Kindergarten Time

On August 24th, Jaimason entered the world of public school. It was a very exciting and momentous day for him: packing his lunch, making sure his school supplies were in order, picking out an outfit.....(ahhh, takes me back).

We met his teacher; she is very nice. In fact, we joke that we like her so much because she's just like me! She's got the same birthday, she's the same age, she enjoys the same hobbies, and she's been teaching as long as I have (did). She's even fairly tall and has brown hair. Jaimason was also excited because he already knew 5 friends in his class, mostly from church and the playgroup I headed up this past spring and summer.Now it's my time to vent for a minute. School in Texas is very rigorous, we've come to find out. It's a 7-hour day for these little ones, and they only get ONE short recess! I may be crazy, but I think THAT'S crazy! There is no imaginative play, no play-based learning at all, really. I remember when I was in Kindergarten (which was only about 3 hours a day) playing at the rice table and dressing up in the Dramatic Play center....what happened to those days? They work on each subject for 40 minutes to an hour, and a lot of it is writing or reading. They're working on learning stamina. They have homework every day. They are not taught HOW to write; they are already expected to know the formation of each letter--upper and lower case--what sound it makes, sentence structure (spaces between words, periods, etc). It's really a good thing Jaimason knew all this before he started. I know there are many kids struggling right now because of it. It makes me very sad to know that my son's childhood is probably gone. He's now more concerned about behavior scores and homework than being a child.That being said....the schools here are top-notch, some of the very best in the country. Jaimason really loves school and never complains! His teacher tries her very best to make it as fun and stress-free as possible, he's learning a lot, and he's making great friends! I can't complain too much. I was just shocked at first.He's already been the Star Student, which means he got to take Tattle Tiger home over the weekend, document their time together with pictures in a journal, and make a poster about himself. That was a very exciting time for him! We're very grateful he's in a great school, he's loving it, and learning a lot!