Isaiah's First Day of Kindergarten

9-2-2010 Isaiah was so happy and excited to start kindergarten. He would ask me how many days left until school started. Here is the bag he received from his "back to school" treasure hunt. He was thrilled to finally use it!

 in front of his school...Van Hise Elementary.

 Again, so happy and excited. 

 Makayah was thrilled as well, she loves tagging along with her big brother. 

 my handsome little man...i admit, the tears had threatened and i had choked up.

Isaiah's old desk.....

so, here's the story. i've written it about a thousand times already so i'm just gonna summarize. before the year had actually started, we went to register, received isaiah's teacher and visited her class and set up an appointment to visit with her as well. it was a straight kindergarten class, which i was extremely relieved at snatching. HOWEVER, two days later i receive a call from the principal telling me that isaiah will be switched to a K/1 class - kindergartners mixed with first graders. i was less than enthusiastic and let her know i strongly disagreed with her decision to displace my son. she said she'd take note. uh-thanks.

in the meantime, i tried to find out as much as i could about mixed classes. asked parents and other teachers a lot of questions. tried to be optimistic and enthusiastic for isaiah's sake. 

school started. he was excited, very excited. and when he came home, he somehow became a deflated balloon. he talked with his grandma crowfoot and she asked about his first day and what his favorite part of it was. he replied, "coming home." 

the following days were not much better. he seemed withdrawn and had a nervous stomach. asked if he could stay home from school. and then he began throwing up, begging me not to go to school. that was it. i scheduled an appointment with the principal. had our meeting with sam and i both present. she thought it wasn't a good idea to disrupt him. she thought he was thriving and he'd eventually get over it. and i basically let her know that there was no other option than to have him switched back to a straight kindergarten class. being a former teacher, i know exactly what is developmentally appropriate, and for a kindergartner to have to deal with a transition into public school, being the new kid, on top of having to deal with older and more intimidating/bullying first graders is too much to have to deal with. he was switched the next day - much to the dismay of the principal who said that she didn't think it would help. 

isaiah LOVES going to school now. he is excited, he has friends in his class, and he thinks his teacher is so funny. the change was immediate. he is back to his fun-loving, confident self. i'm so glad i fought for him. he's right where he should be. a kindergartner in a kindergarten class.