I wish that I was psychic
It’s the first day of school for the little kids. Today, they are meeting their new teachers, learning new classroom rules & routines. And, I’m wondering how they’re doing, how they’re getting along in their day. I wish that I could be sitting beside them, or, psychically, hovering in the classrooms, observing, seeing how the day was going so far.
Annie was excited about it all - starting first grade & she just loves school. Many times, yesterday, I heard her singing “Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I love ya, Tomorrow, you’re only a day away!”. As she was about to fall asleep last night, she said, “Oh yeah! I just remembered, I’ll meet my new reading teacher, too!” She was in an advanced reading group last year - just her & a couple of other kids in the classroom - so, she thinks she’ll probably be doing the same this year, too.
Shelby… Not so much. He started crying at bedtime because he wanted Summer to be longer & school to be shorter. Same thing this morning, when he woke up. But, he seemed chipper by the time we were waiting for the bus & when I met them later on the playground with their school supplies. At the bus stop, Jim was joking around, saying that he wished Summer break would be 9 months & school would be just 3 months. We both agreed that the other kids might need more time to learn everything for the school year, but that our kids would probably be able to learn & understand it all in just 3 months time. Shelby said that he would like it like that and, then, at the end of the 3 months, he could decide if he wanted to stay longer. So, that’s a little bit of a more positive attitude, anyway.
I just hope that this year’s teacher can help him to stay engaged in the days, motivated, excited about learning. He does love to learn. He just hates doing busy work, learning things that he’s already learned - he also hates making mistakes & not understanding what he’s supposed to do. If I could be there with him, I’d be able to help him through all of this. But, I can’t be there with him. So, I hope that this year’s teacher knows how to recognize a kid like that & get him back to loving school.
