It's the end of an era - close to a decade - for our family and household. No more spelling, no more books (school ones that is), no more teacher's dirty looks (a.k.a mum). Troy is attending Christian Life Academy about five minutes drive away, a small Christian school. While we can't endorse the statement of faith - it's an Assembly of God church school - we highly respect Troy's teacher who was also Eliot's 8th grade teacher hence our decision to place Troy back in school at this stage in the middle of his 7th grade year. He will also have the same teacher for his 8th grade year, Lord Willing.
Troy is picked up each morning by bus no. 21 right at the end of our driveway as is typical for most pupils in this country. Each afternoon Troy is dropped off, again, outside our house; a fantastic service. Some of you who have visited have seen the big lumbering yellow school buses but for those who haven't, the stop sign on the side swings out along with a big red barrier when the bus stops to let students on and off the bus. Traffic on both sides of the road must stop or risk a fine.
On a Thursday I have a student from down the street that gets off the bus at my house for a music lesson straight from school but because she is only a 1st grader she needs to be received by an adult. Since I have a few extra music pupils my schedule is a little tighter and this past Thursday I was absorbed teaching another student - and had gone over time as usual - when almost simultaneously I heard and then saw in my peripheral vision the big yellow bus stopping outside our big living room window. Initially, for some unknown reason we didn't have a very majestic start with Magesta the driver, so I jumped up from my chair faster than the speed of light and bounded down the front steps as if I had been standing there all the time. My poor piano pupil - not the one coming off the bus - must have wondered where the piano teacher had disappeared to!
Here's Troy just getting home from school. His official report is that he is enjoying it aside from the homework. It is a very small class. He was the third student, but since then a fourth student has joined the class. A new subject for him is Spanish, although because he has been learning Latin he has not found it difficult. Furthermore, his home school grammar course was fairly rigorous. The first week Troy was up until 11 pm some nights doing homework around the basketball schedule. Now that he is a couple of weeks into school, and knows the routine, and what is expected of him, he is managing his time much better. Fortunately he doesn't need a lot of sleep and is not the sort of guy that wakes up grumpy.
I am on the substitute list on the days I don't teach music so it's possible I may end up teaching Troy's class now and then. I may just send him to the Headmaster's office for the most trivial offence! Not Troy Alexander.
If anyone is like his Opa Spikey (not wanting to break the law) it's our Troy.
