kindergarten round-up

Thank you for your comments on my last post.

Although everyone says this about blogging, it's never more true for me than when I post a cry for help. It is SO HELPFUL to know that I am not alone. And I was paging back through old posts and found this from August 24th of last year, so I do believe that it's an End of the Summer Syndrome.

I had Laundry Dad being me home a bottle of wine last night and while we were trying to get it opened, the cork disintegrated. Into cork dust, so tiny I couldn't strain the particulate out of it. Even with my coffee filter.

It was a sad, sad moment.

But then my friend, Julie called and invited me over for a drink. So that was even better.

So on to my post for today:

School starts on Tuesday.

Although, like last year, the first two days of school are actually sort of tortuous. Mid-day dismissal at one school both days. At the other school, an hour the first day, and regular schedule the second day, which leaves me dropping off one kid at 11:30 and picking up the other 3 at 12:30.

We're calling Wednesday Shout's official first day of kindergarten. That's the day that she brings her lunch and I actually leave her there.

I always used to say, I was going to do a cartwheel outside the school on her first day of kindergarten.

But that was when I thought she'd be going to kindergarten all day. At the same school as everyone else.

So I probably won't be cartwheeling. Not to mention, I'd probably break something if I tried.

It's her first day of kindergarten, but not the first day I expected. And it may not be her ONLY first day of kindergarten.

Something she seems to be handling perfectly in stride.

When someone asks her if she's going to kindergarten she says "Yes. And NEXT YEAR, if I'm ready for first grade, I'll go to first grade. And if I'm still doing kindergarten stuff, I'll go to ANOTHER kindergarten."

I hate that she feels the need to qualify it, but she obviously doesn't care.

So maybe this WILL be her ONLY first day of kindergarten. In which case, I need to make it as BIG A DEAL as with my other kids. Even though she doesn't need to bring in bags and bags of supplies. And even though it's only a half day. And she's not wearing a uniform. And it's at the preschool where she's gone for the past 2 years. It feels a little anti-climactic. To me. But not to her.

So we will be making it a BIG. FREAKING. DEAL. Even if we have to do it all over again next year. Because, what if we don't?

She has come a LONG way in the past year. I can only imagine where she will be at this time next year.

Last year at this time, she couldn't even count to four. FOUR. It killed me. She WAS four and couldn't even count that high.

Now, she can count to 10. (And sometimes after that, she even says "one-dy-one" for eleven. Which is the cutest thing ON EARTH.)

10 might not seem like a lot for a 5 year old, but in one year, she went from counting to THREE to counting to TEN.

That's progress, people!

She also has made HUGE strides on her ABCs. I have no idea why that is so hard for her, when many 18-month olds can sing most of them. But she has been trying and trying and getting frustrated for years.

And then, suddenly, a few weeks ago, she started getting it.

She can't make it from A to Z without a little help, but BY GOD, one day, this girl will be able to alphabetize with the best of them.

(She can sing several Lady Gaga songs from beginning to end, so I really don't understand the disconnect with the ABCs, but there it is.)

She's charting her own path of developmental milestones. Which is hard for me, because, darn it, give me an instruction book and I FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS. TO THE LETTER. She's not following the instructions. She's writing her own book. Which is a lot harder, but so much more impressive.

(We're also going to be doing some kindergarten homeschooling in the mornings. I have no idea what I'm doing. Other than reading a bunch of homeschooling blogs. Which are inspiring me, but still not telling me where to start. Could someone please point me to the Homeschooling Instruction Book?)