and emotional--so I can't help but wonder how drastically different my bespectacled, brace-faced, not-quite-as-tall-as-me son will be when Middle School is behind him, and High School awaits. Okay, YIKES, back up just a bit! For now, we're just about prepared to deal with 7 teachers and PE every day and maybe, just maybe, Journalism Club (in which he has expressed an interest already). Wheee, ready or not, Middle School here we come!