September 3, 2012

  • Back to School

    End of the summer beach photos coming soon.  Meanwhile.... 

     

    Shaeleigh stands for the traditional mailbox back-to-school photo.  She is heading to 3rd grade and quite pleased with her rolling backpack as they are not allowed until the 3rd grade so it's a big bonus of being in 3rd grade.  She has never been a huge fan of summer camp so she seems happy to go back to school (although not happy to get homework on her first day back!). 

     

    Chance heads to Kindergarten!!! He has been waiting for YEARS to have his lunch packed and be dropped off in the kiss and ride lane.  In fact, he was disappointed on the first day that I decided to park and walk them to the door rather than drop them off.  They both had a heavy load of school supplies though so he agreed to wait until day 2 for the kiss and ride.

    He has been wearing his gym uniform all summer and wearing the uniform above to church each week (and getting mad when I wouldn't let him wear it to preK).  However, on day 2 of school he says, "What?!  I got to wear this again?"  and on day 3, as he struggled with his tie and belt, "Phew, this costume is complicated!" 

    We are holding our breath a little with Chance and formal school.  He has a lot of energy and I'm not sure he is ready to be contained.  He's always really enjoyed daycare/preK as he is so social so hopefully Kindergarten doesn't squash his spirit with all the sitting still and such.

     

    And then there's YiLin (uniform free public school kid).  He loves school as well.  Goes off with a big smile and wave.  We are fighting Loudoun County as they denied giving him any services.  We had to officially contest the decision and request a review.  We've been working all summer on getting him to write his name - which he can.  He came home the first day with nothing but curlie-ques on the top of his papers so I sent a note to his teacher letting her know that he could indeed write his name but that she might need to let him know that it's expected.  Then I reminded him every morning and checked every afternoon.  If nothing else, he'll practice that each day.  How the school declared him ineligible for speech and language is absolutely beyond belief. 

     

    And so the year begins.  You can see why we suspect that the younger Smith kids are not likely to take their studies and seriously as their big sister.

     

    And yet... off they go!  Another school year begun.