School!

Anyone with older kids will totally laugh at me, but I think it's HARD having kids in school! I love it - I love the routine, I love seeing my kids becoming more independent and confident and learning new things, I love picking them up and hearing about their day... but it is still hard.

Suddenly, our bulletin board looks like this (it was neat and tidy all summer)

Tonight I cleared it off and made things look neat again, but it's still FULL and I know the neatness won't last.

Tonight was curriculum night at the girls' school, and when I got home I had to do my homework

There were forms to fill out, checks to write (always!), things to put on the calendar, flash cards to make, and lots of papers to file away.

I know I will get the hang of it eventually (I have to - some day I'll have four in school at the same time!) but right now it seems a little overwhelming, keeping track of everything. I am so thankful to have both girls in the same school. Next year we will be juggling two schools again, and that's even harder - just trying to remember dates, volunteer enough to not be the worst parent at the school, etc.

But it was fun seeing the kids' classrooms now that their fingerprints are all over it - artwork on the walls, desks full, names on the sticker charts.

And I loved this pledge that all of Amelia's pre-K class signed!

There was also a little goal chart next to it - things they hoped to learn in pre-K. So cute. It was fun to hear about what they do in class, especially since Amelia doesn't tell us much.

Tonight at dinner, she proudly announced, "we learned how to spell red today!" She was beaming. We were all looking at her expectantly, finally I said, "how to do you spell red, Amelia?" and she said, "I forgot." Ha ha!

I didn't get any pictures in Sophia's room, but it is just the happiest, brightest, most cheerful classroom you can imagine. Sophia's teacher is pretty darn cheerful herself! I really love that there is so much positive reinforcement in both classes. In Sophia's class, there is a jar and when the whole class is being good, the teacher puts marbles in the jar - when the jar is all full, the class gets to have a party. Kids get rewarded for good behavior with stickers, and can earn extra stickers by putting their name in the "proud box" - which is when the teacher catches them doing something extra good or helpful. After they get a certain number of stickers, they get to go to the treasure chest (both classrooms do this). I think all kids, but especially this age group, respond so much better to positive reinforcement than punishment.

Sophia starts soccer this week, and Amelia starts dance next week. I am limiting them to one activity each (Sophia is also doing violin at school) this year. I know the next couple of years will be challenging, trying to always find a balance between letting our kids experience new things and be involved and also valuing our family time. I refuse to give up our 6 o'clock family dinners or constantly force the little ones to be shuttled around from activity to activity. I see the kids playing together in the backyard after school, and as I've said before, that is what they should be doing right now. At least some of the time. And as homework and other things encroach, I see it as our responsibility to help guard that sacred time. We'll see how well we manage!

It's going to be a busy, fun year!