First Day

Today is the first day of school for 2 of my boys. The oldest went to 6th grade and the middle guy to Kindergarten. I'm crying inside. I can't believe my baby is in 6th grade and that my 2nd baby is starting Kindergarten. It is a full day of school for him. I'm sure he'll be ok. It's not like he didn't have 2 years at the most awesome preschool! But it was only 3 hours a day 4 days a week. This is going to be a long week.

We had a meet the teacher night last Friday. I was able, with the help of my hubby, to take the oldest to meet his teacher alone, without any distractions from the younger 2. This year they have what they call team teach. It is to help the students prepare for middle school when they will have a different teacher for every subject and switch rooms every hour. Technically he has 2 teachers this year. We met both. I really like the teacher that is NOT his homeroom teacher. But, I had a really great first impression of both of them. This year will be a better year than last year was for him. These teachers will be better than the one he had last year. Here is a little background on last year and the list I emailed to the powers that be in the hopes that they honor my request and try to place him with a teacher with certain attributes. Only time will tell if these teachers fit most of those attributes. I have hope that they will.

I switched kids with the hubby and was able to take my middle guy to go meet his Kndg teacher without the other 2. This did not go well for me. I know what matters most is the teacher. I think she will be a good teacher. She is fresh out of college, her first year teaching. Her first year in this district. My problems lay elsewhere. There are 22 kids in his Kindergarten class. His teacher does not have a teachers assistant. There is no bathroom in their classroom,which most Kndg classrooms in this district have a bathroom in the room. There is also no windows to the outside world. No sky lights, NOTHING. This is rather disturbing to me. Maybe it is just the fact that I deal with SAD every winter. They will have 2 recesses during the day. All of the MANY bathroom breaks will get them out of the room and into the hallways that contain some natural light. The white walls and florescent lights in the room made me feel like I was in some institution. They will also leave the room for lunch and for "specials" which rotates daily between music, art, PE, and library.
Another thing that makes this hard for me is the fact that I had put in for a transfer request for him to go to a different school within the district. Since it was not my "home" school I would have had to drive him to and from, no big deal but with my youngest already needing to be driven to preschool this would make for a minimum 3 round trips a day, 10-15 minutes one way. We also thought that we only had one year left here. Just recently the hubs said we are getting one more year tacked on to make it 2 more years. When I found that out I started thinking that maybe I should just have the middle guy go to the "home" school, esp since next year when the lil guy starts Kndg they would finally be able to go to the same school again. All this to say that he WAS approved to go to a different school that I am sure would have had a smaller class size, windows, and a bathroom! But I revoked my request. So I'm feeling like I made the wrong decision. Friday night I even dreamed about his school. All summer long though my middle guy would tell me that he wants to go to his "home" school. When I let him know school was only 2 weeks away his face lit up and exclaimed" I get to ride the bus?!!!!" It just broke my heart. He wanted to go to this school before ever stepping foot in the building. Even though I held his fate in what choice I made,I hope it was the right one. Right now I feel like I made the wrong one. I'm not seeing any positives, with the exception that generally a fresh out of college teacher is usually a great thing. I know it is the teacher that matters most. That has been my mantra the past couple days.

Now, if you made it through all my babel or even if you scrolled over it you get rewarded with pictures of my 2 school aged kiddos!


He appears short in this picture. He is not short. His head hits my shoulder so that makes him at least 5'7. I'll know for sure come Sept.8th when he has his physical.
He needs to quit slouching! Will you please look at the boats he has on his feet?!Here is my 2 youngest boys. I'm sure you can tell the one that is now a school aged kid!

Boo ha ha! I'm so happy he is mammoth enough to hide his name with his heed!