My daughter, Miss 5, started school yesterday. Now I find myself with more children at school than children at home. She has been very excited, so I am not suspecting it will be a dramatic adjustment for her, but it’s going to take some getting used to for me.
We said goodbye to her ‘minis’ carers on the last Tuesday of last term – this is the program for pre-schoolers at the ladies bible study group I attend. It was a poignant moment for me as I explained to her that she has been coming with me to that group for her entire life, first in a pram and sitting with me as a little baby, moving into crèche at 6 months, then onto minis at age 3. She has always loved it and always been happy to go. She is our first child born in Adelaide, so it feels somehow more significant that these things she has been doing with me for her whole 5 years are now finished.
It will also take a more concerted effort this term to settle her into school. I never needed to be very involved with any of Mr 7’s reading or spelling as he grasped it all very quickly. I suspect Miss 5 will not be quite the same, so there will be more of an adjustment as I need to listen to readers, help with spelling practice, etc.
I am also recalling just how tired Mr 7 was in the first few terms of him starting school, so I am preparing myself for that – and the need to have very quiet afternoons and weekends until we get into the swing of it all again.
Hard to imagine I am now the mum of 2 school kids!
2 comments:
Just curious - why has she started mid-year?
Wendy
It's a comment often asked (quite understandably!) by non-South Australians.
Here they start the term after they turn 5. Z turned five at the end of April, so she started in Term 3.
They have to do between 3 & 6 terms of Reception (known in other states as Kindergarten). Z will do 6 terms (1.5 years). M started in term 2 and only did 3 terms, then went to year 1. A (August BDay) will start in term 4 and do 5 terms. I love this system, they go to school when they are 5 and then the system sorts itself out ready for them to be in the Year 1 by the appropriate January. Also, Z started in a class of 10 kids - a nice easy way to get used to school!
Also, if you keep them back (as we did with Z, she could legally have started in term 2), you only keep them home for another term, not another whole year.
Hope that clears it up!
Post a Comment