The transition was not without its rough patches -- she missed the bus coming home on the first day, in the midst of a torrential thunderstorm, mainly because she wasn't certain how to find the bus staging area from her last classroom; she does not like waking up at six to catch the bus by seven to reach school by eight; and she hates, hates, hates study hall, which apparently is not used for studying but for masculinity displays -- but on the whole, this is going well.
Pros: She loves Latin (her first class) and English (her last class) and AP World History.
Now that she is eating lunch in the courtyard, she likes lunch. She had been eating lunch skulking in dark hallways, which was depressing.
She likes having classmates she can talk to -- that was always a problem with home-schooling. Though we did what we could to arrange socialization opportunities (drama class, art class, et cetera) she spent far too much time learning on her own.
She's handling the work load, so far, easily. The AP history has had two tests (I'm guessing they're actually quizzes?) so far and she has scored perfectly on both; and she usually gets most or all of the homework done in study hall.
They're reading The Iliad in English. She loves The Iliad. I can't tell you how happy this makes me. They're reading a free online version, which is the terrible Samuel Butler translation; she liked even that. I brought home my Fitzgerald translation from school for her so she could see how brilliant it is in a good translation. Now she wants to learn Greek.
Also in English: they're going to start doing silent reading in class. "I get credit for reading, Mom," she cried out to me. "Just for reading!"
It has to be a "school-appropriate book," and also one she hasn't read before; but that shouldn't be a major issue.
Cons: That school starts so early. She's used to staying up as late as she wants, and sleeping as late as she wants. The adjustment is rough.
The aforementioned masculinity displays. "Why are high school boys such jerks?" she demands. "Why do all these white boys think they have to say the n-word all the time?"
"Not all men," I said piously.
"Plus on the bus behind me the first day, these two guys, they're talking about gay guys. Really loudly. And they're like, what do gay guys do exactly? And how do gay guys decide who is the top and who is the bottom? Is it whose dick is bigger or what? And I wanted to turn around and say, Listen. We've got twenty minutes until we get to school. Let me explain." She rolls her eyes. "Idiots."
Then today, on the bus: "This guy. He wouldn't shut up. 'Bitches love me! Skinny bitches love me! Hot bitches love me! Skinny blond bitches love to suck my dick! All the bitches love to suck my dick!' I was like, this bitch would love to shove you and your skinny dick out on the highway."
So that part isn't so cool.
Also, the school only gives them five minutes between classes, and is very, very strict about being late to class; the kid really hates breaking rules, so this is making her a little anxious.
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But: on the whole: the kid's okay.
Except every night, y'all, after she brushes her teeth and just before she goes to bed? She stops in the living room and makes a precise announcement: "Five hundred and thirty-three days left of high school, Mom. Five hundred and thirty-three."
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