First day of school - again!

I have been so impressed with all three of my kids through this whole moving-to-Seattle process.  They have all been positive and excited.  I was worried about them feeling they have to be happy about the move so I've had several conversations with each of them about how it's okay to be mad/sad/frustrated.  And they have each has their moments and shared things with Jeff and me.  But overall the feelings from them have been positive.  

First day of school picture on the new porch

That was even more evident yesterday as they each went into a new classroom, in a new school, in a new city (see, doesn't that sound scary?  It was for me but not for my kids!).  

Leah was a bit quiet and shy as we walked into her new kindergarten classroom.  This is an overflow class created only last week which means it is small which is great, but she currently has a sub while they look for a new permanent teacher.  The current teacher seems really nice though and Leah had a great day.  When I asked about the best part she told me that she made a new friend and they share the same locker/cubby.  A change for Leah with this new school is moving from full-day/alternate day schedule to every morning 1/2 day.  This means we get to hang out for lunch together every day (yesterday we discovered the mall near us has a fun little kid play area!).

Jillian was excited to make new friends and meet her new teacher.  I knew Jillian would make friends easily and sure enough last night she couldn't even remember the names of all her new friends because there were so many.  The teacher is fantastic, she spent time with us in the morning as Jillian went into the classroom and was happy to chat with me at the end of the day about curriculum, Jillian's day, and Jillian's allergies (thankfully she is happy to have Jillian wear her epipen pack as it is not the norm here on the schools...the allergy policies are not nearly the same as in Ontario).  A big change for Jillian is moving to school in English from French Immersion back at home.  Jillian did great and her teacher encouraged Jillian to use a French word in her writing if she couldn't think of the correct English word/spelling (how great is that?).  Another change is eating in a cafeteria at lunchtime instead of the classroom.  For now I am sending Jillian's lunch, given the allergy policies in place I'm not comfortable with her buying food in the cafeteria yet, but I will be speaking with the staff soon to find out if this is something she will be able to do in the future (Jillian mentioned her new friends bought lunch and wants to as well but she understands why we can't do that right away).

Kyle had the biggest change.  Back home he was in French Immersion in a grades 1-8 school, he was in a class that would all move together between classes.  Here he is in an english middle school of 700 students.  The campus is quite large and has several buildings, Kyle has his own schedule so he will be finding his way from class to class on his own.  I was able to get his schedule organized before our move which helped a lot, Kyle and I were able to talk about his classes, visit the teacher websites to see what they are working on, talk about strategies for if he gets lost, etc.  Our visit to the school before he started was also helpful.  The office staff and counsellor were great, helping Kyle on his first day, setting him up with grade 8 leaders to show him around and finding Kyle in the cafeteria at lunchtime to help him find a classmate to sit with at lunch.  I picked Kyle up from school (he wasn't sure of which bus to take home so had gone to the office) and was anxious to hear about his day.  He did fantastic!  I am so proud of how well he handled this huge change, introduced himself to kids he noticed were in multiple classes with him and asked for help at the end of the day when he was confused about the bus.  I had a chance to chat with his Spanish teacher who said he seemed to jump right in without any problems.  Once we got home Kyle got started on homework without complaint.  I was very impressed he thought to tell his math teacher we don't have Internet/printer at home yet and wouldn't be able to access the homework sheet so she printed a copy for him to bring home.  For any of you who have known Kyle throughout the years at school I'm sure you understand why I'm so incredibly proud of how well Kyle did yesterday.  

Today all three of the kids were excited to go back to school.  The girls were looking forward to seeing their new friends and Kyle is excited to join an after school club today.  They are all jumping into this new life with both feet.  Seeing them settle into school so quickly is a big relief for me, getting their school stuff organized the biggest thing I've been focusing on with this move.  

As for me, I can't say I've been quite as positive as the kids,  it's hard to feel so far away from family and friends.  I'm feeling anxious about the things still to be done here, about when our stuff will arrive, I'm tired of living out of suitcases and not being able to make myself a cup of tea at home.  But I need to take a lesson from my kids, I see their confidence and know I should be able to also face these changes in my life with a smile on my face and know it will all work out!