First day at Jabulane

The first day of school has come and gone. This morning the kids were up early, eager for the school day to begin. We all cuddled in bed for a while, and then it was time to get cracking. Since moving to South Africa over a year ago, we’ve been living a pretty freestyle kind of life, so it was strange waking up and having a list of things to do and a time limit to have everything accomplished. Darin was on breakfast duty while I packed each kid a lunch. After eating and brushing their teeth it was time to put on their school uniforms. Here’s a pic we took the night before school started:

 We planned to get to school a bit early so the kids could meet their teachers and get settled in a bit. Jori’s teacher, Mr. Mahlangu, greeted her with a big hug. He invited her to go with him to put her things away and with one glance at us, she took his hand and disappeared into the room. Tyson’s teacher, Ms. De Clerq, was waiting for him to arrive as well. She showed him where to put his things, called another child over to show Tyson around, and then away he went to the playground, without even a hug goodbye : ( Jori came to Tyson’s room shortly after he left and gave us both huge bear hugs, but then she took the principal’s hand and went to the playground too. We did take a few minutes to “spy” on the kids. Tyson was off pushing the merry-go-round full of kids and Jori was standing next to the teacher who was on duty, while a crowd of kids formed around her.

The day seemed to last FOREVER. Darin had a meeting this morning, so he dropped me back at the house and took off, leaving me and Amos and a very quiet house. The quiet was nice at first, then it made me sad, then it was nice again. I cleaned the house, read, and picked out recipes for some baking I want to do soon. Darin came back around 1, and then we had to wait until almost 2 to leave and get the kids. I was so eager to just get to them and see how their first day went.

We arrived at school a little before 2. We could tell that school was wrapping up for the day. There were shoes lined up next to each door and kids were coming out to claim them. Jori was out of her classroom before Tyson and even had some time to chase a few boys. I went over to Tyson’s classroom and had a nice chat with his teacher. She let me know what homework he had to do and filled me in on how his first day went.

Here is a little interview I did once the kids had a chance to run around at home:

How was your first day of school?

J- Fun

T- Good and not fun a little bit.

What was the best thing about your day?

J- Break and lunch

T- Music.

Who is your teacher?

J- Mr. Mahlangu. He is cool and fun and nice.

T- Ms. De Clerq. She is nice.

Was there a worst thing about your day?

J- No

T- Moving the peg (discipline)

Are you excited to go back tomorrow?

J- Yep. I’m very excited to go back to school tomorrow. It was really fun.

T- Not really, but I hope I don’t have as much homework.

We all learned a few things after the first day of school. We learned that we need to pack a lot more food in Tyson’s lunch bag. The poor kid was so hungry when we picked him up, which added to the tiredness he was feeling. Tyson has learned that being in 2^nd grade means there is a lot more homework that you have to do. Both kids learned (and will continue to learn) that being in a classroom with a lot of kids is a lot different than just being with your mom and sibling for home school; there are a lot more rules to follow and a lot less freedom. On the other hand, there are a lot of friends to be made, and special things like music, recess and cupcakes to celebrate a classmate’s birthday.

In spite of the adjustments that we all need to make, both kids went to bed with big smiles on their face, ready for a new school day to begin tomorrow.