First week of school recap

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It is Sunday evening and the kids are in bed. Their backpacks are packed, their uniforms are laid out and they've put in their lunch orders for tomorrow. Week two of school will be starting in the morning, but before that happens, I thought I should give a rundown of how the first week of school went.

Overall, the whole family had a great week. Tyson and Jori were both eager to go to school each morning and got ready without complaint. Darin was able to spend a lot of time working on his new venture (details coming soon, I promise!) and I started feeling like the mom again. Having a schedule and routine seems to be a good thing for all of us.

Other than a year of preschool and Sunday school, this week was Jori's first classroom experience. Her teacher said it's like she's been with the class all year, which was a pleasure to hear. Jori always has a lot of little details to report about her day and she just seems thrilled by every aspect of being in school. It's all so new for her and we love seeing school through her eyes. We can tell that she is full of the "sillies" and are pretty sure she acts a bit goofy to cope with her new surroundings. We have been talking to her about this as we've seen her acting a bit over the top when we pick her up from school. We know it will take time for her to feel at ease and to find some friends that she can settle in and be herself with. In a couple weeks, Jori will be getting a new teacher. Her current teacher will be taking over as principal and the kindergarten teacher, Mrs. M, will be taking over the Grade 1 class.

Tyson is so glad to be back in a classroom. He has always loved school and learning and is happy to be back in that environment. This first week has been full of adjustments for our boy. After a year of home schooling, which was very laid back, he is learning what it means to be part of a class with rules. Learning to sit properly in his seat and raise his hand before he speaks have been two of the skills that Tyson has had to relearn. Tyson's teacher is quite strict (in her own words) and she expects a lot from the kids in her class. Monday and Tuesday were a bit rough for Tyson, but by Wednesday he had really hit his stride and had a better grasp of what was expected of him. Every day he told us how much he likes his teacher and he seems to thrive with structure and discipline, so we feel confident that he is with just the right teacher to meet his needs, even though we know it might be rough at times.

As I mentioned, Darin had a lot of time to meet with different people and I had a chance to take back the role of mom, something that had somehow slipped through my fingers over the past year. I did laundry, made cookies, planned meals, cleaned the house, monitored homework, packed lunches, and did other things that just made me feel the joy of being a mom. We also were able to go to a meeting for Mama Cathrine together, instead of Darin heading off and leaving me behind with the kids. We also spent time with the kids across the road and had one of the 4 year olds over on Tuesday morning.

So far, our venture into school is going well and we look forward to seeing what the next 5 months have in store for us. 

Comments

Lia said…
So good to hear and read your blog - glad school is going well - thanks for always keeping us updated and please know your blog gets read often! we miss SA! Glad you r getting into a routine - feels good doesn't it? continue prayers for you and your family :)
July 22, 2012 at 12:58 PM
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