a fond farewell to kindergarten

(Grace and some of her friends building blocks on their school fieldtrip.)

Poor Grace. School is over for the year. She LOVES school. She thrives at school. She wants to go, every day. She cries real tears when there is a snow day. She is bummed that the weekend is coming. She says "thank you for going to school today" every night in her prayers. She also HATES change.

Now, truthfully, she did have a bit of anxiety at first this year. She was scared to ride the bus, and I think she worried about school too. She was diagnosed with some speech problems and had to go get extra help. There was something strange going on at the playground that she never would really tell me about. She developed a nail biting habit that was pretty bad. But, sometime around Christmas, she suddenly quit doing it one day and school has been a haven for her ever since.

This year, she made her first real friends. She has a few friends at church and a few at the barn, and she had a few little friends in pre-school, but she's never had true friends to play with on a regular basis. She's never had friends that she thinks about every day and who think about her. She's never done many playdates (partly due to her mother.) But, this year, she finally made some good friends, especially her friend Eamon. She and Eamon started the year making pictures for each other at school. Then they started playing at each other's houses. When Grace's dance teacher suddenly disappeared, she asked to go to karate with Eamon and they have been fast friends (and fellow warriors) ever since! I have to admit I also got a friend out of it. Eamon's mom, Annelie, is so cool and so nice. We've gotten along famously too.

(Grace and Eamon painting their own faces on the kindergarten field trip.)

Grace has also loved her kindergarten teacher. As a former teacher myself, I had to learn quickly to stand back and not judge my own child's teacher against my own teaching standards. At first, I had such an impulse to question so many things, especially after my first time volunteering in the class, but I really did swallow down the urge and stay away from it. (what do I know about teaching kindergarten anyway? I taught chemistry in a high school!) I remembered how much I valued parent trust in my own classroom and decided unless I had a glaring reason to interfere that I should just stay out of the way and support her in any way that I could. I'm so glad I did too. Even though I still might not agree with some of the classroom philosophy, (which might have more to do with the school and the town we live in than the teacher anyway), Grace's teacher turned out to be a really super fantastic kindergarten teacher. She was funny and serious and strict and easy-going at all the right places. She watched out for Grace and helped her through all the rough patches, and she advocated for her speech therapy and did everything she could to help Grace feel comfortable reading outloud (a real struggle for us.)

So, the last day of kindergarten was not bitter sweet. It was just plain bitter for her. She was the only one NOT celebrating the last day of school. All her other friends were totally happy. She doesn't want to change into a first grader. (although, she wants to keep going to school AND she wants to go ALL DAY.) She wants to be in kindergarten forever. She got off the bus on the last day and burst into tears. She sobbed for 45 minutes and then cried herself to sleep that night too.

(getting ready for the kindergarten song day celebration, 2 songs, 30 minutes!)

Well, like it or not, kindergarten IS over. I actually can't believe that summer has begun, finally, on JUNE 24th?! We don't have much of summer left and we would really like the sun to come out now, please?.