Antonio is a month into the school year and he is loving it! His favorite part by far is riding the bus. For me, that was the most worrisome part. You hear horror stories about (little) kids getting forgotten on busses for hours, getting bullied/picked on etc. Happily, Antonio gets on the bus 2 stops before school and then on the way home it is just Kindergarteners. His bus driver in the morning is great. Every morning when he gets on she says, "Good morning Antonio!". He promptly walks about half back and finds a seat. I had told him the school bus rules before school started, always stay seated on your bottom on the bus and only get off at the school or unless he see's me or Ms Rosemary (he gets off at her stop 3 days). There are speed bumps on the road into the school and he says that his favorite part of the ride because he bounces up and down. :)
He has already made a best buddy, Diego. His other friends he says are Makai, Kennedy and sometimes Grace. But he will correct you if you call them his best buddies too, because they aren't he says; they are just friends. We had curriculum night the other night and even his teacher, Mrs. Rusher, mentioned they were best buddies so it must be a mutual friendship. Happily, they haven't gotten in to any trouble yet.
I had voiced my concern to Mrs. Rusher about Antonio being a summer birthday (just turning 5) and going in to Kindergarten and she seemed empathetic but said he's been doing so well she forgets he is so young. He gets homework 2-3 times a week and he flies through it; it's almost to easy for him. The directions are the hardest part. Ha. He goes every other Friday and on those days he gets to take a lunch which he loves. Every week he does P.E., library and music; he likes the library the best he says. The last two weekends he's come down with a fever on Saturday that wipes him out, even goes to bed early even but Sundays he always wakes up better. We think his body is having trouble adjusting to school a little maybe so we've gone back to insisting he naps.This weekend there was no sign of fever! Yay! He's been napping for at least an hour at daycare too which he had stopped doing mid-summer. I'm glad all he does for extracurricular activities is swimming. So far the fevers/exhaustion is the only sign of him not being ready for school. I'm relieved because I was pretty unsure.
Conferences are at the end of this month so I will be anxious to hear in a little more detail on how he's doing. I'm also feeling better about his teacher. In my opinion, it was a little bit of a rocky start in the sense she seemed to have a lack of confidence in what she was doing. Antonio seems to really like her (and school) and she even remembered I was Antonio's mom at curriculum night after only meeting me once, at the meet and greet before school started. I was impressed. :) My mom is planning on volunteering in his class this year and is already scheduled to go starting this week. Antonio is so excited to have her there and I am excited to hear her feedback on the school, classroom, teacher and Antonio in class. I trust her opinion and instincts on it all since she's taught Kindergarten (and other grades) for so long.
I hope Antonio continues to love school through the rest of the year and I can't wait to see how much he learns.
