High school

I am again grateful to my friends for another meal. Last night someone dropped off a salad for tonight. In the process she reminded me that tonight is the band concert. Trevor hadn't said a word since I signed the permission slip weeks ago. I had forgotten all about it. It is huge for his grade. Originally I had had my mom on to back me in case we were in the hospital or something. But Knock on wood, no crisis, I can take him myself. I wear ear plugs. They really aren't bad, but it is always so loud, I just like to tone it down a tad. It will be fun to be out for a while. Mom had something she wanted to go to, so she was happy to be off the hook in taking Trevor.

this morning I stopped at H&R Block to drop off my Dad's taxes. With luck everything will be done in a week or less. Since I was in the neighborhood, I swung by the high school and met Riley's councilor for next year. I was really pleased in talking to her. Hopefully Riley will be able to attend classes in the fall. The Picc may still be in and his numbers somewhat low, preventing him from doing PE. but everything else should be OK.

I just wanted her to meet me and get a heads up that Riley would be coming. She also appreciated knowing since he is no longer officially in school, he wouldn't be in the computer and will need to be manually entered. I wanted to make sure his class selections were available, since I know the advanced classes tend to fill up quickly. I didn't want to miss any window of time.

The councilor provided me with the form all the eighth graders got yesterday in a presentation. When I got home Riley and I sat down for a good hour and a half, going over the requirements and electives. There were a lot of electives. Each trimester there is an opportunity to take a class of interest as apposed to a required class. Riley was able to find quite a few he liked, and quite a few he did not like.

Sadly, he has decided to drop music. He signed up for a bunch of engineering and technology classes. There are career paths that help direct choices of electives also. He was disappointed there was not a class on Aeronautics and flying. They did have some great alternative choices though.

We have been told that Spanish usually fills up with upper class men, so its unlikely that a freshman will get ever in. We put down Spanish in hopes of increasing our chances of getting a class Riley does want to take. Not that getting Spanish is a bad thing freshman year, Its a requirement for college, but not high school graduation. But I figured we could try and be a little sneaky by requesting it as an alternate. Riley will be more likely to get one of his other classes he wants more. I hope he doesn't get too mad at me if he ends up in Spanish. We had it as our last choice. We were having a hard time picking that last elective and he had two spaces left. Spanish just fit. He was supposed to pick six electives and then 6 alternatives.

Music and Theater went by the wayside quickly. Agriculture (dirt issues) and Physical Ed also were thrown out. He didn't want art much. He couldn't do construction with his Picc. It really became pretty easy in the end to pick. We made a list of possibles, then numbered them by order of favorites and wrote them in. He even chose math oriented physical chemistry over biology. Now that all gets plugged into a computer and randomly spit out into class schedules, hopefully the way Riley wants it. Its funny, next year Trevor will be the exact opposite.

I am getting pretty excited about high school now. It may be just having Riley underfoot constantly right now that makes me so excited. Two months ago I was stressing his starting high school next fall. Now I am thrilled at the prospect. I think Riley is feeling the same. This isolation may even make him more gregarious. A friend dropped by with the other half of dinner for tonight. Rather than disappearing like a normal teen, he hangs out with us and chats. He even walks her to the door with me as she leaves, talking the whole time.

Again, I am grateful for a good meal. Last night I showed Riley how to make fried rice with Beef and onions. The beef and onions came out well, but the fried rice tasted like someone had washed the pan in comet. I had, trying to give it a good clean. It did sparkle, but I had to throw out the rice. Now that Riley is eating, I have to figure out new portions for everyone, or Tom goes hungry with his share. Thankfully the dishes friends have been bringing are so delicious the family is content to overlook my foibles