It's amazing that school is a mere 4 weeks away. That leaves a good chunk of Summer left, but I know those weeks will fly by. I'm a tad apprehensive for June to start Kindergarten. Mixed feelings. I'm excited for him because I think he will do well and will meet friends... he treasures friends. I'm a tad hesitant bc I always imagined homeschooling my kids... from the start. Now, the first official year of "schooling" and I'm shipping him off.
I think we made a good decision though. It was well thought out and I think we made the call based on sound reasons. We were struggling with remaining open to a big family with the thought of homeschooling piled on my plate on top of taking care of 3 little ones and the house. I pretty much solo parent through the week and having someone else take care of June's academic life just feels right. We are expecting our 4th 3 months into the school year and although I *could* homeschool, my heart just isn't into it yet. I don't feel called. I don't feel passion. I would be merely going through the motions and that's not cool. So for those reasons I'm looking forward to him spending a few hours a day with others, learning and growing.
Really... it's 3 hours a day (plus bus time) and on Wednesdays, the school day is only 1.5 hours. I will still have lots of time with my boy and it will be a good trial year to see if sending him to school "works" or if we want to gear up and homeschool sooner rather than later.
So yeah, all these thoughts and feelings swim around in my head, but in the end I think we made the right decision for right now.
To prep for Kindergarten, we've been talking to June about what to expect and what it might be like. He's a bit scared, but I think it's fear of the unknown. I really think he'll thrive. :)
We had a few things on our to-do list to get him ready. We already have a backpack and a wardrobe of school clothes, yet there were 2 big things we needed to get.
1: June's glasses. He will need them for reading and the eye dr recommended that he get accustomed to wearing them the whole school day. He picked out this pair bc they reminded him of Silver Surfer (the color is similar to that super hero). Now the task at hand is to get him comfortable with the glasses. Right now he's not happy about how they make his vision change (for the better, but for him it just feels weird).
2. School shoes. Through t-ball season June was complaining that his shoes felt tight. I figured by now, since he's been wearing crocs all Summer, his feet probably definitely needed a new size. We splurged and went to Striderite and let June and Josh pick out a pair. I figured that besides church shoes, these will be all he will wear until next Spring so it might be worth the investment. His foot had actually grown 1.5 sizes since last Spring so new shoes were indeed needed. This is what he picked:
(The Incredible Hulk shoes)
So now we wait and enjoy the last weeks of Summer. I love Summer. I use to love Fall and Spring but I'm finding that with kids, you can't beat Summer. I love the ease of clothes (tshirt, shorts and, crocs daily) and the ability to be outside whenever you want, without a jacket. We spend lots of time at parks and swimming. It's light out later so you can take full advantage of outdoor time. It just really doesn't get better than Summer. So I'll soak in the coming weeks.
I also want to enjoy these weeks because I feel change coming. I think our pattern to life is going to shift and won't ever be the same again. Right now I have all my kids under my roof... all my kids are little and enjoy the same activities. We have a daily schedule that we've held for a while now. But the winds of change are coming. June's schooling will change up our routine. My oldest just being of school age is a big shift, but routine itself will change. We will have to be home to get him on the bus or drive him to school... we won't be able to be as free with playdates. We will have to eat lunch earlier. I will be alone for naptime until 3something. Along with that, I think Josh is beginning to not need his nap as much... so I suspect I will have to find a new normal with Josh awake on naptime. Then, once all that is smoothed out, I will welcome another little one to our family. She will change the dynamic again.
Change isn't always bad, but I'm going to enjoy the steady pace that life offers right now and vow to roll with the punches for the remainder of the year once things do bounce around a bit. :)
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