Starting school, take 2

Enzo started school at East Grand Rapids High School on August 22. Colleen went with him to stay at our very empty rental house and get him acclimated to the new time zone (Eastern Standard Time) and earlier school start time (7:45am) while I stayed in Oakland to pack up the house.

The first thing that was very different about East Grand Rapids High was that a counselor met with both of them the Friday before school started to help Enzo sort out his classes. No such thing ever happened at Oakland Tech. And, thank goodness, because there was a lot we could not have known otherwise. Like the fact that in Michigan, students take Physics in their first year rather than in their junior year. To make up for this being a first-year class, the counselor enrolled Enzo in Honors Physics.

And contrary to our belief that moving to a new school would take Enzo's focus on engineering off the table, Grand Rapids schools all offer architecture as an elective. Not only that, the kids all have desktop computers in the classroom for their design projects.

At back-to-school night a week after school started, Colleen texted to tell me that she was in culture shock: The teachers seemed to know Enzo already; the counselor who had helped Enzo select his classes stopped Colleen in the hall to ask how he was doing; and the physical space of the school is clean, bright and modern. It was clear that this was going to be an entirely different experience.

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Are we brave? Or nuts?

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The Mitten Experiment

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