First Week of School

After six years of homeschooling, my 3rd and 1st grade children have just entered school for the first time following the spring break. The idea first came to me quite suddenly a few weeks ago after years of dreading the decision of where and when to start the kids in school. The way it came like a flash and grew suddenly after spending time in prayer, and the strange peace I felt for no apparent reason is how I came to believe this is God's plan for our family at this time. I loved homeschooling and so it had been very depressing for me whenever contemplating education plans for the future. I put it off and didn't even want to think about it. My husband has been very supportive of my homeschooling the kids, but it has never been a secret to anybody that he did desire to see them attend a traditional school at some point. And both of us were always in agreement that our children would most likely go to public high school. We had previously talked about putting them in school in this fall, but the decision for starting school now was made after we looked at the benefits vs. waiting until fall, primarily the fact that they were accepted to attend the school we were most interested in in our district. If there was crowding or too many transfers for next year, it wouldn't have worked out. Now we will be able to have the kids attend Stafford through 5th grade if we choose. So far, I have been pretty impressed with the school. The teachers and staff seem great, impressive projects on the walls as I walk through, and I love the small class sizes. There were 22 students in Jess's class and 19 in Andrew's.

So, things are going great this week! I think we're getting the routine down. I love having a good routine again; having something that forces me to get up early because I had become so busy/burnt out/undisciplined. I am getting up at 5:15, working out on the treadmill and showering, before the kids get up. Thankfully, the kids have been joyful to get up and get ready in the mornings. I get them up at 6:30 and we leave at 7:30. It takes a 1/2 hour for them to shower, get dressed and hair/teeth brushed, then we have a 1/2 hour for breakfast, devotions ('Obeying God' was this weeks theme), and finishing lunches. This is plenty of time, which allows us to to be leisurely and have time to talk--I have been hearing more stories about school in the mornings. It is so nice to be extra prepared and to have things go so smoothly, which is because I have spent a lot of time cleaning rooms, organizing and making sure we plan ahead the night before with outfits, backpacks and starting lunches. I am already feeling like all the driving is going to get old after awhile, but we have been praying & singing in the mornings (today we sang some old hymns which was fun--the kids know some thanks to my mom and a few from choir), and practicing math facts--and it only takes 10 minutes to get to school, so it is not bad. I just have never liked driving Mountain Rd.--so many curves and bumps that it feels like a roller coaster ride.

I have been coming home from taking the kids to school so motivated to do homemaking projects/jobs again--a feeling that had become almost foreign to me while so inundated with busy homeschooling. In a way, I feel like I'm getting myself back. It is so strange and nice to have a quiet house, and it is like going back in time to when I was just at home with Jessica, before Andrew was born. It is fun to be able to spend one-on-one time w/ Catherine and enjoy her sweetness. I love all her hugs and when she rubs my arm sweetly, smiles and says, "I love you SOOOO much, Mommy." I get Catherine doing something near-by--a little craft, workbook page, coloring--or have her help me in the kitchen. I clean-up from breakfast, unload the dishwasher, prepare what I need to for lunch/dinner or bake something. Catherine takes an early nap--10:30-11--I lay down with her and we read stories. She usually sleeps for over two hours, so I get a lot done.

However, I have to say after school is another story--the kids are excited to tell me about their day and are happy, but then we get home and everything changes. They have been grumpy, arguing, tattling and complaining. I am sure it is because they are extra tired, but it has been driving me crazy with J being gone (traveling to Mexico for work this week). The nice thing is that I just put them to bed early 7-7:30, which would never happen if J was here. I am hoping he will at least be supportive of an 8:00-8:30 bedtime. I really think it is what we all need, but whenever I've tried to set an earlier bedtime in the past, he has always complained that he doesn't get to see his kids as much as he'd like to in the evenings. That was a plus for homeschooling--the kids could stay up as long as they wanted with dad and sleep in in the morning. We're headed into spring and have longer days now, which means J will be coming home and doing work outside until 8 or 9 when it gets dark whenever he can.

