Kindergarten

It all happened in the blink of an eye...one day Collin was joining our family and the next we were biking him to his first day of kindergarten. People weren't kidding when they said this would go fast.

It's been a whirlwind of a week. Adam received a call last Thursday from Seven Hills Academy, a charter school in Bloomington known for its exemplary math and science curriculum, indicating that a spot had opened up for Collin. After attending an Open House at Westwood Elementary the evening of September 2 where Collin met his teacher, Mrs. Johnson, and saw his classroom for the first time, we visited Seven Hills for a tour on September 7 before Collin's scheduled orientation at Westwood at 12:30 the same afternoon. While Collin was riding the bus with the principal, Mrs. Hartwigsen, and coloring a self portrait, I was filling out paperwork and listening to Mrs. Johnson and a Spanish interpreter explain the ins and outs of kindergarten to a room of parents, the majority of whom weren't English speakers. After the tour of Seven Hills, Collin said to us, "That school rocks the house, but I like Westwood just a little bit more." We think this may be due to the fact that he already knows two other boys in his class, Braxton from across the street, and Nathan, from his Sunday school class.

It was uncharacteristic for Adam and I to both agonize over the decision of where to send Collin for the beginning of his formal education. We finally decided to sleep on it, since none of the possible scenarios seemed right.

We never imagined Collin would ever have a spot at Seven Hills, so we never discussed the school with him. Our hesitation in switching schools is three-fold: 1)Collin's strong expectations of attending Westwood for kindergarten, 2) the impact to our entire family of a commute across town twice a day, and 3) a little over $900 non-refundable dollars we've already paid to Westwood for the KinderPlus all-day program.

By morning, the answer was still unclear...but we decided to send him off to his first day of school at Westwood.
Biking to school with Mom, Aaron, and Nolan.
Outside the doors to the kindergarten classrooms. Daddy dropped in on the classroom after taking his 8:00 am call from home, to give Collin a hug and wish him a good day.
Daddy came home from work early, so we could all be there to hear the details of his first day of school.

We're still not sure what Collin did today...because when asked, he said "nothing". No, Westwood is not a Spanish immersion elementary, but there is no doubt that Collin will end the year learning bits and pieces of this foreign language.

When Collin's turn playing tennis with Daddy in the driveway had ended, he came inside and offered to help me make lasagna.

"Did you have phy. ed. today?"
"No."
"Well, your sheet says you had music and phy. ed."
"Do you mean gym?"
"Yes, Collin, phy. ed."
"Oh...I though you were speaking Spanish."

And tonight, Collin said, "gracias amigo", as Adam helped him clean up in the tub.

It's one thing to be ideological about exposing the kids to diversity and another to be comfortable in the practice. One thing is clear...we are all experiencing a time of transition. As of Friday (t-3 full days into this new routine), Collin is having difficulty sleeping and he had an accident in his bed Thursday night, which hasn't happened in recent memory. We have to give this some time...and if it isn't working out, we can always make a change.