First Day of School

Wednesday was the first day of public school for my 5 1/2 year old daughter. Her mother and I drove her to the little elementary school just 3/4 mi. from our house, and walked into the kindergarten class with her. She sat at the desk with her name on it, and while she looked a bit nervous, she quickly warmed up. There were at least four other kids in the class she knew, either from our neighborhood or from dance school or what have you. Total number of kids in her class: 14.

Our district seems to be one of the few left that still have half-day kindergarten, and I'm glad for that. It leaves plenty of time for her to tackle her real job of playing, getting dirty, scraping her knees, and all of those other crucial things.

We're also fortunate to live in this particular part of our town, near this particular elementary school. It may be rather old, but what it lacks in space-age furnishings and smoothie bars and a 3-D planetarium, it makes up for in being a traditional, tight-knit, neighborhood school. Not only does A. know many kids in her class, she knows kids in all other grades at the school because of our particular neighborhood. All the moms in the area know her too, and apparently everyone is discussing how all the neighborhood kids can walk home together, how moms can take shifts in picking everyone up, etc. Kids in our close-knit neighborhood go out to play with no direct parental supervision and everyone is fine with that. All the parents in the area keep an ear and occasional eye on what's going on and everyone looks out for the kids. In this day and age of helicopter parenting, it's an ideal place to give our kids more of a free-range upbringing like what we had growing up, while having some peace of mind too. [In the interest of full disclosure, at their age, we don't yet let our kids run around without us there. 5 and 3 is just too young to go up the street and play with the big kids. But in a couple of years...]

While that was somewhat off-topic concerning the first day of school, it provides some context for what our situation is like. If we're stuck sending our children to public school -- neither private nor home school are possible for us -- it's not a bad place to be. Of course, my biggest concern is the actual teaching that goes on, and I don't have enough information to make a judgment about that yet. On that Wednesday, one teacher took the kids outside to play while the parents sat in little chairs and listened to the teacher discuss what the kids would be learning, how parent-teacher communication would work, and all the little details that go into making a school year. I have since looked up the math and reading programs they teach from, and they generally look OK ("Everyday Math" and "Balanced Literacy" -- if anyone knows anything specific, good or bad, let me know). They'll have science and gym as well, but no recess. Considering their day is only 2.5 hrs, that makes sense to me.

I'm not sure what else to say about it. Was I floored by how amazing the school was? No. But I think it will be fine, and we're certainly going to be supplementing her education at home -- case in point, we need to figure out how to integrate the half-hour American History lectures by Scott Powell into our daily routine. I'm curious how she'll react to them.

Perhaps a good indicator of how things have gone so far was that on Thursday, she was frustrated that she wouldn't have school until the afternoon (after winter break, she'll switch to mornings). And she's annoyed that she has Monday off. I very much hope that school lives up to her expectations and that it can keep up with her, so that she'll always have this optimism and eagerness about it. And we'll be vigilant in our observations, and if that light seems to be dimming -- if the school teaches to the lowest common denominator and starts boring the hell out of her -- we'll quickly take measures to rectify it. But for now, things look good.

I wasn't emotional about this milestone except for feeling pride in who she is, and curiosity about how she'll approach the coming challenges. After the teacher finished our "orientation" and the kids came back in, we left together and A. asked if we could go to lunch, just the three of us. We went to a small Italian place with a deck that looks out over a lake, and A. ordered the broccoli and chicken pasta in a cream sauce. She was surprised at the salad that came with her order (not a normal thing for kid's meals) but dug into it. As we sat there talking about school supplies and what her impressions of the kids, school, and teacher were, I was struck at how grown up she suddenly was.

My strongest impression from her first day was that I was very proud of how my little girl handled it all. She's smart, strong-minded, confident, curious, friendly, and outgoing. She's also gorgeous and a head taller than anyone else in the class. She's a force to be reckoned with, and I hope the world is ready for her. If it isn't, I don't think she'll notice.

Then of course when I got home after work, it was all tickling and giggling and watching silly cartoons before bed, and she was 5 again. What a fun, funny age.