The First Days

Our Summer flew by and before we knew it, it was time for school to start.

Summer started first grade last Tuesday!

The wet spot on her dress was from me scrubbing yogurt off of it.

She came home that day saying, “I LOVE first grade!” Her only complaint so far? No snack time.

Back in May, we found out that Camryn didn’t get into the school Summer goes to for kindergarten. It is a small school that only accepts 48 kids, so there is a lottery system, and unfortunately has no sibling policy (it was done away with a few years ago due to someone complaining that it wasn’t fair. What’s not fair is my kids having to go to different schools, but that’s a whole ‘nother post.) I spoke with the counselor and she let me know that she would keep Camryn in mind if a spot opened up. She said it has happened before, right up until school starts.

The school Camryn was assigned to wasn’t even my second choice. I hadn’t really heard of it, and was less than thrilled when I looked into the reviews and test scores. It was far from what we wanted for her. We held out hope that we would get a call from Summer’s school saying that there was a spot for her, but we didn’t. I talked to the counselor a week before school was supposed to start and she let me know that there were unfortunately still no openings. We faced the facts and I got her school supplies from the list for the other school and tried to be positive about it for her and psych her up.

It wasn’t sitting well with me, and Joe let me know he wasn’t comfortable with her going there either. It kept me awake at night. We had felt like it was our only option but then I realized we had another choice: send her back to the place she went to preschool, but enroll her in their half-day kindergarten program. Then next year we could re-apply for Summer’s school and she can either go into first grade if there is a space, or full-day kindergarten. There is of course a chance she might not get in again, but we can’t worry about that right now. We are hoping that since the counselor is now well-aware of who we are and how badly we want her there, she might magically get in.

Camryn started kindergarten last Wednesday!

She loves it! There are several kids in her class that had been in her preschool class last year. Her teacher is great, and I think the half-day schedule is going to work out really well for her. We feel really good about our decision to send her there.