First Day of School

It’s an odd time of year for the first day of school, but today was the first day of school here on several fronts, each of which we are proud.  

First, it was the first day of school at our newly-constructed school.   It has been, I think, a nine-year process to get from original plans for our children’s school to buy and/or build their own school until today, the final opening day.

Many opportunities were evaluated and over the course of seven years, no decision was made because nothing was quite right.   The day I joined the board of Trustees was the day two final proposals were given to the board and a vote was agonized over and our current site was finally (a week later) selected.

There were multiple delays from our original opening date, the details of which are long, complicated, frustrating and out of our control for much of the time.   The school’s staff, trustees and many other people did so very much to get us to today, our first day of school.

My two children had an hour’s orientation yesterday to see where their new classrooms were.   Today, I assisted during morning drop off and I was very happy to see so many children who knew just where to go to find their new classrooms.

It’s another “first day of school” for my son today because he starts what is the Montessori equivalent of Kindergarten.   Prior to now he’s been in school until noon and after noon he goes to an after school room for lunch, activities, rest and outdoor time.   As of today, he is in something called “Extended Day”.  

Becoming an, “Extended-dayer” is a big deal for Montessori children.   They continue in their main classroom with the five- and six-year-olds after the younger students have left.   They each lunch together and then do another work cycle in the afternoon.   There are field trips and a lot more education during the day than he had in his half-day class before now.

As a trustee, I am very pleased to see the new school finally open.   As a parent, I was very proud of my two children as they walked off to their classrooms this morning, happy to be returning to school to see their friends they’d missed over the long holiday.

The Big Boy Update:  My son was telling me a story on the way to dinner after Tai Kwon Do tonight.   He said, “I can be inside your brain right now.   All objects, everything, are mine.”    I told him he had some serious super powers.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Right form vision?   Well, we don’t really know, but we think my daughter may have some small amount of form vision in her right eye.   Being able to test for this without causing her extreme anxiety has been tough, but she’s gotten less scared recently.   We patched her left eye tonight and turned all the lights on around the house.   We asked her to find some things like the fireplace, the sofa, chair, Scout (the green dog) on the floor.   She was able to do so.    This is tricky though, because she remembers how the room is laid out.    She is bad though at rotation amounts, so when she rotated until she found the chair ahead, I think that may have been real.   When she saw Scout on the floor in the corner, that might also have been valid.     I did another test, telling her to find me in the foyer.   She went to the back door—on her scooter, with socks on her hands—to open the door for the dog who wanted in.   Then, she ran into something and fell down.  After that, it looked like she was feeling for walls and furniture and not trying (or perhaps she was trying too hard.)   So we’re not completely sure things are improving, but it’s been less than a month since surgery so we’re taking this potential progress as a good sign.