A milestone

Last night, we registered R for kindergarten. I've had mixed feelings about this milestone in R's life, but after meeting the teachers and the principal and the school nurse and secretary at R's future school, I'm actually excited for him to enter kindergarten in the fall. I LOVED the teachers. They were kind and smart and very down-to-earth. And, we found out that our school has the smallest class sizes in our town. The kindergarten classes right now have only 17 and 18 students, versus the 22 average across the rest of town.

The school building is more than 50 years old and is slated eventually to be completely rebuilt (budget cuts have delayed it the last few years), but the teachers said that they had no complaints about the building. And, the classrooms in our school are actually much bigger than the classrooms at the newer-built schools in town. The kindergarten has its own wing with a common space for all the K classes to gather together for special events, and its own entrance.

The teachers gave us lots of information about preparing the kids for school (activities to help with reading, math, fine and gross motor skills, etc.), which was helpful and affirming for what we've already been doing with R. And, the student body is extremely diverse, which is something that's important to A and me. So, we were really pleased with everything. The school atmosphere feels very nurturing and cozy, and I think it will be a good place for R. Yay!

Now we have to investigate the after-school care options. Apparently, the after-school programs fill up fast, so we've got to be ready with our applications as soon as registration opens.