(For those of you who don't know about my first school change or my second one, I would recommend reading those posts first so this one makes a bit more sense.)
I spent a good thirty minutes trying all different ways of approaching this topic, but in the end, I think it's best to just jump right into it. I am changing schools again next year, because I am still not healthy enough to attend full-time, traditional school.
Last year, I got accepted to the magnet school in our area after 10 long years of praying and waiting. The year wasn't what I expected it to be by any means, whether that's only being able to attend one full semester before I spent the vast majority of my second semester in the hospital or even just the environment of the school. I'm so thankful for my time at last year's school, though. I met so many wonderful and incredibly kind people and got the privilege of experiencing some of the quirky and unique traditions of the school. My year wasn't all sunshine, of course; I struggled with managing homework, a required sport, and friendships as I dealt with my rapidly declining health. However, I will always treasure the fact that I got to go to this school, even if it wasn't for very long.
Next year, I'm attending a program at the community college in our area where I will simultaneously be a high school student and a college student. I'll take all my classes through the college and work towards my high school diploma and my associate's degree at the same time. I will still attend school five days a week, but I'll only have two classes a day Monday-Thursday, and I will only be at the college for an hour or so on Fridays. This significantly shorter school day will help accommodate my doctor's appointments and hopefully keep my fatigue from getting quite as severe.
This was such a hard decision for my family and me to make. We deliberated over it for months; we tried to think of every possible scenario that could occur at either school (which, of course, is impossible) and every possible way we could make things work at our current school. In the end, though, it came down to what's realistically best for my health (or even possible), and that isn't the school I attended last year.
Starting over is hard. Having to learn a new school is hard. Change is hard. This is necessary change, though, and I'm trying to combat the anxiety that it presents with hope that this will be a good school year. I know there will be times where I terribly miss my old school. I know there are times I wonder what things would be like had things been different. Just knowing those things, though, is invaluable to combating them. This new school is a great opportunity in so many ways: it's a chance to accommodate my health, earn my associate's degree two years faster than I would in traditional school, and learn to navigate college while still having support from the program I'm attending college through. I'm hopeful that I'll enjoy my time at this new school, meet more fantastic people, and continue to grow academically.