Back to School!

The summer really seemed to go by so quickly. The days of sleeping in and doing whatever we felt like doing were so fun, but toward the end of last week, we were all starting to feel like it was time to get back into a routine. I know for some people, not having a set schedule and just going about your day however it comes, works. For us, we need a schedule and we need structure. Gus thrives on being able to predict what'll happen next, and when he doesn't have a set routine, things can get very chaotic and frustrating for everyone.

We had his "Sneak Peek" last Thursday and up until the time we left for this event, we did not know who his teacher was. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. For the K-5 kiddos that attend that school as their base or home school, sure, I get the thrill of posting the teacher assignments on the windows and letting the kids find out at the same time which teacher they'll have for the year.

As a parent of a special needs preschooler at that school, it did not sit well with me that I had no idea who our teacher was before going to the school. It would have been VERY nice and VERY helpful to be able to work with Gus on who his teachers are, and to practice their names. I know his teachers have known who was in their class for at least a week, so they could have sent an email to introduce themselves. They chose not to and it's quite disappointing.

Steve's always said it, but being a former teacher is going to be the worst thing ever for my kids. I guess my expectations are higher than most parents because I know what I used to do as a teacher. I know that it takes less than five minutes to send out a welcome email, or to send a postcard to my students (back when I had over 25 kids and no assistant) to share how excited I was to have them in my class. I know how easy it was to create a website where I could share our class schedule for the parents.

None of those things have happened, and Gus is in GA PreK. I have higher hopes for when he starts kindergarten at Abbotts next year.

So anyway, we got to the Sneak Peek and had to do this treasure hunt of sorts... go to the media center and fill out a bus card. Did anyone know if I needed a bus card since Gus was in GA PreK and not going to be attending MBES as his base school? Of course not. No one had a clue and there were no instructions anywhere about out of zone families and if they needed their "golden ticket" to leave the media center or not.

We then had to go to the cafeteria and there were a lot of things to do... sign up for a "runapalooza" shirt for Gus, sign up for the PTA, get his spirit wear, and then stand in a long line to turn in his residency affidavit, that we already did when we registered in July. No one knew if I needed to resumit or not, but I decided to do it again just in case they lost it. 

Then we got to attempt to find his class. None of the halls were labeled for PreK... there was 5th and 4th, 3rd and 2nd, and 1st and Kindergarten, but nothing for the GAPreK classrooms (there are two). After wandering up and down halls, we finally found his room and went inside. We were the only ones there and when I signed in, there were 19 other names filled in and we were last. 

Gus enjoyed seeing his new classroom and liked meeting his teachers. He has two teachers this year, one is a regular education teacher (Ms. F) and the other is a special education teacher (Ms. B). They were both eager to meet him and enjoyed talking to him.

Then the OT came by and we got to meet her. Gus will be having OT services each Friday with her and we're excited for these to begin!!

We said our goodbyes and headed out. On the way I decided to take a picture of Gus with the giant mural that they've got in front of their library.

On Monday, we woke Gus up at 5:45am (yes... that's his new wake-up time) and he was excited to go to school. His bus driver is the same one that he had at LWES, so he was eager to see Mr. S. 

Over the weekend, Steve helped me make a "First/Last Day of School" frame that we can use each year until the boys are seniors in high school. It was pretty inexpensive and easy to make. 

Here are the "First Day of School GAPreK" pictures that I took of Gus:

 
The "first" part is on chalkboard, so I can erase and write "Last" in May and we'll see the growth over the year. I also took a picture of him in front of the door so we'll be able to see how much taller he grew over the course of the school year.

 

It is SO DARK at 6:15am (his bus pick-up time)

 

Gus and Mr. S

 

Big boy off to school!!

 

It was sad to see him off, but he was excited and didn't cry, so we didn't cry. I had a MOMS Club® chapter meeting to attend at 10, so Hugh and I did that while Steve worked from home. After our meeting, we came back and picked up Steve and the three of us went on a nice little lunch date. We've never been out just the three of us (without Gus), so it was a nice treat. 


