Jack Lately

I feel like Jack has grown and matured quite a bit this year.  He's keeping his grades up, though a few of his classes have been a challenge.  He's learning to stay on top of his assignments and take responsibility for communicating with his teachers about questions and concerns.  I haven't figured out yet if the hybrid schedule at Cat and Jack's school is a help or a hindrance to Jack's education.  I think it's great that his classes have fewer than 10 kids when he's on campus, that he has Fridays to work with teachers one-on-one as needed, and that his week is generally easier than it would be otherwise - he's loved having time to read, write, relax, and play with chickens.  But I hate that he doesn't get in-person instruction on his at-home days, and I'm afraid that going back to a normal school schedule, whenever that happens, will be a difficult adjustment.

Jack had a great time running on the cross country team!  He worked hard and pushed himself harder physically than I've ever seen him do before.  He loved his coach and cheered for his teammates and looked forward to each race, though I know he didn't enjoy each moment of each race.

Starting the first race - 9.2.20 in Provo

Looking a little tired midway through the race.

He finished strong!

9.15.20 in Alpine

9.17.20 in Lindon - starting his last home meet

9.17.20 in Lindon
After this he had a race in Provo but Covid restrictions placed the day before
prevented anyone from watching any sporting events, so it was just the team
and the coaches at the last meet of the season.

I used cousin/puppy time as motivation for Jack to get his schoolwork
done by lunch on one of his at-home days and it definitely worked.  Their
school is finished at noon every day so it worked out really well, and he had
so much fun hanging out at their house!

Jack was reading a ton of Percy Jackson books for several weeks
but a friend warned him about some inappropriate content in some
of the later books in the second series so he gave it up cold-turkey.
Now he's spending all of his free time writing the first book in a new series
about Zack Fuller, a tween living a thousand years from now who travels
back to 2020 every day in order to go to a school similar to Jack's, but suddenly
has to follow a series of clues to solve a tragic family mystery and save
the world from certain destruction.  Magic and monsters and action abound!