Friday, September 11, 2009

School is...um...cool?


Well we did it! We survived Josh's first week of school! I tell you though, it was both worse and better than I expected.
The first day I dropped him off and for the most part it went fine. He was excited and happy...I held the tears until I got in the car. Sounds successful, right?
Pick up was a bit iffy. To begin with, the whole crazy pick up thing is CRAZY. There are no buses, so every parent is there waiting in line to pick up their child. CRAZY!


When it was finally my turn to get my kid...he was escorted to the car by his teacher... he jumped in and immediately burst into tears. I think he was a bit over tired. He is not generally that emotional. He had forgotten a book he made during Center time AND some little girl tore it and he had to tape it. It is still unclear to me which he was crying about...maybe both!

Anyway, then he says, "...and Momma, we did not learn ANYTHING today...you said I would learn something..." Oy, he has continued to complain about that everyday but at least now he is also adding that all they learned was about school rules...but nothing else! (Which by the way, is not true since he told me all about snakes on the way home today...BUT he wants to learn real stuff like math etc...) I just keep reassuring him that they will learn more as everyone gets used to school.

Which is only sort of true! He is not going to learn what he wants this year, and prob not next year, at school. But we are also continuing to work at home and he is loving that all of a sudden. Sort of a "you do not know what you have until you no longer have it!"


Right now at home we are working on

  • Geography~ North America
  • Science~ Human Body (esp. digestion this week!)
  • History~ Story of the World (what is history/archaeology?)

Think I will add math to please Josh in the next few weeks, once we get a better rhythm in place.

I do want to add that I really like his teacher. I think she "gets" him. She pulled me aside already to talk about how SHE has the same sense of humor as him...hmmm??? And also, that he really is good at reading...uh, yeah...I noticed! I think when we had warned her she thought we were exaggerating.

So, any good advice about keeping him away from germs and mean kids on the playground? (He already has a runny nose and had a time out for pushing a boy who would not stop teasing him.)

Welcome to the world of school!

9 comments:

Stephie C said...

Aww mean kids suck! At least he wants to learn....Gabby is convinced that school is to teach kids how NOT to have fun....sigh it may be a long year this year for us!

Shannon said...

Lots of changes in her life...can not be easy! Maybe things will settle a bit after the move...more space for everyone.

Kylie said...

Sounds like his first week went AOK. I have no advise I'm sorry as I pulled my son out of school after 6 months because of those reasons. I hope it continues to go well for you then.

When are you finding the time to fit in the extra learning you are doing at home? After school or on the weekends?

Kylie said...

oops terrible spelling error there, it irks me when others can't get it right so I am correcting, advise should be advice...sorry LOL!

Shannon said...

Kylie,
He only goes half day, we do work in the morning before school, only for about an hour. We also have family time every evening. Our schedule is...
M- Movie
T- Reading (We pile in my bed and read aloud)
W- Board game/Puzzle
R- Math or Science activity
F- Wii
S- Video Game (only time he is allowed to play)
S- Art

Kylie said...

Well done on your family time....we are trying to transition into that type of routine too.....you guys are awesome parents!

Shannon said...

Not sure how awesome we are but it does help keep our evenings calmer. He is really into pretending and there is only so much pretending I can do, ya know? So if we have an activity planned he is not just begging to pretend with me (or my husband who works long hours). So, it is actually pretty selfish but it definitely works for us. Makes us do something with him but on more of our terms!

aly in va said...

cute pic and glad first week went well. we'll also continue afterschooling in the evenings as time allows but I haven't decided what areas we'll focus on. I would like to do math, but it's so different having all those materials in the class and only paper/home made manipulatives at my access.

Shannon said...

Not getting any afterschooling done this week! Crazy busy with school meetings, appts, and crabby children! On the other hand, Josh is LOVING school. He adores his teacher and is making good friends!