A Survivor Story

It's Friday, and I have survived a whole week in public school! Tuesday was my first day of high school.

More than thirteen hundred students. Over 450 freshmen, the biggest class ever in the school's history. Roughly two miles of hallway. Eighty-seven teachers, nineteen of them brand new. Eight period days.

And on top of it all, I still don't have a locker. So I have to carry everything I need for the day on my person, including my beloved flute. Speaking of the flute, jazz band is a totally new experience for me. I'm learning a whole different way of playing.

 

Anyhow, I have calmed down quite a bit since my last post. By midnight Monday night, I was still wide awake. I got absolutely no sleep that night. The next morning, I got up at five, packed my bags, cooked and ate breakfast, and jogged out the door.

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I boarded the bus at 6:40. The bus ride to the elementary school is about ten minutes. We are dropped off there and get on one of the two buses that take all the high schoolers from our town down to the high school, which is an hour away. It's a long ride, but it passes quickly with the help of friendly conversation and music.

 

I had no trouble finding my classes, thanks to my "compass." And whenever I am unsure of where I am, I just keep walking and eventually find my destination.

 

The only difficulty is getting from the band room to Spanish class between sixth and seventh periods. The band room is on the first floor on the far west side of the building. The Spanish room is located on the top floor on the east side of the building. And traffic seems to be the worst at exactly that time of day-- I was stuck standing still in the hallway by the stairwell for five minutes today, not moving at all because NO ONE WOULD MOVE FORWARD! I was very peeved. And very squashed-- between two tall guys' backpacks and a locker, to be exact. "Hello? Excuse me-- um, you're kind of pressing me into a locker-- hey-- guys... Hellooooo. Anyone? Seriously?"

 

As to my social life, I'll worry about that later. This week I was just concerned with keeping my actual life. (That is, not getting run over by a stampede of seniors during lunch or being turned to stone by a cold look from one of my teachers.) I pretty much stick with my old friends from elementary school, which is just fine with me because they are still as awesome as ever. I have found this table at lunch that I really like, though. It's full of somewhat nerdy guys who like to laugh at their own jokes. They should consider a career in stand-up comedy. I have to be careful not to take a drink of anything when they're trading jokes, or it ends up coming out my nose-- that's how hilarious they all are! Anyway, I knew a few of them before this year, so I took refuge with them when I couldn't find any other familiar faces during A lunch. I think I'm going to stay.

 

And the most important question: do I like public school better than homeschooling?

 

YES. On most levels, anyway. Despite the two and a half hours I spend on the bus every day, and the no-locker situation, and the maze of hallways, and the stuck-up seniors and juniors, high school is rather interesting. I find sitting in a classroom and getting my education that way strangely satisfying. I get to see my friends for several hours every day, and I no longer have to endure homeschool jokes, or explain to people why I'm not in school.

On the other hand, it is very hard to maintain a Christian world view in the public school classrooms. Especially during Science and History. The teachers seem to be able to make some reference to evolution in every sentence, during which simply I exchange glances with one of my church-going friends and frown a little. But other than that, I love school.

Regardless, I literally got home and flopped on the floor, looking much like this:

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Ah, home sweet home.Then I remembered that Seriah was in town, and I was supposed to go meet her up at the lake! I immediately jumped back up again with new energy, and ran to get my things together. We then spent a lovely evening tubing on the lake and eating ice cream, and I will likely post about that later.

So, I'm alive! A whole weekend until I have to go back... But I seriously think I'm just going to sleep until Monday.