The kids have been in school a little over a week now. Everyone is still adjusting and getting used to the new schedules.
Emilee. It is a big change for her to go to all day kindergarten. The thing she keeps telling me the most is, “It is sooooooo looooong!” She is mentally and physically tired when she gets home. The first few days she came home and immediately laid on the couch and didn’t move for a show or two. Then she started coming home and having to play with her toys right away. I think it is her way of unwinding and processing her new environment. She has always been pretty good playing but it is a very pressing need for her when she comes home. She gets a little anxious at night when she is going to sleep on on the way to school in the morning about going but once she is there she does great. I ate lunch with her last week and she seems to be making friends and having a fun time. Several of her classmates said hi to her and waved when they walked past. She likes taking lunch and getting school lunch. She is growing up. I think I hold on to her a little more than I did the others because she is my last. She seems so young to me still but she is the same age Matthew was and a year older than Allison was when she started kindergarten.
Allison. She seems to have jumped into everything the easiest. This is her fourth year with the same group of kids so she is getting to know them pretty good. She has a young new teacher, which for some reason she has always wanted. Her best friend Carlee is at the new elementary school this year and I was a little worried about that. I asked her who she was playing with at recess and if she had made any friends. In true Alli fashion she told me she had enough friends and played with them at recess when she wanted to. She has been a little more tired than usual but otherwise seems to be doing great. I think this year will be a little more challenging for her which is good. She is smart and I don’t feel like she hasn’t been challenged as much as she could so far in her school. She is in a hurry to grow up so when she feels like she is getting more responsibility she usually does well with that. Having more homework will be more of a challenge for both of us though. She tends to take all evening doing it a little bit at a time which drives me crazy. I need to let her figure it out on her own but it is hard for me to step back sometimes, especially when there isn’t really a consequence at school for it. I think this year will be different.
Matthew. He started 6th grade which is middle school. He changes classes, has a locker, dresses out for PE, and rides the bus. He seemed to be doing fine, and reported that everything was fine, but after about the third day it was pretty evident that he was a little more stressed out then he was letting on. It takes him about 15 minutes to get ready for school in the morning. The bus picks him up in front of our house at 7:07. He was getting up at 6:15, I told him after the first day or two that he could probably sleep in 15 or 20 more minutes if he wanted and he lost it that he would miss the bus. We have been eating breakfast at 6:45 and reading scriptures and he starts panicking that he is going to miss the bus if we aren’t done by 6:55. He has had many meltdowns about…anything and everything. He finally said that he felt really unorganized and didn’t know how to keep track of everything. Once we got that figured out he seemed a little better. He is playing football and baseball on top of school, home, and youth night too. I have told him that we are never doing two sports again because it is to much. I think he will be fine with that though. Football is not as great as he thought it would be (thank goodness!!) he isn’t as aggressive as he needs to be for it. I think in another week or two he will be settled in and have the hang of everything.