Today was Edie's first day at school. 6:15am she woke up bright and early and asked, "Mom, is this really my first day of school?" "Yes," I replied through a sleepy daze. "Well then, why are you still sleeping? Let's get going!"
She was very quick to get dressed and cleaned up. She grabbed her "sling" [backpack that she calls a sling] and got in the car and put her own seatbelt on for the first time in her life. I wanted to take pictures, but she was too excited to get there to have to wait and have mom mess around with pictures.
While waiting in line in the school yard for the 7:55am bell, Edie's best friend got behind us. The two of them were so excited, telling each other all about their backpacks and all the other cool stuff they got for school.
Once we got into the classroom, I choked up a couple of times. I wondered if it was just me or if I was picking up on the intensity of the other 24 parents emotions in the room.
They had the kids sit down and color a picture to get them settled while the teachers talked to the parents about some basic classroom stuff and take roll call.
Like a trooper... Edie decided to go against the grain strait out of the gate. She exclaimed, "I don't feel like coloring!" And she weaved her way through the maze of parents and began playing with the toys. Although I was impressed with her fortitude, I was also a bit distressed thinking this coud be her undoing with the teachers. Being a bit bigger than her, it took me a moment to squeeze through the people and get to where she was happily playing. I empathized with her, agreeing that playing IS more fun than sitting and coloring, however, in school we have only limited options, and right now her only option was to sit down and color or sit down and not color, but either way she needed to be in her seat. Shortly after sitting down again she remembered that Taylor (her best friend) is sitting right behind her, so she turned around to talk to her. When the teacher called out her name for roll call and to determine who was eating hot or cold lunch, with her voice loud and clear she says, "HOT LUNCH!" A father behind me whispers to his wife, "She really belted that out." He sounded impressed.
Meanwhile, all the other kids were sitting peacefully in their seats coloring their pictures... like good little sheep. And softly in shy little voices saying, "hot lunch" "cold lunch" with many requests for repeats from the teacher taking roll.
This morning I was thinking, "This should prove to be an interesting day for her."
So as the day turned out, I helped out in the cafeteria during lunch. They have that system down solid. The spanish teacher helped the kids with milk, the lunch lady gave them the main meal, and I helped them with sides (fruit, cheese, spoons), the assistant director (similar to vice principal in regular public schools) directed them where to sit, and the director (principal) made sure everyone had enough to eat. All in all, the whole lunch from beginning to end took 1 hour and 15 minutes... grades K-8, about 300 students. Crazy!
Edie said she got a kick out of me being there helping out at the school. It made her feel like I was part of it somehow. When I picked her up at 3:15pm, she acted like she had not seen me in a million years. She ran up to me and hugged me for the next 10 minutes, kissing me repeatedly. She said her first day of school was "AWESOME!"
She did admit to causing some trouble during quiet time... imagine that.
She will be hanging out with me at my office for the last hour and a half everyday so she can unwind instead of going to an afterschool program. Today she was so exhausted that she got a bit wired. But by the time we got home, ate dinner, read one book, she could not get into bed fast enough. 7:15pm, she was out cold.
My preference was to be able to homeschool her. I know I would not be the best homeschool teacher for the tougher subjects like reading and writing, although I would kick ass at science and math. I keep telling myself that even though this is not home-schooling, charter schools were formed out of the home-schooling concept, so it is the next best thing... right??? [Unfortunately they have been taken over by the public school system and follow the same curriculum and "No Child Left Behind" thank you baby-boy-bush.] This particular school produces some pretty brilliant children and has the highest academic scoring in Adams County.
I think she had a great day.
