Back to School

I spent most of the summer lamenting how fast time was going. I was dreading sending the kids back to school. Luckily, about two weeks before school starts, they start to drive me crazy. They fight and whine and all of a sudden I realize that I won’t miss them too much if they are gone for six hours a day. :)

The kids weren’t exactly enthusiastic about school starting, but we are off to a great start. They all came home with big smiles on their first day and so far everything has been wonderfully smooth. Ben is in the 5th grade this year. (In my head that is “THE 5TH GRADE!!!”) His teacher is Miss Wallace. She is young and fun and I have a feeling that she is going to be perfect for Ben. He is thrilled that he has some good friends in his class this year and so far we haven’t seen his typical “I’m freaked out about starting a new school year” behaviors. Phew.

I feel a little déjà vu with Emily and Elise this year since Emily has Mrs. Swanson (the same teacher Ben had in 3rd grade) and Elise has Miss Carter (Emily’s 1st grade teacher). Emily is in a 3rd/4th split which I think will be ideal. She is a fast learner and school has always been easy for her. We hope that being in a class with kids a year older will provide her with some opportunities to be challenged and she’ll have to stretch herself a bit.

I think Elise is doing great. I ask her every day what she learned at school and she says “I don’t know. I already know everything we are doing.” It is true. And it probably will be for quite a while. Oh well. There are worse things in life than being at the top of your class.