Kindergarten

Well, we officially have a kindergartner. Rachel started school today. Our school district does a modified year-round schedule, so they go back now when it's scorching hot outside, then they get 3 weeks off in the fall when it's actually nice to be outside, and another 2 or 3 weeks off in the spring. 

Rachel has been vacillating between being excited for kindergarten and being nervous about not knowing people in her class. I've been reminding her of how good she is at making friends, how every time she's at the playground she has a new friend within 2 minutes of arriving. That and the meet the teacher night on Friday helped her not feel so nervous. She really liked Ms. Kirby and made a new friend on the playground in the 5 minutes I let her play before we went back home. 

This morning she was up at 5:45, whereas she usually sleeps until 7:00 or 7:30. The typical first day early riser, just like I always used to be. Of course she had no consideration for her mother and wouldn't even let me take her to school for her first day. She just had to ride the bus.

Of course, that was one of the biggest perks of moving in her mind. Our old house was right next to the elementary school, so she'd be walking. Here at our new house we are just barely far enough away that she gets to ride the bus. So she has been talking about riding the bus for months. 

I'm sure she'll have a blast in kindergarten. She's already gotten almost everything down that the teacher talked about as year-end goals. She's reading like a pro, reading little chapter books. She can recognize numbers and count up to 100 and add. She recognizes which coin is which, but mixes up their values still. So she'll have something to work on this year. Her teacher seemed really good, so I'm hoping she'll do some good enrichment for Rachel, but either way I'm sure Rachel will have a blast, just because she likes being around people and loves school.