Today was the last day of  school – which is so surreal. It really does feel like just yesterday we were enrolling them in a new school, completely nervous and unsure if we’d made the right choice, completely in denial that both our kids were old enough to be in school full time. Just yesterday, it was their first day. Seemingly. But the year has flown by and been chock full of new experiences, mostly good. The kids have learned  lot and so have we!

MM was admittedly nervous about starting  a new school and sad about leaving old friends behind but he’s made many friends at his new school and he’s being academically challenged for the first time in his life. It’s been fascinating to see the subjects he struggles with and which ones he excels at – it’s not always the ones I expect. The small school size seems to suit him well – he has friends across several grades and I can tell he likes knowing everybody – after just a few short months we all knew the majority of the families in the school and felt comfortable and “at home” there – such a great feeling, it made it easier to focus on learning (and for me to focus on my new job).

MM learned how to write in cursive, he learned more about the phases of the moon and about rocks and minerals and land forms. He learned how to take Cornell notes and how to read a map; he’s learned multiplication, long division and fractions. He’s read several wonderful books and written some basic book reports – some favorites included Mr. Poppers Penguins, Frindle and the Magic Tree House Books. And I’m only scraping the edge, really.

BB learned how to read with the help of the Super Kids – she went from being able to recognize her name to being able to read pretty much any story she wants to – she already understands  the concept of figuring out a word based on context which pretty much unlocks all of vocabulary for her.

She can count to 100 and understands basic addition and subtraction. She can tell time and recognizes the different coins. She knows her full name, address and phone number and has learned some independent skills that help her to navigate the school day without me. She has absolutely loved kindergarten and has blossomed in a way that blows my mind.

It’s crazy to think how early their summer vacation starts (it will end early, too – in mid August) but I’m looking forward to a few weeks of having summer to ourselves before the rest of the city gets out of school and we have a lot of fun things planned in the coming months – swim lessons, camping trips, visiting family and hopefully some lazy days, too. 

What are you looking forward to this summer?

I’m excited for less alarms on my phone for a few months!