The last day of school for kindergarteners was this past Monday, June 3. They had their morning meeting, and then at 9:30 all the parents assembled to see the end of year kindergarten program. Over the past year, students learned a new poem weekly and kept a notebook with all of them in it. Each Friday's homework was to read/recite the poem for their parents. The program on the last day consisted of the children reciting selected poems that were central to the learning themes throughout the year: the first day of school, autumn leaves, Halloween and pumpkins, Thanksgiving, Christmas, winter and snow, Easter, etc. Our little performer always seems to get a big case of stage fright for these types of activities. He doesn't sing or talk, and only does about a fourth of the "choreography".
Nevertheless, it was a cute program to watch. Following that, the kindergarteners received their "diplomas" from their teachers and then had a short celebration in their classrooms.
I expected to be very emotional when we reached this milestone, but I was too excited for Justin. He's excited about summer and he's really anxious to be in first grade. I guess my emotions have been mostly internal, but mainly they consist of disbelief and amazement at how fast time really goes. It's quite stunning to think that 6 years ago at this time, I was pretty hugely pregnant and had no idea how my life was going to change. I spent that summer hot and swollen, putting together a nursery and feeling guilty for disrupting my cat's life by bringing a baby into it. Now, I'm sitting here at the kitchen table watching my guy play Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii, pretending to record a video tutorial on how to play the game. He can read and solve basic math problems and loves to do science experiments. It's been a really incredible year (although I'm still really sorry for the cat).
And while I really started this blog to document Justin's experiences in kindergarten, what I think I value most about this year is the changes it has brought about in our family. Both of my kids absolutely love school and have made lots of friends. The fact that the school is religious in nature has introduced some frank discussions about God, and how we should live to be more like him. We definitely would not have had such conversations had the boys not attended St. Veronica. While I was raised going to church and Sunday school, we didn't have talks about God in our daily lives, so I really had no idea how to introduce God to my children. I mentioned in my first post the huge sense of relief that washed over me when we made our decision where Justin would attend kindergarten, and that feeling has returned again and again and again over the course of this year.
So while we've had our fair share of ups and downs in the behavior area, and sometimes struggling to get homework done before playing, this year has been quite a blessing for all of us. Justin has grown immensely on so many levels -- physically, spiritually, emotionally, and cognitively. I'm going to try to put off my anxiety about first grade until later in the summer. :)
