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I can’t tell you how happy I am to be able to say that Maya loves school. Given her propensity to shyness and her antics last winter when I tried to send her into her gymnastics class alone, I was really worried that it would take her some time, perhaps even a lot of time, to adjust to going to school. Deep down I knew she would love it once she got adjusted, but I didn’t know what to expect from her at first.
We are in week number 3 of the school year and Maya is just in love with going to school. When she gets up in the morning she always asks if she “gets to go to school this day?” 
Other than a few tears, that according to her teacher only lasted a couple of minutes, on her first day of school drop off has been a breeze. Thursday when I dropped her off she barely said goodbye before running into her class room. It is going better than I even could have hoped. I never imagined that on her 3rd day of school she’d already be at the running into class with barely a look back stage, I love it.
She is getting so much out of it too. Every Tuesday and Thursday when I pick her up from school at lunchtime she is full of stories about all the things she did in class that day. She sings the songs they have been learning in class all day long. She talks about her new little friends and all the things they played with. She adores her teachers. She is so proud of her little art projects at the end of the day. Not to mention that she is constantly playing school at home now too, either with Lorne and I or her dolls as her “students”.
The smiles on her face when I drop her off and the bigger smiles on her face when I pick her up just melt my heart.
Today was a big day for Maya, it was her first day of preschool.
She has been filled with excitement and nerves about the whole idea of starting school for weeks. Most days she went back and forth between liking the idea of starting school and kind of wanting to go and saying she didn’t like school and just wanted to stay home with me. We spent a lot of time talking about what she could expect and really talking up how much fun she would have. As the big day drew closer we took her out to pick out a first day of school outfit and a new backpack. It all helped to increase the excitement and decrease the nerves.
This morning at drop off I could sense her nerves and was a bit worried about how the drop off would go. She cried, as I expected, but I stayed positive and said my good byes. Her teacher did a great job of diverting her attention and I walked out the door. When I went back to pick her up a few hours later she was all smiles and full of stories about what she did. Ms. Melinda said she stopped crying pretty much right after I left and had a great day.
I’m so proud of her. Her first day of school was a huge success and she can’t wait to go back and do it all over again next week.
This month, around our house, is going to be all about routine change. In less than three weeks Maya starts preschool (still can’t quite believe it). With the start of preschool comes the need for a few bad habits to be changed around here and the need for a new quick, manageable morning routine that will allow us to get out the door in time for school drop off.
When I signed Maya up for preschool last fall she was definitely a morning person. She was consistently waking up between 6:30am and 7:00am every morning. The morning was her most cheerful time and she was still napping most days in the afternoon. So, given what our routine at the time was I figured morning preschool would be the best for her. When we found out, in May, about our Tuesday/Thursday morning spot opening up for the new school year I started to regret my decision to go with mornings, but it was too late. A lot has changed in our lives and in Maya routine since last fall when I first added her to the wait list. She no longer gets up as early. Some mornings she sleeps until 8am or so and it takes her forever to get going in the morning. Plus, she is no longer napping in the afternoons. Not to mention, of course, I now have a newborn to get ready to go in the morning too. But, since no afternoon spots were available, we’re just going to have to make it work. I foresee some crazy frantic mornings in our future while we adjust.
In order to control the chaos that will be the first few weeks of school as we adjust to the new schedule I am implementing a few routine changes around here over the next few weeks.
The first big change is how and where we eat breakfast. Maya has never been a fan of eating as soon as she gets up, she would rather play for a bit. And, we have developed this nasty habit of eating in the family room so she can play/watch television while she eats. I admit this is totally my fault, I should never have started this bad habit in the first place. It was just easy because it allowed her to eat breakfast at her own pace and play at the same time. However, now we won’t have time for that on school days. So, we are starting a new routine of eating breakfast as soon as we get up at the dining room table. This morning was our first go and it went pretty well. She only ate about half her breakfast before claiming she was full and getting down to go play. It didn’t take long before she was hungry and asking for snacks though. It’ll get better I’m sure. Hopefully, by the time August 18th rolls around she’ll be eating all her breakfast, quickly, at the table every morning.
