Spring is in the hair

{Harry wanted to wear blue hairspray (school colors) to school on Friday and I let him.  Will did this too.  You have to see it here.}

The next month is going to be so crazy around here.  Both boys are "graduating" or moving on from their schools this year and with that comes tons of end of year stuff. There are special field trips, awards ceremonies, year book signing parties, music programs, a ballet recital, a violin concert.  I am not kidding when I tell you that the next month is completely packed.  I feel so anxious just thinking about it.

Harry is leaving his elementary school and heading to middle school.  He is SO ready.  His school in an international baccalaureate program so they do an exhibition project at the end of 5th grade.  The exhibition is a collaborative inquiry project that incorporates all the primary year principals they have learned.  The children choose real life issues and try to make some impact in the community at large.  It is exciting to see the kids incorporate all that they have learned into a practical learning experience.  I cannot wait to see what he does.

Will is doing an 8th grade dissertation and he is very ready to move on too.  He is applying for summer jobs, looking into drivers's ed (YIKES!) and participating in a junior lifeguard program this summer.  He is really excited about high school.

Both the boys have Spring fever in that they have kind of "checked out" of school.  They really just want to hang out with their friends and have fun.  I remember those days:)

And Miss Kate....well she is doing just fine.  We have decided to repeat kindergarten next year though.  I posted about my hesitancy to send her to kindergarten this year (here and here).  Overall, I am glad we went forward with kinder this year because it was the only year of her entire life she could ever go to school with one of her brothers.  It has been very nice watching them walk the halls together.  Harry has had opportunities to be in Kate's class helping with things.  It has been very special.  In fact, I cannot imagine her there next year without him.  When I told Kate that her Habu was going to middle school next year, she was very sad.  She said, "But Mama he is not tall enough yet." 

And Kate has grown tremendously this year.  She is finally finding her voice (slowly but surely) and she is learning how to be her sweet self AND stick up for herself too!!  Boy, have we worked hard on that one.

But the bottom line is... Kate is young.  She is a happy-go-lucky 5 year old girl who sees the best in everyone and everything.  She just wants to dance and sing and paint and laugh.  The school day is LONG for her.  She is not super interested yet in academics.  And our neighborhood public school (which we love) is very rigorous.  At this point in kindergarten, Kate is expected to write 7 sentences in her writer's journal with capitalization and punctuation each morning.  Most days she does it (albeit spelling phonetically) but it is a struggle.  They are counting to 100 by 2's and 5's and that is a bit abstract for her.  She struggles with that.  She also struggles with multi step projects and kind of shuts down.

Also, Kate is so optimistic and naive that some things just go right over her head.  I think it will benefit her socially and emotionally to be a little older and more confident as she navigates school.  In all honesty, none of us (me, Dave or Kate) really want her to repeat kindergarten.  Dave and I are no spring chickens, y'all!    We are ready to move on.  Will is going to be in college and Kate will still be in 3rd or 4th grade!  This will be our 5TH go around with kinder (which is very parent involved at our school).  Will did kinder twice, Harry did it once and now Kate is doing it twice.  But, after lots of discussion with Kate's teacher and some other well informed professionals, we have to do what is best for her.  And we know deep down, it is best to give Kate another year.

The other day I was in the classroom and the teacher said to the kids...Y'all are almost 1st graders now. Kate turned to me with panic on her face and said, "Uh-oh Mama.  I don't read well enough for 1st grade yet! We better hurry!"  I reminded her that we are in NO HURRY at all because she gets to do kindergarten again.  Her shoulders relaxed and she sighed and said "Oh that's right."  I told her she was exactly where she should be and that school is not a race. The truth is Kate's reading is right on track for 1st grade but she feels behind (probably because she is behind in other ways).  She feels young and I do not want her to feel that her whole life.

The book Outliers has an excellent first chapter for anyone considering holding a child back. I will tell you that it made some excellent points and they helped influence our decision a little bit.

Sorry this was so long but I know a lot of people have asked me this year about our decision with Kate and I wanted to share this.  Next Saturday is Kate's birthday party (early) and my Mom is flying in for a visit so I have a ton to do this week.  Wish me luck!

(As an aside....for those of you just planning to start your families...don't have summer babies! I LOVE my summer babies BUT I remember the struggles figuring out what was best for Will and now Kate.  It is just easier if kids are born in the Fall!)