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Home › Diaries › Anne › August 11, 2006

Anne's Diary Entries

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G's First Day of School

August 11, 2006

G goes to the local public school. We debated about private schools but all the pros and cons kept us local.

Pros/Cons for the public school:

  • The bus stops in front of the house.
  • He's on the bus only 20 minutes in the morning.
  • We were lucky enough to have my good friend's daughter in his class.
  • They changes the cafeteria food and the choices are better/healthier than ever. This county is supposedly one of the best in the state for food choices.
  • We found out G has a great teacher.
  • I subbed last year and was surprised how they integrated the special kids. I believe in it with the exception if the kids are disruptive. One class I taught had 4 special kids in there and all the attention went to them.
  • More ethnic integration.
  • It's free.
  • The bus will take him to daycare and he's only on the bus 10 minutes.
  • More state money is given to the schools so they have better technology.

Pros for catholic school:

  • We won't have to take him CCD classes on Wednesday nights.
  • They can pick and choose their students based on behavior issues or if there is a problem with disruptive kids they can be asked to withdraw.
  • It did cost more money.
  • They do have recess everyday.
  • It's located in the next state and the drive would be a hassle
  • 35 minutes each day. 2 neighbors take their kids their, but it's a long day for anyone. And the bus would pick them up half way but at 6:50 am each morning (before we even wake up).
  • I felt there would be more attention to G since there'd only be 15 in the class.
  • I grew up in Catholic schools and wanted him to go to a Catholic School.

Basically, it's only kindergarten and it looks as if the public school won out. I have no beef against the school yet so there's really no reason to not try it out. I worried last year that because it's in a low-income county that the teachers and education were not priority for the state. But, after subbing, I have more respect for our school system. However, the teachers told me if they had an option, they'd prefer to send their own kids to private school. So, that made me wonder.

But, I decided on the local school. My county, although large, only has one high school. And we are lucky to be close to county seat – no long bus rides for my kids. They are building a brand new elementary school that will be ready next year. It will be about a mile closer to us and it'll be about ¼ mile from the daycare. G's school requires uniforms. So, we bought lots of white, navy and hunter green (non-logo) shirts. We got several pairs of navy and khaki shorts and pants. He got two new pairs of shoes and a few pairs of matching socks. I think we need more socks. We also bought all the supplies which seemed ridiculous. They called for 12 glue sticks and 9 boxes of 8-count crayola crayons and one box of 24-count. At Wal-mart they had the 24-count 5/$1 so I bought 10 boxes of those and sent them in. The 8-count were 88 cents. Whatever! He got a new backpack too.

So, the first day of school was on Friday the 11th – 3 days after the big kids started. I walked up to G's room to watch his new alarm clock go off. It was set for 7am. I walked in and he was already awake. He looked at me and asked what I was doing there since it was still dark. I told him it was time to get up and he asked to where. I told him today was the day for his first day of school. And he said "It really is today?" So, within 2 minutes he was dressed. Ron came up with the video camera and we got pictures.

I made him cinnamon bagels and we got pictures of him posing for breakfast. He kept saying he didn't want to eat for real because he might miss the bus. It was 7:15 and the bus doesn't come until 7:37. So, I told him not to worry. We had been watching the bus for the past few days and timed it. We hear it drive up the street before ours, then it turns onto our street and passes the house and goes to the end of our street, goes around the circle of homes and about 2 minutes later comes back down and stops right at the driveway. So, we have several warnings. We were all ready 10 minutes early and took pictures outside. Then when the bus passed the 1st time we all walked him out to the end of the driveway. He was pretty excited. The bus stopped at the house before ours then ours and he stepped on and never looked back. He was so excited. We watched the bus pull down the street. I felt a little empty, thinking it was time for another child. Poor Owen said "I want G" before the bus was out of sight. He was already lonely and missed his playmate. I started to shed a few tears more for being so excited for him. He has waited for years to ride that bus. We walked back inside; Ron went to work; and Owen and I sat on the couch trying to figure out what to do. I took Owen to daycare after that and came back to do work. I went to get the boys at daycare at 3:45. The director came up to me almost frantic and told me that G didn't get off the bus at 3:10 and thought maybe he got sick at school. Then the bus showed up again 10 minutes later with G. Somehow, they figured out where he belonged. He was wearing a daisy from the school that says his name and bus number but not his drop-off point. Either way everything worked out fine and I know that the school, the kids and the bus driver will always be sure he gets off the bus from here on out. It was kind of funny. The director didn't know why he didn't get off the bus until she was telling me the story and G was there and said he had fallen asleep. I guess he had a big day. The next Monday, he made sure to tell me he didn't fall asleep. It will be something he'll never live down. He is doing fine with school. We've started now after two weeks to have a little homework. He knows just about everything. He likes the variety. He has Spanish 1 day a week. He has music 2 days a week. Library is on Wednesdays. And he has PE on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He doesn't get up quite as perky as did the first few days though. And he doesn't like the school breakfasts like he was hoping. I go ahead and make them both breakfast in the morning. He complained that he only got one sausage one day and that another day they ran out of pancakes. So, worried he wasn't getting fed before school, I've been making sure he gets something at school. If he eats again at school that's fine, but I don't think he is. Lunch has been great. G tells me what he picks (I have a list on the fridge) and he usually picks the healthier of the two choices. They always have two fruit choices and one is usually fresh fruit and the other canned. And they have steamed veggies for their vegetable. On occasion they have smiley fries and tater tots once each month. Today's menu: Turkey and cheese or Fish on bun served with baked beans and baked cheetos. Lettuce and tomato is available for the sandwich if you want and the fruit choice is a banana or applesauce. Not bad. I bet he picked the fish, but he likes cheese and turkey individually, so who knows. Lunch prices are $1.15 a day. I was going to send lunch with him each day until the revamped the school meals. Plus there is a serious peanut allergy this year with a student and they banned all peanuts and peanut butter etc. So, I feel the school is very conscious about it's student's – all this for being a low-income country-like county. I still am interested in the test scores and supposedly in the past few years they have raised so I'm feeling better about it now than when my step-son went to high-school here. They also grow some strong athletes here in the country and the high school goes to state each year in several sports. I must say I'm pleasantly surprised.

Check out my forum: http://www.interact.iparenting.com/boards/forumdisplay.php?f=6603



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