A Change is Coming

Once school starts around here things get a little disjointed. I seem to be constantly flitting from one thing to another and not really landing on any one thing.

Little algebra help here, little science help here, what's an adverb, you ask? video's about the American Revolution, Vikings, co op classes...and the list goes on.

My kids are older now, I don't really sit down with them and 'teach' them much anymore. They read through their required books and I'm around to help. It's nice, but different. I am reading Jane Austen's Emma to the girls. That's fun.

And the schedule of things is different. It used to be that we all got up and we all ate breakfast and we all started school. We did so much of it together that we really all were on the same page all day. Sometimes the older boys would do something and I'd work with the younger girls. That was how we did it for years.

Now? Not so much.

I'm not sure when the change happened. Maybe when Bryce started taking duel credit classes at the community college. That was probably the beginning of the change.

This morning, for instance, I get up with Dave at 7:30. Okay, I should rephrase that. Dave got up WAY before 7:30, but I got up to say goodbye to him when he left at 7:30. I go downstairs to check on the rest of the crew. Bryce is already gone as I expected. He's working this semester and saving up for Fire Academy which starts in the spring. His job starts at 7 am and it's about an hour away, so he's long gone with just the lingering smell of coffee to hint at his earlier presence.

Gunnar's the wild card. He has some Tue/Thurs duel credit classes, and he has a landscaping business, and he has a few co op classes and a few classes for me. Other than Tue/Thursday, I am never really sure where he is or what he is doing. I know he tells me, but honestly, unless I write it down it leaks out of my ears. I have been known to text him several times a day 'Where R U?" I'm sure that's annoying.

Today I got up, said goodbye to Dave and let the dog out only to find Gunnar and his partner already out in the neighborhood working. They have several jobs today so I guess they are getting started early. He also has homework to get done for his various classes. It's not unusual to get up and see he's already gone, hard at work. It's also not unusual for him to come lumbering out of his room at 10 am, and surprise me because I thought he was gone working.

It's a strange thing these teenage years. My boys have a lot of freedom because I trust them. I know they are where they say they are (if I can only remember) and doing what they say they are doing. I know they are staying on top of their school, well the one who is still in school.

So, often it is just me and the girls here at home doing school. And at 13 and 11 with the exception of math, they don't really need that much help from me. I'm just here to supervise, check over, and encourage.

This really is going to come to and end some day, isn't it? Some day I may have to decide what I am going to do when I grow up. Some day, my kids really will be on their own. I see it right over the horizon. I'm not sure I like it.