Changing Schools Blues

Hi, this is Charissa. :-)

We still have a couple more weeks before school starts for us, but I'm starting to get really nervous. Most of the girls here are going to the same school they did last year, but I'm not.

Summer and Kiwi moved here in May, so they're going back to the same school they went to for about a month last year. Summer is at Molly's school, but she's a grade behind Molly. Kiwi is going to the same school as Fiona and Ev. It's also the same school where Maia got a job teaching math. It still feels pretty new to them, so they can relate to me feeling anxious.

I have to change schools too, even though my family didn't move. My old school closed at the end of last year. I liked it there. It was for deaf and hearing-impaired students. I'm not profoundly deaf, but I don't have very much hearing in either ear and I have to read lips and use hearing aids. I know sign language too, but since I can speak, I usually do that instead because it's how most other people communicate. I also have some learning disabilities that my school was helping me with.

The government decided to stop having a separate school for hearing-impaired kids, though, so my school is closing and we're all being sent to other schools. It makes sense to me in a way because they don't want us to be isolated and most of us could fit into any classroom, so we don't really need our own place, and having an extra school costs tax money. Still, I liked my school, and I'll miss it. This year I'm going to the same school as Fiona, Evelyn, and Kiwi. I'm scared that the other kids will think I'm weird or that I'll fall behind because everyone else is a hearing student. My sisters keep saying it'll be fine, but I'm very worried.

The other person with school issues is Clare. She hasn't been in school for the last year, for obvious reasons. Even here, our weather is a lot less sunny than most places, but we can't guarantee that she'll be able to make it to school very often because there's some direct sunlight on some days. Our guardian says Clare can't just quit school forever, though, because she's only fifteen. Clare is kind of wondering what future she has anyway, but I think she misses school too, and it's going to be really boring for her if the rest of us are in school all day and she has nothing to work on herself.

I think we found a solution to that, though. Clare is going to be home-schooled and take classes online. Kaya actually does some of that too; she takes classes online some days and goes to co-op classes with other students some days. Kaya wouldn't mind the company, and Clare won't have to spend all her study time alone either. It seems like the best way for us to do things.

I'm still worried for myself, though. What if I don't like my new school? What if the other kids are mean? What if I can't keep up with the lessons? At least I'll be in the same classes as Fiona and Kiwi, so I'll have two guaranteed friends, even if it's my family too.

Love,
Charissa