Middle School Drama

My sweet girl started middle school two and a half weeks ago. When she came home from her first day of school and I asked her how sixth grade was, her reply was, "Fine. It's just school." {Already she has the middle-school attitude perfected!} She also added that it was "like elementary school, just more walking."

Her first challenge was getting a locker. The fact that her original lock wouldn't work didn't help the stress levels of this new adventure. So she went an extra day carrying all her gear back and forth in a backpack that is bigger than she is.

Things started to snowball out of control in the second week of school. As we headed to soccer practice on Tuesday night, I questioned the wisdom of doing soccer this season. Abbie seems to have a lot of homework, and she is one who takes a lot of time to get it done. But, she can also work herself up over it. Could we really afford the two hours out of the week for soccer? The next day, I had to take her for her 6th grade vaccines (further cutting into homework time), and then we went to church Wednesday evening, as usual. Once we got home, Abbie had to stay up later to get her homework done, but left one assignment not completed.

Thursday and Friday brought phone calls from the school nurse just 30 minutes into the day. Abbie came home, rested up, and caught up with all her school work over the weekend. We talked about a few strategies to lower the stress. I let her know that I know she can handle this. But, if it is going to be too much, then we can look at homeschooling in November. If, on Wednesdays, homework is an issue, then Abbie and I will sit downstairs at church so she can work on it while the boys attend their activities. And then there is the matter of drama auditions coming up the first week of October... Abbie really wants to try out! But she will have to have a handle on the school thing, first.

Her school day is half over as of now, and she hasn't called home! Two years ago Zac's first couple of weeks at middle school were rough, too. But he figured things out and got into a groove with it. I know my Abbie will, too. She is a great student, and an awesome girl. I feel blessed that I can be home to be a sounding board after school, and cheer her on as she does her homework. Here is a project she put together on on her own to complete a language arts assignment last week: