Ruts/Routines

I am a creature of habit. I go to the same out-of-the-way coffee shop sometimes three or four times a week. I use the same pen to write in my journal, and my toenails are always painted red. I once wore the same hat, more or less all day, every day, for two weeks.

So it shouldn't come as a surprise that the erasure of my wake up-get-dressed-breakfast-bus-school-bus routine has caused me to replace it with a new routine. Wake up-go back to bed-breakfast-blog-bike to school-classes-bike wherever-bike back to Driver's Ed-home. Math, unfortunately, will probably be added in there once I get my textbook.

I was thinking about this, and was briefly disgusted by myself. It only took me four days to get back into some slight variation on my original routine? Really? That's soo not what unschooling is about! Then I realized that I don't care. I like routines. And I like this routine better than the old one. I'm happier, and I feel independent and capable, which is what I was going for all along. So, for now, I'm embracing the routine.

Things That Are Boring

I just finished making an arrangement with a math teacher at a local charter school to buy a math textbook. I've had a nice respite from numbers and the letter x in the two days I've been unschooling, but that's all going to end tomorrow. I figure math is necessary because it's a section on the SAT, and I think my SAT scores are important, because god knows my transcript will be enough to make any self-respecting admissions officer tear out her eyebrows.

I thought about taking an online math class, but apparently they're like $275 if you're homeschooled. A little pricey for something I'm not planning on ever thinking about again past high school. So I'm buying this textbook for $25, which I figure is pretty cheap (especially since it includes an interactive CD! Wheee!), and I'm just going to work through it on my own. This is the part of my plans that I'm most nervous about. Am I really motivated enough to figure out how to do MATH, my school-ish Most Hated Enemy, by myself? Hopefully, hopefully.

Cool website-- www.excotc.org. Free, somewhat hippie-centric classes, that seem to be taught by qualified people.

Combat Boots Are Not So Great

First day of unschooling under the belt, and I have two puffy blisters to show for it. Shockingly, combat boots are not the most appropriate footwear for several hours of walking. Who knew?

Yesterday, I decided to use the time I had after classes to walk over to Ace Hardware and get my nine billionth copy of the house keys. I stuffed twelve bucks in my back pocket, threw on my messenger bag, and headed out the double doors of Central. I walked the mile and a half to Ace thinking cheery and grandiose thoughts about the beauty of independence, freedom of movement, how empty Grand Ave is on Monday afternoons, etc.

I finally arrived at Ace, and got the key copied, which took like five seconds. I walked down to the register, reached into my back pocket, and realized why back pockets and messenger bags are a terrible, terrible idea. My money, including bus fare for the way back, had fallen out of my pocket somewhere between Central and Ace. The cashier looked like she would've smacked me if I was her daughter and not a customer, but agreed to keep the key while I went back outside to retrace my steps and look for the money.

Remarkably, just a few blocks from Central, the entire contents of my back pockets lay untouched within a half-block radius. Life is sweet sometimes. However, having just walked three miles to lose and find my money, I was now reluctant to spend $2.25 of it on bus fare. The only logical solution was to walk to my next destination and second home, A Fine Grind, a local coffee place about a mile and a half from Central. By the time I arrived there, I was hobbling like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, crippled by my own cheapness.

Lesson learned! Never walk anywhere.

You're doing WHAT?

Today is my first day as an unschooled student. I still can't really believe it, to be honest-- there was a period last night that I spent bouncing up and down in the upstairs hallway at 11PM, too excited to sleep. "Mom," I exclaimed, "It's like the day before Christmas!"

I guess that's a little embarrassing.

But after all the work I've spent getting to this point, I have that same feeling of giddy, overwhelmed feeling. Nothing about becoming homeschooled proved particularly challenging, it was just tiny task after tiny task. Really, most of the adults I needed to deal with in order to plan my next semester were more than compliant. The exuberant PSEO admissions officer at a certain Saint Paul university informed me that he "wouldn't insult my intelligence" (quantifiable by my GPA, naturally) by subjecting me to the torture of an otherwise mandatory short interview, and the Director of Home Ed explained to me a few days ago that, since I'm now 16, nothing more than my name and address were really necessary in order to qualify as a homeschooled student. Apparently, it really is that easy, because I'm now sitting at home typing this at 9:15AM, and no one has called to inform my parents that their daughter is ditching school. Nice.

But now the easy part is over, and I have to get down to the grimy work of figuring out what to do with all this time that I suddenly have. I'm still excited.