Today is a rather momentous day, as I head back to the classroom. I haven’t taught a face-to-face class since before Ruth was born. My last was a class for Central Methodist University, and I was pregnant, teaching a few classes while the older kids watched Miles at the time. I hadn’t realized how much I missed campus teaching until I saw the job posting for State Fair’s Boonville campus. I’ll be teaching Introduction to Sociology, and only need to go in one day a week, since I’m officially doing a “hybrid” option, filling up more activities online to meet the credit requirements.

Still, it’s a transition, and a big one. I took Miles and Ruth last week to the campus and showed them around the spaces in case they wanted to go with me occasionally. The site director, Bethany, made it entirely too appealing, showing us where there’s a student game room, and snacks, so I may have gotten more than I bargained for. I think back on how much Addison and Rebecca learned from coming along to campus classes with me, though, and I’m excited by the prospect. There was more than one sternly issued warning that if they abuse privileges (run through the halls, disturb me while I’m teaching, get in a fighting match in the student’s game room) they simply wouldn’t get to come back. I’m not sure it resonated, so we will see.

Both of these youngers are homeschooling again, effective this fall. We love the Higbee district, and the academics there were solid. They liked the teachers. It was just a struggle for the social aspect. It has surprised me how young girls are transitioning to be mean girls (fyi, it’s not high school anymore, or even middle school). We also didn’t like the reliance on testing.

Miles and Ruth aren’t doing the traditional homeschooling, but a public-school online option available here in Missouri. It was a rough first week, but they’ve gotten into the flow of it well enough. I told them until they could show me they were self-disciplined enough to stay on top of their workload, this would be the only option. We’ll probably start shopping for a different curriculum next Spring. Miles’ main beef was that he wants me to teach him – all subjects, all the time – but I’ve explained I still must *work* so that wasn’t feasible. It’s fun to think about curriculum shopping again, and watching their learning styles emerge so I can pick the best one for their needs.

Nathan’s back at a job, albeit one closer to home in Callaway. He’ll still be able to come home once a week, which is better than some of the options. He’s wrapped up haying, and like many farmers experienced this summer, it was a rough season that didn’t leave us much security for the winter. Tackling the kids’ needs and a new work situation without him here at hand will be challenging as well, but we will manage. I’ve started taking a few moments each day before the kids get up to have my “self” time, and that helps me charge up. Maybe it will result in more blog writing, but no guarantees on that.

It’s time to get ready for class. 😊