We are week one into my week of classes and ………

Listen, if you love a person trying to break into the industry, support them. So much goes into being an actor, director, producer, crew person, etc. The last thing they need to hear “get a real job”.

Anywho, in the last episode, we chose classes for Xan, and I needed to submit paperwork for them.

Each year when you are fully homeschooled, you have to “register” your school.

We decided our school’s name would be Melanated Academy of the Arts. We had to have an official name for the paperwork, so we said since it was just the two of us, why not?

In the paperwork, it just asked for basic info, who is running the school (me) and grade level. We file once a year, which is coming up next month, and it goes with the college paperwork we have to file with our community college.

It also helps if your child was smaller, and some folks get froggy, you have proof of why little Johnny is in the store at 11am. Now I personally never had that happen, but I’ve read horror stories. I still carry the paperwork on me if we travel outside California, because you never know.

The state normally kicks back the paperwork with a couple days. After we receive it, we file paperwork with the college. In California, you can’t register for classes until they approve your dual enrollment paperwork. In public traditional school, you have a paper you take to you principal or counselor to get approval to take college courses. You need to know what classes you want to take; they then look at the child’s grades and see if they are comfortable in them taking these classes. The interesting thing about dual enrollment is you can be in kindergarten and take classes in college!

In Annie’s second semester, she was taking her second math required class, Elementary Algebra. One of her classmates was a 12-year-old. Yes, a middle schooler. We’ve had stories of middle school or high schoolers earning an Associates before leaving out of the K-12 system, for free. It saves the family a lot of money, and lets kids see what they might be interested not only as a career but as a hobby.

We took Xan’s paperwork to the college, and since I’m the “Headmaster”, I signed off on it. A couple days later they were cleared to sign up for classes. Here’s where the fun begins……..

If any of you remember the task of signing up for classes, you know why this is a task. It is one thing to take specialty/major classes, it’s a different beast to sign up for general education classes. You are fighting for spots in classes you NEED to graduate. Their choices weren’t too bad as we knew the Intro to Theatre professor (She’s been our mentor). The PE courses aren’t too hard to get into as well.

The blasted history classes……I guess everyone wanted to take it this semester and in theory I’m not mad about it. I mean its African American History; I just wish it had more slots. We are on the waiting list on that one. No worries, we have a backup if needed. Now, what I didn’t plan for is Xan to audition for the One Act plays. They expressed to me they want to start more acting classes, and the mom inside me giggled, but the teacher said “you sure you want to? College course work ain’t no joke”. They made the deal ” Mom, if it gets too be too much, I’ll let you know”.

Remember, hands on learner with ADHD. They need a creative outlet at all times. I’m debating on letting them take web design next semester or digital editing as they have been kidnapping my laptop A LOT. It could be worse, and I remind myself to cut them lack but set boundaries of needing the laptop back for me to write, run my businesses, and do homework.

With all that said, we signed up for classes, and if they get into the history class, school doesn’t start until after Labor Day. If we can’t keep that class, they start in October since these were all late start classes online. Now if they get cast for the One Acts, they have rehearsals starting in two weeks four nights week until December when we go live.

The same One Acts I’m co-producing and directing. I’ll say this. All my children are getting an informal education on the behind the scenes on how a play or movie works, they always ask me about my classes and take that info to apply it. When you are homeschooling and a college student, you do see your kids pick up whatever you are studying and what they are studying, It’s a beautiful process.

For today, we are running lines, because Xan if serious about their acting as much as their makeup looks. We all have taken Costume Design, so you know what that means…..Halloween planning as started as well.

Once we find out if Xan got cast, we can then sit down and map out homework, rehearsals, and free time. A balance. If nothing else, I fight hard for them to have balance.

I advocate for my kids, no matter how old they might be.

Cheers to the new school year, wherever you are, and however chaotic it may be. Just know, we got this.

~CSM~