When we finally arrived home with the boy he was one month shy of 2 years old. ?I missed out on 2 years of his life. ?I knew that would be the case going into the whole thing. ?We made the best of it. ?Instead of a first birthday we celebrated a first gotcha day. ?Instead of first steps we celebrated the first step on US soil (although none of us remember it, the photos tell us it happened). ?We missed out on 2 whole years.
Missing out on those years meant that the boy was 2 years closer to going to kindergarten when we got him home. ?He doesn’t start kindergarten until he’s almost 6 and we will celebrate our 4th gotcha day right before he goes to kindergarten. ?It doesn’t seem like it’s been 4 years. ?It does seem like it’s too soon for him to be going to “big kid” school.
Monday afternoon we went to the boy’s new school to register him for kindergarten. ?He was nervous. ?We had talked for 2 days about it and on the way home from preschool we talked about how visiting the new school would be an adventure and we would do it together. ?He seemed excited. ?The trusty husband also asked if we wanted him to go with us. ?I figured it couldn’t hurt. ?The boy knew what we were going to do that afternoon and ate his lunch slower than I’ve ever seen him eat any meal. ?He was totally stalling. ?Trouble was, it was encroaching on 1:00 and registration closed at 2:00.
We finally got the school, checked in and were sent to the library to fill out nearly as may forms as it took to adopt the child. ?The principal walked by and introduced himself and we talked about the boy visiting during school hours so he could get to see a classroom setting. ?He was very agreeable to that and seemed like a very nice guy.
I got to the immunization page of the forms and had to laugh. ?I just handed the lady the immunization records and the form and she filled most of it out. ?The boy’s immunization history is a little more extensive than most children’s. ?She said the nurse has a program that she inputs all of the dates into and it tells her if he needs any additional ones before school starts. ?That’s a good thing since I can’t make heads or tails of what he’s had done.
While I was filling out paperwork the lady registering children took the boy to the rock wall the school has. ?He had the chance to see the library and actually used the potty. ?It was a positive experience for him. ?This is good.
When we got home I took a minute to read the information packet included in the folder that had all of the forms. ?Included was a sheet that said what the basic 1/2 day kindergarten curriculum was. ?I read the list to the trust husband and his response was, “he’s going to be bored isn’t he?” ?Probably. ?Most of what they will be teaching is stuff that he has already learned in preschool or we’ve taught him at home. ?This doesn’t mean I’m not going to stop teaching him. ?We’ll use the upcoming school year as a way to transition him into “big kid” school. ?He will get used to the building, the schedule of school and his general surroundings.
I’m not regretting my choice for 1/2 day kindergarten. ?Especially when I saw how large the school was and how small my baby still is. ?How can this little boy that I just brought home 3 1/2 years ago be going to kindergarten already. ?I’m not ready for him to grow up so fast. ?I must say, he’s a pretty awesome 5 year old.
Kids learn and deal with so much more at school than just academics. The transition from morning preschool to full day kindergarten was pretty traumatic for my daughter because of all the new people, rules, and kids. It may really help your son out that he already knows the material, so he can feel more relaxed as he navigates the social and other dynamics of his new situation.
Trust me he won’t be bored. Our Jack is in half day kindy this year, he walked in the door reading chapter books and able to do three digit addtion in his head. He still loves school and never complains that he’s bored, he loves the art, the computer class, the library and all the social time. He was wiped out at the end of every day at the beginning so we’re glad we stuck with half day, plus he needs time with the Mom. He’s moving forward with school well equipped to ddeal with anything that happens, both academically and socially and that’s what kindy is all about.
You have made the right choice!
Boy, do I hear you. We have kindergarten registration for our two at the end of this month. I feel like we just arrived home with them from Kazakhstan. I am amazed that they are 5 and will soon be riding the bus. Yikes! They’re definitely ready but I don’t think that I am.