So far my family is doing well.
Higher Learning
Devon, my eldest, started High School this fall. He is the first of my boys to make the leap from public school to an all-boys Catholic High School. This has been an interesting change for several reasons.
- We are not Catholic. (my husband was raised Catholic, I was raised Jewish and the boys have not been brought up with either.)
- The curriculum is much tougher than public school with mandatory Latin and Religion coursework and hours of homework each night.
- There is a dress-code of shirt, tie and slacks (no jeans or shorts)
- Much more parental involvement is required in private school.
I am extremely impressed as I watch his progression into becoming a young man.
Face Time
Alex is in 8th Grade and continues to do well in school. He also turned 13 this summer and is now on FaceBook. Much to my surprise, he amassed more friends in a few weeks than I did in over a year. As a result, I have become much more active on FaceBook. This is partly to blame for my almost non-existent blogging of late.
Between monitoring my middle-child's activity as well as developing a mild addiction to this form of social media, I have less time and desire to post on my blog. Redundancy is blocking my creativity. I need to recalibrate and find balance.
The upside to FaceBook is the ability to efficiently keep up with friends and family. I also have started to connect to parents of my boys' classmates. This has proved helpful with missing homework assignments or when a classmate was missing a few pages from a text book. In addition to being a social tool, FaceBook is also turning into a personal news aggregate.
In addition to FaceBook, I am trying to post photos more frequently on my photo blog,Drive-by Shooting
Strike up the Band!
My youngest son started middle-school this year. So far *fingers crossed* the year is going well. He seems to enjoy school. In addition to the piano, Colin has started playing (learning to play) the trombone in 6th-grade band.
Alex has recently taken up the Saxaphone. He has been playing the clarinet in band, piano in Jazz Band but looking ahead to next year, he wanted to switch to the Sax. There are no clarinets in Jazz band and with several talented piano-playing upper-classmen, the odds of making the band for piano is low. Now Alex has three instruments that he is not practicing enough.
As much as the boys would like to quit taking piano lessons, I will not let them. Hopefully they will thank me some day. In addition to music, the younger boys also are on swim team at the local Y.
Between all the band, choir, piano recitals as well as swim meets, it looks like our "social calendar" is quite full.
Heartfelt Thanks
I am grateful that my family is keeping healthy and doing well. And while I am not here as frequently, I value the few bloggers left, that I continue to maintain contact with. I hope this post finds you and your families doing well. Hope you are enjoying a wonderful Holiday Season.
Thanks for your friendship!
