Peter's First Day of Kindergarten

Well, I'm exhausted.

I mean, the day went well, but I was unable to get back to sleep pretty much after about 2:30 am when I was up giving Lucy a bottle so... yeah, I'm tired.

I was super nervous for today.  For Peter.  For me, with the new job, and all of that.

I'll skip all the stressful stuff on my end, because I'm sure you can imagine how there are glitches with ever roster and schedule and new tasks keep piling up on me and I'm still trying to figure out the balance between being Mrs. The Music Teacher again with being Hey You're Peter's Mom and also... you know being there for A.J. and Lucy too.

THANK GOODNESS Matt is on leave this week too.

Anyway, so Peter was up bright and early just after 6.  That's pretty much time he come bounding out of his bed every morning, so nothing really is new there.  Matt, being off this week, made him an enormous pile of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast.  Peter spent about 350 years eating it.  Then he brushed his teeth and got into his school uniform (OMG) and we went outside to get the typical first day of school photo.

By that time the girls were up and thinking about breakfast too, so Peter told them both goodbye for the day and posed for pictures too.

I swear I never worked with A.J. on her princess-y looking poses, she just has them down all on her own.

And also, her hair.  Yup.  That's how it looked first thing this morning when she rolled out of bed.  That girl just oozes fabulousness I tell you.  Haha.

So, then Peter and I left.  We took Matt's car, so that he wouldn't be stranded at home with the girls, and also, in case I wasn't done working when Peter got out (these first three days are early release) and I needed Matt to come pick him up.  Peter gave me the thumbs up once he was buckled up, showing he was ready to go.

Truth be told.... he couldn't have been more excited.  He as practically vibrating.  

I'm assuming he was excited to get back to school and HIS FRIENDS of course because really, he didn't know the first thing about kindergarten or what to expect.  

So then once we got to school and parked the car (waaaaay up at the top of the hill) we made our way down to my classroom (to drop off my stuff) and then we went and joined the crowd accumulating outside of Peter's classroom.

Naturally, I took another of the typical first day photos and then Peter started finding his friends.

Peter is making a face just like one his Dad makes ALL the time.  Wow.

Then finally his teacher came along and opened up the door to let everybody pile in.  I sort of ambushed her for the photos I wanted....

Because of course, Peter had his apple for her.  Only this year I put it in a paper lunch bag to avoid it getting smashed so we had to get two pictures so you could see what it was.

I don't know why, but when I came up with this whole plan to give first day apples every year I sort of always imagined the teacher sitting at her desk.  Thinking about it now, I sort of don't think it's ever going to happen like that.  Teachers never really sit at their desks anymore....

Anyway.

The kids were filing in and looking for their name tags at their seats.  Us parents were milling about carrying our enormous bags of school supplies, watching our kids and trying very hard not to offer TOO much help to our babies.

Soon enough, Peter found his name.

He got seated right away, checking out the certificate at his seat welcoming him to Kindergarten, the special cookie from his teacher and then got right to work coloring the paper on his desk.

With his left hand, and an orange crayon.  Obviously.

I stood their and watched him for awhile.  He colored and talked to his friends and the other "new" kids at his table group.  I chatted with a few of his friend's parents.  Outside there was an army of parents milling about from the older grades who were doing their morning Flag Ceremony so I couldn't really leave (and go to get busy in my own room prepping lessons) yet Peter CLEARLY didn't need me to stay.

Finally we popped out of his seat to show his teacher that he was done coloring (his picture of a school and a teacher in front of it was now orange.  Except the teacher.  He left the teacher uncolored, but he was clear about having done it ON PURPOSE.)

She doted on his picture for a moment and then told him to give it to me.  I hung it up in my classroom near my desk.

Then everybody decided to leave so I did too.  I stopped in the doorway to snap one more photo.  

Peter is on the far side of the picture, under he windows.  As I took this he was loudly introducing himself to his table mates and actually, by the volume of his voice, all the other kids too.  

Yeah, he didn't need my help at all.

So there you go.

Changes Coming....

Sorry for the hiatus.

I don't mean to be taking it, there's just a lot to do right now to get ready for school to start.

Peter, of course, is going to be in kindergarten.  And, because I know that means different things to different people in different places, he'll be in school full time.  Five days a week, basically 7 hours a day.  It really might be interesting.  He is very smart and did so well last year going 5 half days a week, but I feel like maybe he's forgotten everything over this summer.


A.J. will be in preschool two days a week again.  She wound up in a three year old class last year at her other preschool.  Of course, this year she is moving over to Peter's school and because of how her birthday falls, she'll be in a three year old class again.  It will be fun to see how she goes from being the absolute youngest, to one of the oldest.  I'm thankful she'll have the same wonderful teacher Peter had when he was 3.

Lucy, will be one at the beginning of next month.  Seriously, somebody catch me because I feel light headed just thinking about it.