Andrew brings home a book to read M, T, & W in a laminated 'Home Reading' envelope--the books say 3 on them, but maybe that is their own system of rating the levels. She also sent home a "word wall"--folder with a large chart for recording their 5 words for the week--sight words. It is to keep at home and she gave instructions for ways to help them practice reading, writing and spelling the words at home. He had small assignments each day using those words. Reading with him each night at home, I've noticed he is already reading better. As far as math goes, he came home the first day and told me with a frown, "All we did for math was shapes!" I tried to get him to explain, but all I got was that she was doing something on the overhead and it was a puzzle. I explained to him that learning about shapes is geometry and it is math. He had been doing double and triple addition and subtraction with regrouping at home, and a little multiplication with Jess--and he loves that, so he thought 'shapes' were preschool-ish. He loves school though. He loves having 4 'PEs' (he said, "Yeah, Mom, one was in the gym and three were outside!" (He thought the three recesses were PE, too.) He made a girl cry--a couple girls have been asking him to race at recess and one cried when Andrew beat her. The way he told it, he seemed to feel a little sorry for her, but that was also mingled with a hint of disconnect (like he doesn't get why girls cry so easy). I had to smile.

Jessica gets a homework packet on Monday and it is due Friday, and was given 'Shiloh' to read, which the class is about finished reading. Next week, they are doing the 3rd grade testing on computers they bring in to the classroom M & T, and they have field trips W & F!It seems like Jessica is very popular already, which I kind of figured would be the case with her confidence & energetic personality. I walked her to her class the first morning and later Jess told me with a laugh that when we walked in she heard kids whispering, "Is that the new girl? She's tall!" When I left, I noticed her face was very red as the teacher was starting class and said she was ready to introduce Jessica--I thought it was cute how red her face got. When I picked her up the first day, a lot of the kids were saying 'bye' to her and one girl was handing Jess a note with her name and number. Then, we were standing and waiting for Andrew's class to come in, and as the 4th & 5th grade classes were walking by, she got a lot of stares. I'm glad she doesn't mind being 'the new girl'--I'm sure she loves the attention. She had a recess story similar to Andrew's--on the first day of school, a boy from her class asked her to play 'bump' at recess (that's the shooting game Jim did with the team at the end of practices), and she beat all of the boys! I thought that made a cool story to tell about the first day of school--like Laura on Little House proving herself by hitting home runs against the boys at recess. Now the boys keep asking her to play, but she tells them no so she can play with the girls from her class. Really though, my only concern with Jessica is that she won't let all that social stuff interfere with her learning (that 'her head won't be in the clouds', so to speak), but that she will be able to focus, work to her potential and be responsible at school.

I feel like I know very little about what they are doing in school, other than what they tell me. I know that is the downfall of coming into school now--we've never done a Kindergarten Round-up, missed 'Back to School' night, the Back-to-School BBQ in the fall, etc. I am thankful the kids do tell me a lot--Jessica is very detailed (where does she get that? :). I am thankful for a couple Christian moms of other kids from the classroom that we know who have been very helpful and welcoming to us at Stafford. Andrew's teacher sent home a packet introducing her, her classroom, and their schedules. I like how organized she is, and the 'traveling folder' makes it easy to communicate and get papers back and forth. She has them get those out on their desk when they come in and she checks what's in them. I am going to set up appointments to check in with the kids' teachers next week and get some feedback--there are no more conferences this year. I am trying not to be an obsessive homeschool mom who can't let the kids go, but I really just wanted to be in their classes this week. As it is, I have only been inside their classrooms that first morning--let me just make that clear. I want to be there not because I'm anxious, worried or critical, but because I'm excited, curious and I love school--always have. I just want to know what they get to do every day.

As another mom first pointed out to me in the midst of this school transition, the process we were going through, and as we continued to find out new, positive aspects of the school/classrooms/teachers, how the change is positively affecting our family and the 360 I somehow did in my mind accompanied by such peace--GOD IS GOOD!