Kindergarten Orientation

Those of you who know me well know that kindergarten has been the subject of much thought, worry, and prayers for our family. Brent and I talked about where Maura would go to school all year last year. I visited some of the local public schools, browsed through information on the private schools and attended a home school conference. We finally came to the conclusion that homeschooling would be the best fit for our family. I agreed to give it a trial run this summer and set to work coming up with some lessons for my sweet child. Who turned out to be not so sweet when it was actually time to do the lessons. This bemused me a bit. Maura has ALWAYS loved to do lessons with me. We've had big workbooks from the time she's been two and she's always loved playing letter and number games with me. Suddenly, though, we hit a point where learning was PAINFUL both for her and me. We struggled through our lessons, with me begging, pleading, and finally ignoring her to try to get her to complete the lessons. We just came to a point where it was a battle of wills and neither one of us was winning. I realized that homeschooling this year would make for a miserable year for our family. It just wasn't going to happen. I hated that realization. It really felt like I was giving up on my little girl and sentencing her to a lifetime of substandard public education. I don't often fail at things and this felt like a failure to me. It was with some sadness that I read the letter notifying me that Maura had been accepted at one of the best elementary schools in the county for open enrollment. I had no excuses anymore and I steeled myself for kindergarten orientation.

At last the day came. I crowded into the classroom with what felt like hundreds of people(or maybe just 100--two kindergarten classes of 24X2 when they brought their parents=100). It was more than a little overwhelming. The teacher handed out folders for the parents to peruse as they waited to meet her. I started reading her letter to parents...and lost it. The letter started like this, "Dear Parents, It is my privilege, indeed my honor, to be the kindergarten teacher to you precious child." It went on to say later, "You are probably wondering if I have a church family. I do! We worship at ********* Church. My precious Lord had been my ultimate caregiver. I have a beautiful love story about my journey, which has been printed in the newspaper twice. I never tire of telling about my adventures that challenged and uplifted me during this time." I was reduced to a sobbing mess--right before it was time to meet the teacher. I'm sure I had "CRAZY" stamped on my forehead, but that letter just felt like a confirmation from God that He was going to hold my sweet child in His hands and care for her this year. It was truly an emotional thing, being confronted by my unbelief and His provision. Needless to say, Maura was completely oblivious to all of this drama. She was SO excited to be there and play with all the toys and stations they had in the classroom. She was precious when meeting her teacher. While her momma sniffled behind her, she marched right up to meet Mrs. V and asked her what they would be learning about this year. Her teacher seems like a truly kind soul who really cares about the children in her class. In fact, the teacher's granddaughter is in Maura's class, a fact that made me really feel good!Maura couldn't wait to get started, especially after she took a tour of the school and saw the music, and art rooms and the gym. She still had a week and a half to wait and it was hard for her! Getting all her school supplies and her new backpack helped her to channel some of that excitement.

Now, school has been in session for at least eight weeks. I won't say that it's all sunshine and roses, but I will say that I feel much more at peace with our decision to send her on to school this year. She is loving it and is MUCH more anxious to please her teacher than she ever is me! We've tabled the homeschooling talk for now, but we may revisit the issue in the future. Who knows what's in our future--I just know that God will be holding us and guiding us all the way.