The first day of school handholding thread

[EnigmaFish]

Waaaaaah! How did this happen‽
And just to be clear, I'm the one who needs the handholding, not her. Anyone want to join me?

We just got a text from the school saying that they are starting on Monday the 29th of August. We thought it was Thursday the 1st of September.
Usually, I'm not overly sentimental about this sort of thing but I feel like the last three days have been stolen from me!

[ches]

I'm the reverse - thought T's first day of school would be Aug 30th, instead, it's Sept 1st. I have to be delivering a workshop 5 hours away. I am so mad I could spit. I won't even make it home for bedtime. $#@!

[Brigitte]

I'll join in! Our first day is Wednesday, September 7th. I'm actually feeling like perhaps I'm missing something? Am I supposed to be more prepared? Buy more stuff?

Maybe I"m somewhat in denial. Or I'm a realist and I know there's absolutely no way to figure out in advance what our life will be like with one kid in big school, one in preschool, and the baby's naps to fit in between all the running around. I'm looking forward to having it all figured out one day, though!

Next week when all the school administrators return to work, I'll have to set up a meeting with the principal about my daughter's nut allergy. I don't understand why in this day and age, they figure they can just hand out the epinephrine paperwork on the first day and then have us bring it back sometime in the first week (signed by a doctor no less). Why has it not occurred to them that I will not be leaving my child there until I am convinced that all the right people know about her allergy and where the epipen is kept and how to use it? The mayhem of the first week is the perfect time for her to accidentally eat something that gives her a reaction, and the perfect time for no staff to have a clue who she is, how to recognize it or what to do. So it's up to me to sort everything out the week before so that I can actually leave her there on the first day knowing she's taken care of.

[StJuniper]

Like a chump, I have forgotten to put P's first day in the calendar. My head says it's the 8th but my heart says it's the 9th. I guess I kind of thought they'd send out a reminder email for all the stuff they covered in the orientation at the beginning of the summer, but no, apparently we're expected to have memorized it all, so...

I am most worried about the bus ride, which is going to be super-long and of course have kids of all ages. I don't ever remember being well-supervised on my bus ride, just periodically yelled at by a grumpy bus driver when the bus got too loud. I'm more scared than I'd like to say of my sweet boy being teased by a bigger kid or exposed to something that makes him uncomfortable. I think he'll get on great in his class; he'll be one of the oldest kids and is pretty ahead educationally, so I expect everything there will come easily to him, so it's just the bus ride, really, that I'm worried about.

Oh, and also that he's still shaky on wiping himself and will come home with skid marks every day...

[ches]

Bridgitte, does she not carry her own EpiPen? I remember reading somewhere that it's the safest option, but not having to deal with severe allergies I could be talking out my bum.

StJ I thought you were home schooling. My kids will have 2 and 4 mile bus rides, respectively, only elementary kids, and I'm a bit nervous myself. Can you not drive P until he settles into school?

[Lily]

Oh, I'm in, for sure. Izbiz starts on the 5th. I think he'll be ok once he's found someone to play with, but we were on holiday when they had their stay-and-play sessions in July so I'm worried everyone else will recognise familiar faces and he'll be all alone. He's not worried at all, and he's usually fine playing with kids at the park or wherever so I'm sure he'll make friends soon enough, but the irrational part of my brain is just picturing him all by himself in a corner.

Also, we had homework over the summer, decorating a shoebox and filling it with things that are special to him. I have no idea whether we're meant to take it with us on day 1 or not. And the stay-and-play was when they handed out book bags, so everyone except him will have a book bag.

Totally with you on the skid marks issue, StJ.

Oh and just in case one wasn't enough, Iz's first day at school will also be B's first full day at nursery. Though I think I may ask them if we can extend the settling-in period; her separation anxiety is so crippling that it'll take a while to get past it. At this point I'm not sure I'll really be able to get her settled at all, and we might not be able to send her to nursery till she's older. That's a whole other thread, though.

[ches]

Oh Lily, separation anxiety takes forever to go away, but I watched so many kids wail like they're being murdered and before their parents even reached their cars they were smiling and playing. It's way worse for the parents than the kids. I only ever saw one kid struggle with settling in, and I used to spend a lot of time at the daycare when J was little.

