School

The first week of school went well here.  Unless you count the second day where Quinn threw up.  Twice.  So he came home early, but had no fever and seemed fine.  We sent him back the next day and things were less messy.  (I have no idea what that was, but I'm chalking it up to 'transition.')

Aden, Mona, Quinn, first day of school

The first day of school Ian biked there with the girls and I followed along a few minutes later with Quinn in the car because we had at least six bags of supplies to deliver.  We get a list every year from each teacher of a dozen things that includes paper towels and pencils and copy paper.  I don't remember as a kid being responsible for any supplies beyond what I was supposed to use myself, but now basic things like crayons and glue are not available in the regular school budget apparently, so all the families pitch in.  That's fine by me, since my kids attend a public school and their education is essentially free to begin with, but it makes me sad that as a society education is such an underfunded priority.  So many of the good things about a community radiate from having a well educated population, so I'm amazed that schools have to fight for the money needed to do what they do.


In any case, this is the first year that all my kids are in school full day.  It's also the first year that they all have the same teachers they did the year before.  (In Montessori you stay in the same mixed-age classroom for three years at a time, and none of my kids are changing rooms or losing a teacher to retirement or a move.)  It was reassuring to have them go off to their old rooms and know their teachers could pick up with them right where they left off in the spring.  We already know and like all of their teachers, so this was about as smooth a transition into a new school year as we could ask for.

On the drive to school with just Quinn he did tell me he was scared about eating in the lunchroom.  In K3 and K4 he always came home at lunch, so as a full day K5 the lunchroom was new for him.  I promised him it would be fine, and that he might even spot one of his sisters.  I reminded him that with the smaller class in the afternoon he would get to do the best things.  Not only would he get to have more time with his teacher, but the K5s get to go on field trips to places like the pumpkin farm and the different nature centers and it was going to be great.  As it turned out, Mona did say hi to him in the lunchroom, and Quinn seems excited to have his own lunch code to punch in to pay for his meal just like the big kids.  He hasn't mentioned anything about school making him nervous since that first morning.

So we're off to a good start.  Despite the painful change to the 8:00 bedtime after a summer of not looking at the clock, and trying to get everyone organized so we can get out the door in a timely manner, it's going okay.  I wasn't really ready for the new, stricter schedule, but since the weather cooled down this weekend it feels right.  Something about the shorter days and longer sleeves makes buckling down into a more productive routine seem appropriate.  Now as long as nobody throws up anymore, I think we are headed in a good direction.