The First Day of School

Peyton and Karsten had their first day of school yesterday.  The are starting the brand new school in the neighborhood where we are building our house.  So, this was a first for both of them.  Karsten had been playing it pretty cool until a few weeks ago when he came into my room and announced that he wanted to be home schooled.  Home schooled???  I didn't even know he knew what that meant.  I asked him why and he said that kindergarten was going to be boring.  That was my first clue that maybe he was just a little bit nervous.  Peyton was great and walked right in telling him how much fun he was going to have and meet lots of great friends and learn lots of cool stuff.  He seemed to buy it and from then on seemed really excited about school. 

We met their teachers the Friday before school started.  For this being a brand new school and all the teachers just getting to know each other, it was very well organized.  Peyton's teacher seems very nice.  She is young and, again, seems really well organized.  Can you tell that I am so impressed with organization since we didn't have that in her class last year at all?  Peyton seems to adjust to things better when she knows what to expect and things are laid out clearly for her.  So, Peyton seems to really like her a lot.  I have also heard from other parents that knew her from her previous school that she is a very good teacher.  I think she will have a great year.

Karsten's teacher has been teaching in pre-K for the past 2 years, but has 12 years of teaching experience in California in kinder/first/second grade.  She has a 4 year old and a 7 year old, so she really knows about this age.  She really acts like a pre-K teacher with playdough and blocks on the kids desk when they got there Monday morning and took pictures of all the kids with their parents at drop off.  It was really cute.  When I picked him up, she quietly mouthed to me that he was amazing and so calm and she was so lucky to have him in her class.  He was so tired that afternoon and actually asked if it was too late in the day to take a nap.  Shortly before dinner, when we were playing Legos, he said "I think I really like my school."  Today, he got a star award for being a good helper and came home with a little certificate.  He said 2 kids got one yesterday and 2 got one today.  I am so proud of him for starting the year off right and being such a brave little kindergartner.