[Brigitte]

Bridgitte, does she not carry her own EpiPen? I remember reading somewhere that it's the safest option, but not having to deal with severe allergies I could be talking out my bum.

Well, that's one of the options, and if her allergy were of the most extreme sort then I would certainly be insisting on it. The school's default is to keep it in the office, which seems a bit too far away from the action for my comfort. If we could keep it in her classroom that might be best. All of this will need to be covered at the meeting I will need to insist on next week. I'm kind of hoping we can come to a solution where she doesn't need to literally be saddled with her medication at all times. She's already going to have to get used to wearing a medic alert bracelet.

[StJuniper]

Ches, we will homeschool, but we decided a while ago we'd send each kid to jr and sr kindergarten. I am planing to use the one-on-one time with the Feral Kid to do some homeschooling with him, it will give me some breathing room such as I haven't had since Tumbleweed was born, and P is already well ahead of the kindergarten level anyhow so I just think of it as free babysitting with a side of social skills, independence, and a rich play environment.

I could drive him, but they told us at his orientation that we should start as we mean to go on-- that if they're going to take the bus, they should take it from the start. I don't know. I'm taking him to a bus safety lesson/practice bus ride this Saturday, so maybe that will help reassure me. I felt a lot better about how he'd do in his class after his orientation...

[ches]

Brigitte, the problem with the classroom is it's too far away from the lunch room. :/

StJ, I FEEL you. I am all about the free babysitting. I think you know what's best for your wee man better than the school. Apparently most teachers are extroverts, and "start as you mean to go on" works for maybe 2/3 of kids, but some need to take things one step at a time. For instance, I'm worried about my 9yo taking the bus, not my not-yet-5yo.

[Lily]

Oh Lily, separation anxiety takes forever to go away, but I watched so many kids wail like they're being murdered and before their parents even reached their cars they were smiling and playing. It's way worse for the parents than the kids. I only ever saw one kid struggle with settling in, and I used to spend a lot of time at the daycare when J was little.

Izbiz was one of those kids - I used to peep through the window and he'd stopped crying by the time I was out the door. But B cries even when she's with her daddy, and she's been known to scream for two hours nonstop when left with granny. She's been like this pretty much since birth. I'm hopeful nursery can deal with it, but I don't want to count my chickens.

[Marrow]

I'm in. 9th September here, just for the morning. She'll be fine.

What I'm feeling more upset about is her last day of nursery, next Thursday. She's been there since she was 7 months old, with the same keyworker since she was 15 months. A cake and some toiletries doesn't really do it justice. And most of her friends from there are going to the other local school.

[LucyLastic]

C starts Mon 12 Sept. I've been a bit blasé about it but the reality of my baby not being here all week is beginning to kick in. What will I do without her? Who will cuddle me every twenty minutes?! I feel unprepared (I've got her uniform and book bag, but can't think of anything else - school provides all stationery and lunch) and like I've wasted this summer time with her. I think she'll be fine and I'm the one who'll have the separation anxiety issues. I know she's ready but sometimes I look at her and she's still so little to be going out into the big wide world on her own.
*cries*

[EnigmaFish]

((everyone))
So, are we the earliest start, then? I can't believe it's so close! Two more days. I think we have everything we need.
We get a certain number of hours of free preschool/creche/Montessori in the year they turn three, so she is used to a structured environment, and I am used to sending her to school every day. This school she's going to now is the start of her formal, obligatory schooling.
Most likely, she won't leave full-time education for another twenty years. Third-level degrees are the norm here now, and masters degrees probably will be by the time they reach that level. Is it the same for you guys?

[Lily]

Most likely, she won't leave full-time education for another twenty years. Third-level degrees are the norm here now, and masters degrees probably will be by the time they reach that level. Is it the same for you guys?

This is what's freaking me out a little too. Izbiz has been at nursery two or three days a week since he was about 18months, but the idea that he now has no choice but to go to school every day for the next 14 years, then most probably several years of university after that, just seems totally weird and constricting. It's kind of heartbreaking that he has no concept of the time extending out ahead of him. I'm clinging to the idea that we might homeschool at some point, but realistically I know that's unlikely.