I’m plotting and charting the course for school this year – because it’s already that time again.

I loved our first year’s attempt at year round school.  (And we never did really land on a better name for this type of schooling – although “balanced” sounds so nice and optimistic and ideal.)

I made my planner’s cover page and snapped a photo of it and shared it on all the social medias like we do and a friend pointed out a little fact that made me drop my pen and tear out clumps of my hair.

Do you see what she saw?

It’s right there — in the numbers.  6. 7. 8.

Grades Six.  Seven.  Eight.

THREE MIDDLE SCHOOLERS.

THREE.

Do I win a prize you guys?

Please tell me my prize involves a personal assistant, a housekeeper, fresh sheets daily and new razor blades every morning.

I HAVE THREE MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS LIVING IN MY HOME.

Am I the only one with this phenomena?

It feels like I am the only one.

These three middle schoolers all wore the same shirt accidentally this week.

This picture reveals perfectly how each one of them felt about that fact when we piled out of the car and they noticed their current fashion situation.

You know what’s funny?

I taught middle schoolers for seven years.  They were fine.  But I preferred teaching high schoolers.  (It’s okay to admit that now – am I right?) I mean, I LIKED my middle school students, but teaching high school seniors in an honors English course was just a pretty good time.

But here’s the thing.

Until my friend Sunshine pointed out the occurrence of having THREE MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS in one year I had not even noticed it myself.

Because – these middle schoolers are such fantastic humans.

Tonight they made dinner with their younger siblings while I worked on school planning.  Then they took turns mowing and weed eating the lawn.  They’re good people.  They talk books and movies and crafts and they’re funny and kind and basically literate and I think they’re stellar company.

Yes, they’re rowdy and they still slouch and they chew with their mouths open and they are constantly hungry — constantly, I’m telling you.  They heave heavy sighs at their chore lists some mornings and their jokes and puns are kind of ridiculous and corny but I don’t mind being overrun by MIDDLE SCHOOL at all.

Who knew?

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