Last month my older son attended his first Homecoming at one of our huge public schools (about 4,000 students) which is a bigger deal than Prom is in our new state of Texas. Here, Homecoming is attended by all four grades of high school while Prom is only for seniors.
My son was invited to the public school Homecoming with a group that totaled three boys and three girls. The students attended three different public schools and my son was the only homeschooler.
This was quite last minute so days before the event we scrambled to buy our son his first suit. He needed fancy shoes and he asked for his first pair of cowboy boots. In Texas suits with nice boots is just fine.
At this point in time my son was girlfriend-less...
In keeping with my policy of not showing other people's kids on my blog, I am left showing just him, and I'll show the shot of the shoes.
Well this blog is supposed to be about me and my parenting and homeschooling journey with my family. My kids are at that age where I have to respect their privacy more and more.
So what I can say about how this felt seeing my son go off to Homecoming was that it was a bit nerve-wracking. It felt weird letting him be driven by a senior whose driving skills I know nothing about. I was told by the driver's parents that a lot of drinking and drugs are done before Homecoming and that the scene can be a hot mess. I had confidence in my son and this group of kids but you never know, there has to be a first time for everything.
Unlike the older teens we know, this group did not partake in a co-ed sleepover. Some parents host all night parties or sleepovers in an attempt to keep the kids busy and away from drinking or drugging and driving. We picked our son up at about 12:30 a.m. and everyone was stone sober, reported having had a good time, and they were all exhausted and ready for sleep. Oh, but I found out when I saw the mobile phone bill that my son actually stayed up til three in the morning texting his "non-date"...
...oh and so much for the BS that homeschoolers don't get to go to public school big dances like Homecoming and Prom...