And of course, I am starting back to work teaching again too.  I'm taking over the vocal (general music) classes for K-8th at our school, three days a week.  A young nanny has been hired to stay with the girls on the days that I am at work.  I have a lot of prep and planning to do, but honestly, right now other than pinning a lot of ideas on pinterest and bookmarking a few zillion websites on my laptop, I haven't gotten very far.  We teachers start next Wednesday and the students start a week after that, but I won't be teaching until the second week, the one after Labor Day so I still have time.

Mostly right now I have been thinking (obsessing) a lot about two things.

1.  What sort of classroom environment do I want to present?

and

2.  How is my working a steady (part time) job again going to affect my children?



Well... about that:


1.  At our school, there has always been a focus on educating children to be strong in FAITH and strong in CHARACTER.  I think, with our new Priest coming on board this year, the school wide mantra may have changed a bit, but in any case our school aims to create WHOLE people.  We want the students to be well rounded in their educational experiences.  All this with their faith in Jesus Christ as their guide.

Look.  I realize in this day and age, music is kind of seen as unimportant fluff.  Many of those who do see its value tend to focus on how learning music will benefit students in term of their other academic subjects.  And, while there certainly IS value and truth in this.... I say, what about learning music for the sake of the arts?

Everywhere you go on this planet, people create art and music.  It's part of their need for self expression. It's part of our cultures.  It's a part of religious traditions (and it is CERTAINLY very important to the Catholic faith.)  It's part of human nature, the need to express oneself.  Regardless of whether the public school and budget cuts seem to have pushed that aside.

Since our school is educating Catholic students, OF COURSE my music classes will teach students the value and importance of music as a part of our faith.  But also, we will focus on how having music in our lives makes us WHOLE, well rounded people.

I don't expect every student to be a gifted musician.  But I do expect every student to be respectful of what we do in class and put forth their best effort.  Do not tell me you "can't" sing (or play,) it is my job to teach you how.  Everyone CAN sing, if they try.  We may not all be able to sound like Whitney Houston, but we all can be taught to match pitch and properly produce sound with our singing voices.

I have been warned, already, by some, that many of the students and even some of the parents will likely disagree with me on this.   The principal has already given me permission to give letter grades, and I can assure you all that these will be almost entirely based on effort.  Students who don't try will be penalized and when I hear from their parents about it, I will happily remind them of the mission of our school.

One of the main reasons I have my children in this school... after the fact that it includes our religion in their education, is that it offers a "whole" education.  We have physical education, art, and music for every student starting in Kindergarten.  That is blessing!  This is what makes our school exceptional.  (This is what we pay all the tuition money for!!!)

I just almost can't wait until I hear from a student or parent who feels my class in unimportant and doesn't matter.  I know of a whole BUNCH of public schools near by where perhaps they would be more happy.

Heck.  Soon, maybe they will even have a standardized test to prove it.



2.  I'm not going to lie.  The fact that I am going back to work, even part time, worries me.  In particular, I wonder how it will affect my girls who will be home, with a Nanny, BUT WITHOUT ME, on the days that I am teaching.  (Peter will be at school with me.  Goodness I can't wait to see how he behaves when he is a student IN his Mommy's class!)

A.J. already seems to suffer from this overwhelming need to seek out attention, even though she confusingly also flat out refuses to care what other people think.  I worry that she will feel sad that I left her when I did not leave her brother at her age.  I worry that she will think I am punishing her or that she will act out because of this change.  And actually, I also kind of worry that she will be happier when I am gone.

Lucy, on the other hand, is still a baby.  She only has about 3 words (Dada, A.J. and YES!) and she doesn't walk yet (although she sure is trying.)  I worry that I'll miss her remaining milestones.  The "ones" arguably, are the funnest part of raising a child up to age five. At this age, kids are suddenly less needy, they are mobile and every day they seem to say or discover something new.  I worry that she'll miss me and it will create problems for her developmentally.  I worry that she will bond more closely with the Nanny than with me. I worry that she will figure out (eventually) that I left her to go to work even though I was home with her older siblings when they were her age.

But, I also know that financially, I need to start contributing again.  And the fact that I can do it part time, while still being so close to home at my kids' school, working in my actual career field, teaching what I love... that is just too good to be true.

And I also realize that I'm not super mom.  I fail my kids every single day with the mistakes I make.  In a lot of ways, maybe my hiring help while I go to work, is just thing my kids need.  What I need.  Maybe when I'm not playing Mommy 100% of the time I will be able to cherish the job more fully again.  Have more patience.  Yell less.

Actually, come to think of it, the one thing I know for sure is that OVER ALL, my goal in regards to my returning to work is that it DOES NOT change the over all type of childhood my kids are having.

I worry that I will be stretched too thin and be too tired and and I won't be able to do it all anymore.

Then again, I feel that way a lot of the time now anyway.

And the extra money sure might take some of the stress and pressure off.

So there.

Our life will be different of course, but with Peter in school full time it was going to be changing anyway.

Our life will go on.

At the heart of it all, Matt and I will still strive to teach our children to behave, be kind and be GOOD people who love Jesus, know that they are loved and feel safe and secure with their place in this world.