Sunday, August 23, 2009

Back-to-School Blues or Hoorays?

Our baby starts Kindergarten tomorrow. I'm torn . . . . my emotions keep running back and forth from tears to joy and back again.

There are tears because the "baby" chapter of our daughter's life is ending and joy because she is so ready to learn and start the "big girl" chapter of her life. And tomorrow morning, while her Mom is in tears, our daughter will be jumping with joy because the day she has been counting down to since the end of Pre-K is finally here.

We went Friday and met her new teacher and saw her classroom. Demi has been on the waiting list for "Project Friends" -- a multi-age classroom program -- and we didn't know that she was in the program until Friday morning! The basic idea of this program is that the children will have the same teacher and classroom for Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades. So the children that start Kindergarten together will be together in the same class for all three years. The advantages to this is that the older kids mentor the younger kids and the younger kids can work at their own speed instead of at the speed of the slowest learners in the class. Which is great for Demi -- we were very worried about her becoming bored and not being challenged. Another concern we had was consistency and transitions - both issues for her with her Sensory Processing Disorder. Her teacher is very sweet, sensitive to Demi's special needs and seems equally as excited for the new school year to begin.


Whether I'm ready or not, Demi is -- ready to learn, ready to explore, ready to make new friends, and ready to jump feet first into a wonderful new world called Elementary School!

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