Tonight, when Weston came out of church, he was talking about one of his buddies there who plays football for Marble Falls, "just like me, but for the varsity." (In this case "varsity" refers to an older team of pre-junior high aged kids. Weston's age group is called "Freshmen," so you can get an idea of what he meant.) In the course of the story about his friend, Weston told me he "just couldn't wait for that level that's right after that, what do you call it?"
"Junior High?" I answered, unsure of exactly what he meant.
"Yes. That's it. I'm excited about that."
So, then I found myself right smack in the middle of a conversation I have known was coming, and I put on my kid gloves in order to broach the subject as gently as possible. I explained to him that if we continued to homeschool ("which we might not do") there weren't really too many opportunities to play football after about sixth grade, but, for sure, once he got into high school. I told him that if football was important to him that we should definitely talk about this some more and explore our options; that Dad and I weren't saying he had to do homeschool indefinitely, if he wasn't happy with it or if he wanted to play sports; that other sports were a bit easier for homeschoolers to play longer term, etc.
He let me go on for a little while before he stopped me and said, "Well, if I had to choose between football and homeschool, I'd definitely choose homeschool." I could not have been more shocked if he had sprouted a horn on his head and wings on his back, or made his next statement: "I mean, football is just a season, but homeschool is forever."
I just about fell over from the eloquence and thoughtfulness of this statement, coming from my all-ball, sports-loving boy, who I will admit sometimes seems oblivious to a deeper meaning to life than who won the game. They were words this weary homeschool mama needed at the end of a hard day at the schoolhouse.
Then, he followed that statement up with another: "Besides, I'd like to give soccer a try."
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