First Day and Transitions

We are definitely experiencing some growing pains in our house.  Will started high school and while he loves it, it has been a BIG transition. He knew very few kids going into his new school and it is academically very rigorous. Some of the things they are doing his freshmen year are things I did in college (no kidding).  Luckily, he seems to be rising to the challenge and keeping up so far.

Today is the first day of school for Harry and Kate.  You might remember my concern about giving Kate an extra year of pre-school and then kindergarten as I have blogged about it over the past few years.  Well, we DID decide to give her the gift of an extra year of kindergarten.  She was not happy about our decision at first. She repeatedly told me she was going to be " SO embarrassed" in front of her friends.  I let her feel how she felt even though I told her it was nothing she did.  She is just "young."  I knew that the long term benefits of the extra year would FAR outweigh the short term costs of some embarrassment.

Kate is so sweet and carefree.  Aside from reading, she has very little interest in academics yet. She wants to paint and dance and pretend play.  Developmentally, she did not seem ready for 1st grade.  We are at a very advanced IB school.  The school is a great fit for Kate but you need to be really focused in 1st grade. And she was one of the youngest in her class last year.  Luckily, we had experience on our side as we gave Will an extra year way back in kinder too and it was the best decision. He is a summer birthday too. We can really see how much it benefitted him even though it was for somewhat different reasons.  I think it can be very hard to be a summer baby!

Well, this morning Kate told me she was SO GLAD that she was doing another year of kindergarten.  She specifically stated her excitement at treasure chest, free centers, recess and all the things that make kindergarten so special. She got one of her favorite teachers (the one she thinks smells like champagne--it's actually patchouli).  She is ready to be a leader this year and I think that will be so good for her!

Three children at three different schools in completely different parts of town (and they all start and end at the same time) sure can make life challenging.  So, we were very rushed taking first day photos.  And no one really wanted to take them....

Harry is starting middle school today.  Most of his friends will be going to the middle school just down the street.  But Harry applied and was accepted into a magnet program at a different school. It is really an accomplishment to get into this program and we have waffled back and forth whether to do it or not but he finally decided (like a few days ago) to rise to the challenge.  This year, he will have an introductory course of Chinese, Italian, Latin, Spanish, and French in addition to his Pre-Ap courses.  He is very nervous and none of his friends are in this program.  I know he will be fine but he has seemed very anxious and that is hard for me to watch.  He is usually so self assured.  I have been praying for him like crazy.

Harry is also really struggling with migraines.  All summer he has been getting about 2-3 per week and they are really bad. If you would not mind saying a few prayers, I would be so grateful.  We are headed back to the neurologist soon but there is little they can do for them at this age.