Dad, Son, and His First Week of School

Make no mistake, I still worry about my son's workload. But after his first week of high school, the facts are indisputable. Jacob loves his school.

Jacob's new school is a small, all boys high school in downtown Seattle with about the best college preparatory record of any school in the Puget Sound region.  Every boy in last year's graduating class went on to further education beyond high school; most to four year colleges.  Free from the distractions of girls in school, classrooms are organized on the Gurian Model designed specifically for boys.  I'll write more about that in a future post.

As I wrote last week, Jacob commutes with mom every morning, arriving at around 7AM for Zero Period -- band practice.  The band does everything.  From jazz to symphony; from liturgy to percussion ensemble and drum line.  They play concerts, mass, and football games.  And he seems to have gotten off to a fine start.  He's enjoying Japanese, a language I studied for a couple of years as an adult just for my interest in Japan.  The class process has been slow to wind up so he's getting a suitable "dipping in" without an assload of homework yet.

Speaking of which, his homework so far has been appropriate but he's busy.  However, he's showing signs of better time management, even if he needs a bit of sideboarding from me or mom here and there.  Last night after football practice, he managed to complete his interval throwing workouts and flow to an honors World History assignment (completed while he shoveled down a couple of tacos and a tall glass of milk).  Then some Japanese, a core workout meant to accompany his throwing work, and style guide study for a quiz today in honors World Lit.

I found some release from my worry in several moments scattered throughout the evening.  First, his arm is strong.  Not related to school (yet), but he is coming back from his first real baseball injury and appears to be much stronger now.  Every ball he threw from beyond 60 feet was heavy and hurt my hand to catch.  Second, he did his work at a proper desk with only some music playing on the PC in the background.  This is new; in the past he'd study on the couch at a coffee table with the TV on (which Mom and I disagree on).  Third, he accepted the idea of doing something productive as a break from homework.  In the past, a break meant playing some xbox or watching a couple of youtube videos.  Last night he did some core work, stuff that makes him a better ball player.

These were all good signs.  We'll see how well things go as his baseball team starts Fall practice this weekend, anticipating the Fall Classic Baseball Tournament in Las Vegas at the end of October.  His coach will not pitch him this Fall or next spring so that's an element of his game from which he can relax.  But he needs to hit and take a lot of fielding before he's game speed again.  All while keeping his grades respectably high.

It's a lot.  I worry.  But I know he wants to show me he's "got this."  That's exactly the correct place to start.