Next week our big routine adjustment is going to be wake up time. Lorne gets up every morning around 6:00am (ish) to get ready for work. My plan is to get up at the same time and shower and then wake Maya up around 6:30am to get our day started. I want to make sure we have plenty of time in the mornings so that we aren’t too rushed. At first I’ll make her do this every day so she gets used to it. Over time, as she adjusts to the school days schedule, I’ll let her return to waking on her own on non-school days.
The wrench in all of this, the unknown, is Anna and when she is going to want to eat. But, we’ll just have to take that as it comes and hopefully I’ll be able to get her into a good routine that works around Maya’s school schedule.
It’ll all work out, I just have to keep telling myself that.
Who knew that enrolling your child in preschool required practically as much paperwork as buying a house!
Maya will be starting preschool in August when the new school year begins. The school district we live in has an amazing preschool program and we had her added to the wait list last fall for the half day program hoping for 2 or 3 days a week. While we were in Australia we got the call that a spot had opened up for her in the new school year. After a little interesting phone tag across very different time zones and finally an email exchange I was able to secure her spot in a two day a week half day program. The assistant principle said they would mail the paperwork to our house and set the due date for 2 after my return to the US so I didn’t have to worry about it until I got back.
I returned home to a mountain of mail, one of which being a very thick envelope from the school district that I knew contained the enrollment paperwork. I figured it was a few forms and the handbook. It never dawned on me that majority of the thickness of the envelope was the paperwork I would need to fill out and the handbook took up a mere 10 pages. The amount of paperwork I have had to complete the last couple of weeks just to get my daughter enrolled in a preschool program is seriously ridiculous. I feel like I’m signing over my life, similar to how I felt when I was filling out paperwork to buy our house! I’ve been buried in a mountain of preschool enrollment paperwork for 2 weeks now and finally dug myself out. After much running around to get the necessary documentation to prove I live where I said I lived and to get all the medical forms (4 of them) completed by Maya’s pediatrician, and lots and lots of time spent sitting at our desk filling out form after form and signing permission slip after permission slip I am finally done.
Today I had a meeting with the assistant principle to drop off my mountain of paperwork, get a tour of the school and talk about our expectation for next year. Can I just say I love this school. The preschool is currently in summer classes and camps mode. It was nice to get to see some of the teachers in action and see how comfortable the kids are in the environment and how much there is for them to do. The school is adorable but also very well stocked in the necessities of early childhood learning, including some pretty fantastic tech gear like an interactive activity station that allows kids to use their bodies and movements to learn things like reading and math skills. The program seems to offer everything I was hoping for.
I’m excited for Maya to start preschool. She is definitely ready for this next big step in her life. The program is very child led so her learning will be broad and based on what she is ready to learn and wants to learn while being guided by the teacher. I can’t wait to see how she changes and grows from the program. That being said it seriously freaks me out that my baby is already old enough to be in school. Who told her she could grow up so quickly!
It is preschool decision time at our house. The plan is to have Maya to start preschool next fall. Since her birthday is in November she will be almost 6 when she starts kindergarten so by starting her in preschool next fall, when she is almost 4, that will give her 2 full years of preschool before she starts kindergarten. Most of the preschools in our area have pretty long waiting lists so we need to get cracking on deciding which one(s) to get her name on. There are too many options, I don’t know what to do.
I heard that our school district had a booklet of the area preschools so I called them up and had them mail me one. Would you believe there are 21 preschools within 5 miles of us, 21! How am I supposed to choose between 21 preschools? Top on our list is the preschool run through our school district, it comes highly rated and I like the idea that she’ll be starting out with the same teaching/education philosophy that she’ll encounter once she starts kindergarten. However, I’m also really interested in the Montessori approach but I don’t know a lot about it other than what I’ve read. Hmm, decisions, decisions.
Our first step is to narrow it down to a 2 or 3 schools and then schedule tours so we can base our final decision on what we think of the teaching philosophy, the environment, the facilities and the teaching/administrative staff. However, getting to that point is tough.
Here is where you guys come in. Since this is my first go around with preschool I’m afraid of over looking something, not asking the right questions, etc. So, I’m turning to you guys for guidance. Do you prefer traditional or Montessori preschools and why? What do you love most about the preschool your child is going/went to? What questions do you think are most important to ask a prospective preschool? I need your help!