First Day of School

Tuesday was the first day of school for our kids.  Everyone was excited and there were new and different things for everybody.  

Matthew started at the junior high this year - our junior high is 7-9th grades.  It's right next to our neighborhood elementary school so close enough for Matthew to ride his bike - about a mile away.  Matthew is playing the trumpet in the band this year and we had to devise a plan for him to convey his trumpet to school on his bike.  On the first day I gave him a ride.  They do an A/B schedule so he only has to bring the trumpet every other day.  He did want to play the flute a few years ago and Scott and I steered him toward trumpet instead.  Flute would have been easier to bring home.  :).   He has 8 classes - Computer coding, band, art, English, science, career planning, math and speech.  He's excited!

We thought we would try putting a bike tray on the back of Matthew's bike.  Matthew, Scott and Uncle Dana got the tray put on the bike.

Matthew rode his bike to school several times with his trumpet bungeed onto the tray.  No disasters so far!!  Fingers crossed!!

Anna and Matthew were in a program across town last year at a different school.  They did a similar program in California.  I wasn't that happy with the program here, specifically I felt like math and English were left for the kids to work on and figure out at home while they spent a lot of time in class on other things like learning Robotics or playing a game called Set.  I'm all for fun extracurriculars  and learning outside the box but not at the expense of having a professional educator help them with math.  So it wasn't a good fit for us and I wasn't planning to have Grant go into the program, but Anna really liked it there so I wasn't planning to make her switch schools since she has already had to switch schools so often for our moves.  Over the summer she decided she would like to switch and go to the neighborhood school so we transferred her over.  She knows a lot of people from the neighborhood but its still kind of a big change for her.  The 6th graders at this school rotate around to different teachers for different subjects, kind of like mini-junior high and I think Anna is excited about that.  I hope it goes well for her.  She has been riding her bike to school, which she can do now since its so close.  Normally the school is only about .75 miles away but the main street everyone uses to get there is under construction and has been all summer, along with another main road on the other side of the junior high.  Right now accessing the two schools via any method (car, bike or on foot) is a total mess. The construction is supposed to be wrapping up by October.

Grant is having the fewest changes this year.  He's still at the same school just moving up to 3rd grade.  He's really excited because his good friend, David, is in his class again.  Those two are so happy to be in the same class.

John is starting first grade.  Last year in kindergarten they only went to school for about 2 1/2 hours each day - half day school.  So now he's going for the full day for the first time.  His teacher is great and he loves it so far!

On the first day of school I dropped Matthew off.  His school starts earlier than the other kids.  Later I walked all the other kids.  Scott took the morning off work and walked with us.  With all the construction we have to detour through a different neighborhood.  It's a little more than a mile.  It took a while to get down to the school but everyone got there on time.  We made sure each kid found the right place to line up before school and watched them go in.  Then Scott, Emma and I walked home.  

After school I was planning to walk and meet the elementary school kids after school so I didn't have to deal with the first day traffic.  I walked down to the school, with Emma and met the kids.  John walked home with us while Anna biked and Grant scootered.  The walk home was so hot and I pushed John in a stroller 'cause he was tired from school.  I had been up late the night before getting last minute school things ready and I was feeling pretty tired.   It was almost 100 degrees and the last mile of 4+ I walked that day was pretty miserable.  I was dripping sweat into my eyes and by the time I got home I decided I would not be walking to the school anymore until they finish the construction.    In my defense I walked twice as far as the school kids do.  So the next couple days of school the three older kids biked and scootered to school and I drove John in the car.  He's not quite ready to scooter that far yet.  Maybe once construction is done.

Here is John waiting outside his class

Anna before school.  I know she'll make more friends, she always does, but I know it can be a little hard at the beginning of the year.

Emma and I made some first day of school treats

And she and I went to the craft store!  

Its much funner to go there with one child vs. five children.

She wanted me to take pictures of her a lot

The elementary kids got out early on the first day and after walking to pick them up in the hot sun I happily drove to pick up Matthew.  First I parked in the bus zone on accident.  In my defense it wasn't marked and I'm just a dumb new mom at the junior high.  (You're doing it wrong!).  So I had to move and park somewhere else.  Eventually we found Matthew.  John wanted to come with me to get Matthew but he was so sleepy waiting there in the car.  First grade is exhausting.

Anna making a salad for her lunch the first week of school.  I'm still sorting through my first day of school homework - lots of paperwork - and it always takes a little while until we get into the swing of things, and Emma hasn't even started school yet.  But things seem to be off and running.  Can't believe summer is already over.