Thankful Thursday: Starting School

I know I’ve gone and on and on about this, but up until the last week of school last year, we weren’t planning to send Nick to prep this year. We thought since he was born on the cut off date that he would be too young, and that another year of kindy would do him the world of good.

THANKFULLY, I happened to have a catch up with two very wise friends who voiced their opinion that Nick should be going to school. Not only that, but he would be fine at the public school down the road. The next day, in a panic, I called the school and asked to meet with someone. One of their deputy principals met with Nick and I and said it was completely up to us. She said another year probably would make him a bit more mature, but on the other hand, if he didn’t fare so well this year in prep, he could always repeat it.

It wasn’t her words that convinced me he could or should go. It was his excitement about going. Isn’t that half the battle anyway? Getting the kids excited about school?

One of the benefits to going to the public school was that I knew four other families whose kids were going there, too. As luck would have it, two of them have ended up in Nick’s class and the other two are in the room next door. Not only that, but we thought we’d have to put Nick in before school care a couple of days a week, and friends of ours thought they might have to put their son in after school care two days a week. After talking, we decided to help each other out, so they take Nick two days and I pick their son up two days. This first week it has worked well, so hopefully that continues and will save both families some money, plus the kids love it.

I think Nick’s teacher is going to be great with the kids. She’s not overly available to the parents, but really, as long as she’s good with the kids, that’s all that matters right? And it won’t hurt for Nick to have a teacher that is a little bit tougher. Being an only child he is fairly used to getting his own way. He doesn’t have a brother or sister to have to share with, and while we try not to let him get away with too much, we sometimes are a bit softer on him because he’s the only one.

Someone asked me today if I’m regretting our decision to send him to school after all, and I said, “Not one bit!” I’m so thankful for my friends who voiced their opinion, for the classroom Gods for putting the kids we know all so close, for our friends and our mutually beneficial helping hand, and for Nick for being an absolute superstar these first couple of weeks at school. I’m also thankful for having Tuesday and Wednesday off work, giving me time to do things for myself, or around the house without having Nick under foot.

Linking up for the first time with Leigh from Six By The Bay for Thankful Thursday