From Kindergarden to High School in 3.2 seconds

*** This was the post I was in the middle of writing last week before..well..stuff happened ***

This month began the High School open enrollment period in Sports Boy’s school district. Yep. High. School. Even though I am pretty sure that picture above was taken yesterday.

Or, the reality could be that all those visible teeth in that photo are long gone.

Since Music Man went to school, the district has grown by leaps and bounds and has made some significant changes to their enrollment process. For one thing, there are 4 schools, and for another, there is open enrollment. No forcing you into a school according to your address. Of course, the deep irony here is that while MM would have *greatly* benefited from such choices an originally out of boundary school, SB – with all of this opened up to him – has been laser focused since he had all those baby teeth to go to the very school we are geographically closest too anyway.  After all, his brother went there, and there is football. He’s spent every Aug-Nov since he was 7 on the practice and stadium fields. It’s what he knows.

Still, I tried to make sure HE was sure.

Me: “So do you want to visit the other schools?”

SB: “No. Just sign me up for TPHS & we’ll go to their night”

Me: “But you should probably check them out at least”

SB: “Do they have football?”

Me: “Just LCC”

SB: “That’s a dirty word! TPHS!”

Me: “Well, what about CCA? A lot of your friends will most likely go there because they can play baseball easier there since it’s so hard to break into the lineup at TPHS”

SB: “No football. TPHS!”

You get the gist of it. Even if it means never playing a down and battling guys 3 times his size…well..FOOTBALL!

So we only went on one night – TPHS. It’s changed a lot since MM went there. Added buildings and such. The gym looked the same though – tons and tons of athletic award flags streamed down from the banners crossing over all sports male & female that you could think of. Given that I am the one who tagged with the name Sports Boy, I guess it would seem appropriate for him to go there! After the initial assembly in the gym, there were break out sessions with the various academic departments and the athletic director. He chose to visit the Math, History and Language departments in addition to athletics. Another benefit to this school is that we know a couple of the teachers so again, familiarity is nice. Is it odd that I wanted to stay in the History room? Seriously I was listening to the description of the classes and I *really* want to take some of those classes! Art History, Government & yes, even AP European which I already took in high school but would LOVE to take again!! SB is developing a similar affinity for History – he was even reading his 8th grade US history book JUST FOR FUN the other night! For languages the little maniac wants to take Japanese! Not Spanish which is the norm around here and would provide ample opportunities for him to practice AND would be easy for him to learn…no..Japanese! I gotta admit the young lady teaching the classes was quite the spit fire and is very enthusiastic about her work. She grew up in Japan and has a heavy accent when she speaks English but she was quite funny and entertaining & quite clearly knows her stuff. She will blend in the culture and history as she teaches too. Academically he will be well served and they are on a block schedule similar to what he’s had in middle school which makes homework planning much easier.

Then there is sports. Now, just for a moment, let’s flash to a TV show shall we? As I’ve mentioned a few times, SB and I were fanatical about Glee. Well, MusicMan has recently discovered this gem and has been catching up on all the episodes online. We’ve even watched a couple of our favorites with him. Well, about 5 minutes into the athletic director’s little talk – at the moment when she was getting a wee bit puffed up and proud of the school’s accomplishments since she’s been there – just as she said “Well, I think we ARE the best in the county” my mind went right here:

Yep – she had just a wee bit of Sue Sylvester going on! Didn’t hurt that she is a middle aged lady with short hair either. She’s a much nicer lady though – I promise! And not the cheer coach, but the tennis coach instead.

I wonder if they’ll notice me stuffed into his backpack in history class?