The possibility of Seamus attending highschool has been a lightly discussed topic over the past year. Struggling with finding other homeschoolers in our area and a break from sports left me wondering last year if maybe Seamus would be interested in highschool. As last year progressed we were able to find some really cool families in our area to hang out with and have begun to sign up for different rec programs again. Highschool as a way to meet people seemed to be less interesting. I was starting to get pretty excited about unschooling through his teen years. I thought it was great that he would be able to spend some time experiencing various jobs when his peers would need to be in school. I was so curious to see what life adventures he would find in the coming years.
Seamus' thoughts on it have wavered with a strong lean toward staying home instead of enrolling. As the grade 8 and parent night at the highschool approached last month we reopened the discussion and though Seamus said he was slightly curious he didn't think he was interested. One of Seamus' school friends is happy to be leaving the grade school atmosphere behind and has tried to encourage Seamus to join him in highschool. Seamus is not easily swayed and felt his friend's reasons for wanting to go to highschool were not quite convincing and felt he wouldn't enroll. We decided to go to the parent night just to hear what they had to say. During the Principal's dry power point presentation Seamus seemed a little glossed over and bored. As we followed the student guides around the school for a tour he seemed disinterested. As we walked to the car at the end of the night I asked him what he thought of it all. I expected a shrug and a claim that he was now sure he wasn't going to go to highschool. His response instead was "I think I am going to do this". WHAT??????
I was blown away. He was sure he was going to take Drama and Shop as his electives and had absorbed everything, even the information from the dry presentation. He used the word 'electives'. Double whammy, not only is my baby going to highschool but he is old enough to be picking 'electives'. I knew then that it was not just his desire to hang out with his friend more. He was excited about the courses he was presented with, drawn in by the atmosphere. I didn't know how to feel about it. I was sad, that I would be losing him to a system that I chose not to expose him to. I was excited that he was making this choice on his own and for his own reasons, which included meeting new people and wanting to be a part of something.
I am still not sure this is the right decision but I am curious to see where these new waters will guide him.
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