Sunday, September 2, 2012

Here we go

Anna has a few days of kindergarten under her belt, and with the long weekend here I have some time to reflect on it. Honestly, I hadn't given this new beginning much thought until the night before she started. Then the magnitude hit me and I felt a combination of ... trepidation? angst? annoyance? fear? Something negative and nebulous, anyway.

Her meltdowns after the first day didn't calm my fears. I envisioned a future where the fuss wasn't lessened by a day at school, but rather compacted and unwrapped upon the return home. The biggest trigger was that Isaac had watched a TV show while she was gone. Oh, the horror! The unfairness! In fact, the next morning Anna reminded me that Isaac should not watch any TV while she was gone. As it happens, she has watched "shows" each day while at school so Isaac's media habits have not concerned her. [Aside: I'm a little surprised at the quality of some of the programs Anna tells me about. Of course, I'm getting this second hand. And I remind myself that if I were stuck in a room with that many 5 year olds for a whole day, they'd be probably be consuming a lot more media.]

So why my trepidation? Jon couldn't understand why I wasn't jumping for joy. He had a point. It's obvious Anna need a challenge. She's bored and lonely. She wants to learn, but refuses to be taught by her parents.
Yes, but....
First, this is not a school I researched and chose. Primarily, it is not the Colorado school I so lovingly researched and applied for and that she was accepted to. Admittedly, some sour grapes there. But also, this school district didn't hit my radar when we were looking at houses. I didn't consider it an option until the day before we chose the house. It's a relative unknown.
The other negative is that the program is full day. That's a big change for someone accustomed to 2.5 hours of preschool 3 days a week. It also means that we have less flexible time. Honestly, that's probably the crux of it. I'm not ready to hand my daughter over to the school system in such a big way. I still want her with me so we can go out or stay home, bake cookies or take a class, swim or find an orchard. There's so much to do outside the classroom.

The good news is that Anna seems to be enjoying kindergarten. Or at least, not disliking it. It's hard to get a read on things from a 5 year old, but she doesn't complain when we leave the house in the morning. In fact, she gets a kick out of having the same "work" schedule as Daddy. She's also getting some exercise during recess (provided it isn't oppressively hot) and can focus on eating her lunch in the busy cafeteria. I haven't heard about much drama with classmates, and I continue my prayer that she finds a close friend. We also like her teacher, the classroom itself, and the fact that they have specials like gym, art, and music.
What does surprise me is that Anna is not tired after school. I was going to hold off on extra-curriculars until later in the semester, but it seems she needs something sooner than later. She still struggles with going to sleep, so we're going to do something active like swim lessons. Maybe we can dabble in some local exploration, after all.

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