Yes. This is my 4th grade school picture.
When I was in fourth grade my parents decided to send me to a private Christian school. It wasn’t just attending a new school that was hard but leaving behind friends that was heartbreaking. Can any of you relate?
I was eight years old and terrified.
Growing up on a Native American reservation, I had friends in my community since birth. We went to Headstart, Kindergarten and Elementary school together. And life as I knew it was fast changing.
Change is scary. New people? Even more so.
Of course, I made new friends – lifelong friends. But in the process I lost connections to kids that lived on my reservation – all within one mile of me. At the private Christian school I continued to excel academically. I also became a teen who didn’t fit the mold of average Native kid from the Rez.
Living in two culturally different worlds is never easy. Navigating those worlds is hard when you’re a kid.
This week my daughter is going to be attending “school” for the first time. We have joined our county’s homeschool co-op. Every Friday we meet with 100+ local families who also homeschool. She is nervous. I understand that. I can empathize. I just keep reassuring her that she will make great friends and it is ok to be scared. This quarter she is taking Cupcake Decorating, Knitting, and Pinterest Crafts. She is over the moon excited about those classes.
To be honest, I am a bit nervous too. There will be a lot of new people to meet and I have to bring my Little Man to the Toddler class. I also will be a helper in is class with him. {Parents have to stay and help – it is a co-op after all.} I am excited to meet other homeschool families.
Do you have any Back to School memories?
Wow, that’s a huge change! Sounds like you not only made a physical change of school but some cultural ones as well. I like to think all the moving made me stronger but at the time it was SO HARD. Thanks for sharing!
I can’t imagine continually moving around and changing schools. It would be hard. But, yes I can see how it could make a child much stronger as they become adults.
My family moved from MN to MI when I was 11. I entered the middle school not knowing anyone. I struggled with the move (and losing friends, homesick) for years. My daughter is now the same age and I could not imagine pulling her out a school where she knows everyone and put her in a new school.
That would be so hard, Trisha. I can’t imagine actually moving out of state and having to start a new life. That would be hard at age 11. I still lived in my same community – but growing apart from friends was difficult.
That must have been a conflicting experience, to grow outside of the mold you were expected to be! I loved this story and the quote by Emerson. I have a good feeling you and your little ones will be fine on your first days of school! I’m excited to hear what happens next!
I also went to a Christian school from kindergarten through my freshman year in high school. (Saint Paul Lutheran) In the fourth grade a new girl student arrived in our classroom, well some of my classmates back then were very clickish. They wouldn’t give her the time of day, so I made it part of a plan to make her feel welcome. She and I became very good friends, I would spend the weekends at her house and vice versa. Of course during our lives we kinda drifted apart. Three years ago thanks to facebook I connected with my old friend again after all these years. She is living down in Texas now and has a wonderful family. I was so happy to reconnect with her again-