Public School

The cat is now out of the bag, my friends. I have officially sent my kids to public school this year. Their backpacks are filled, their lunchboxes stuffed, their hearts are all a-quiver with anticipation.

Or is that my heart?

These two girls started out the day super excited. We drove them to school and walked them into their classrooms. Even Seth came home from the fire department to join us.


We had our classic photo shoot on the front steps...



Noodle, 4th grade



Noodle, 4th grade





Hopers, Kindergarten



Hopers, Kindergarten



What did I do while they were away?  Everything!!  Anything!!  I went for a run with a friend, washed and put away five loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen, edited photos, paid bills, watered the garden, pet the dog, took a shower, and wrote a blog post.

By 3:30 it was time to pick them up again.  Whoah, that went fast.

The girls hopped in the van and Noodle instantly burst into a flood of tears trying to tell me about her day.  Everything was scary and new and she felt like she didn't know what to do all of the time.  She didn't like being called "the new girl."  She didn't know where to go to wait for parent pick-up time.  She didn't know her snack was in her lunch bag. She didn't know some of the questions on the computer test in the media center. She felt like everyone was faster than her at writing their assignments into their planners.

I completely empathized with her.  I had to go to a new school in 4th grade. It was difficult and scary for the first week.  We talked for a while about that and I finally discovered there were some bright moments to her day also.  They wrote poems and traded them.  The one she got to read aloud was funny and made everyone laugh.  She got to check out a book at the media center. She didn't have to do any math or science today (which was fine with her) but she discovered the teacher who would be teaching her those subjects was really nice and fun, and was playing kickball with the students during recess.

After 20 minutes of Noodle dominating the car ride, I gave Hopers a chance to speak.  "What did you do today, Hopers?"

"We didn't have time to do a craft."

"Did you play on the playground?"

"Yep!"

"Did you make a new friend?"

"Yeah, but I don't remember her name."

"Do you like school?"

"Yep!"

"Did you learn anything?"

"Ummm....."

And that was the gist of Hopers conversation.  After that, Noodle needed some more talk time.  Ah, the joys of children.  I bought them each a lollipop at the store on the terms that there would be no crying tomorrow.

I'll let you know how that goes.