We got home and put Hugh down for a nap and before we knew it, it was time to go out and get Gus from the bus. 

He was all smiles and said he had a great first day of school! Here's to a wonderful year full of success and fun!!

Off to School!

On August 8th, we had a chance to go to LWES and see Gus's classroom and introduce him to his teacher, Ms. Amanda. He was very excited to see his room and he enjoyed checking out all the different toys.

 His room

 With Ms. Amanda

 His tiny class (the top four are the AM session kids and the bottom two are the PM session kids)

 Checking out the bus

 With Ms. Susan (Speech teacher)

 Gus's color this year is yellow and his animal is the duck.

 His playground

On Monday, August 12th, Steve stayed home so we could both be here to see Gus off on his first day of school. Gus was very excited because we had been talking about school and the bus and Ms. Amanda all weekend. He was good until the bus came, and then he was excited to get on, but wanted us to get on with him. 

 On the bus and ready for us to join him...

 He was NOT happy that we weren't coming, and he started to cry. The bus driver had to drag him to his seat and fight him to strap him into the car seat.

 You can just barely see him looking at me through the window

 We live on a cul-du-sac, so the bus had to go down and turn around

As soon as the bus went by, Steve and I started crying. It was so hard to see Gus cry and not be able to help him. We just hoped that he'd have a good day and would stop crying by the time he got to school.

We went outside at 10:55 to wait for Gus (his day is from 7:40-10:40 and he has to be at the end of our driveway at 7:05 for pick up). We had no idea what time he'd be coming home, so we figured fifteen minutes would be the soonest.

I got a call at 11:10 saying that the bus still had not picked Gus up from school, and that as soon as the bus got there, Ms. Amanda would call to let me know that he was on his way. So we went back inside.

At 11:45 Gus's bus finally arrived!

 The best thing I saw all day!

 He was SO excited to get off the bus and see us!

 Waving bye to his bus driver

 Waiting for the bus to turn around and pass back by our house!

Every day, his teacher sends home a daily note about behavior and what his day was like. Gus's first day was a wonderful day for him! 

This morning was the beginning of week three for Gus. I have been taking pictures every day and here are pictures from the first two weeks of school:

 8/13/13

 Every day, he goes to the top of the driveway to wait for the bus to turn around and then waves goodbye to the bus!

 

 8/14/13

 8/15/13

 Cold and rainy Friday- 8/16/13

 Starting week two! 8/19/13

 8/20/13

 We waited and waited and waited... it started to rain so we went to wait inside the garage. Gus's bus didn't come until 7:35!!!

 8/21/13

 8/22/13

 TGIF!!!  8/23/13

 "The moon!"

 "Hi bus!!"

 Here he comes!!

 Starting week three!! 8/26/13

 Back to potty training! Wearing his potty watch to school!

 Looking at the moon-- he kept saying, "I love you mama, to the moon and back!"

 Here comes the bus!

I'm so proud of Gus. He has been doing so well with school and going FIVE DAYS A WEEK! His language has started to really take off (still isn't caught up, but he's making HUGE progress) and I was thinking that it's only been two full weeks, but... that's ten days of school. When he was going to CtK, ten days of school was the same as FIVE WEEKS!!!

He's wearing pull-ups to school and hopefully, his teacher can help us with him going #2 on the potty. That's his biggest area of concern, and he's great with peeing, but until he can recognize the need to poop, and tell me he has to poop... I don't know how successful potty training again will go. We'll see. Hopefully it'll all come together and will go well for him!!

We have his curriculum night on Wednesday (he'll be staying home and my friend Kathryn is going to babysit him and Hugh for us). It should be interesting to see what he'll be learning for the year and for us to get a better idea of things we can do to help him here at home.

Today, when he comes home, we'll be starting the Letter School program (it's a homeschooling program). We are starting with letter A and we'll be doing a letter a week. I've got different activities each day for him to do. Should be fun!!