Thursday, August 13, 2009

Time to dust off the backpack, and pull out the lunch box! Clark had his first day of first grade today. I guess that would make it his golden day of school, right? I never thought it would happen, but I was sad yesterday that Clark was starting school again. Last year I was quite happy that he was going to be in school! It has been great having a relaxing summer schedule with the kids. Lee was able to have a few days off of work here and there, so we were quite spoiled.

This morning Clark told me a couple of times: "I am SO EXCITED!" I am glad he is excited as there were some challenging times last year trying to get him to go to school. He has some friends in his class and a great teacher; both of which I am very grateful for! Clark tested for the LEAP program last week and the test administrator was very impressed with him. I (and maybe Lee) was somewhat surprised. I knew he was a smart kid, but I was very pleased to hear that he is a very smart kid! When Clark was younger he never enjoyed learning about letters and numbers. I was somewhat worried about him because my friends' kids could say the alphabet or count and what not by age two or three! And at age three I was working with him on learning colors. I would take walks around the Cabana's for exercise and would have him tell me what colors the vehicles were. And he never did a formal preschool either. For a few months some friends and I rotated doing little lessons and such, but once again, Clark wasn't terribly interested. He did like books and building with duplos though! As much as I did wrong with him, I am glad he survived and wasn't hampered by my lack of educational attentions.

I am tempted to not have Cal be in pre-school. He "tested" for a free one on base, called PACE. I am not sure if he got in yet. But the fact alone of buckling 4 kids in the van (Clark is the only one that can buckle himself) to take Cal to and from school deters me from having him in preschool. And Cal enjoys learning and can already write his name--on his own accord--so that encourages me even more to just do things at home with him. Plus, with Clark leaving and now being at school, I want to keep Cal around as much as I can. Though I do need to work on breaking up his little band of fridge pirates.

The first day of school pictures






Look at those yummy fat rolls!!


The big man himself! We love you Clark!

7 comments:

Lois said...

I loved that sentence, "Cal and his little band of fridge pirates!" So funny! I'm glad Clark is excited about school this year!

Heidi Sue the Mommy crafter said...

Way fun! I still have 4 years until Marquito goes to kindergarten. Your kids are growing up way too fast. Love the pictures.

Sonia B said...

I think kids don't need preschool for success, they just need LOVE. And you give plenty of that. Jonathen read a study that said the biggest indicator of success in school was exposure to vocabulary or in other words . . . talking to your kids. All the other stuff didn't matter. So way to go for being a great mom!!!

Lois said...

keep up the good work. You're doing just fine. Letters and numbers are the minor part of learning. Learning to find joy in an ordinary day, being able to indulge a child's curiosity, giving children lots of love and having them feel secure is what they need much more than pre-school.

Photo Crazy! said...

Time goes so fast! I can't believe it's that time again. Your baby is getting so big and fat,I LOVE IT!
Your kids are so smart!

Scogin Family said...

Wow I cannot believe it is time for school already. Elden is becoming quite the little man!!

Megan and Jeremy said...

I can't believe Clark is in school! I'm glad he's excited and that he already has friends and a great teacher. Is it weird to have him gone for a huge chunk of the day?

Hyrum is the same way with his letters and numbers, he just doesn't care that much about them and I don't force it. But maybe he'll be a smarty pants too anyway ;)