No More Teachers' Dirty Looks

Feels like just yesterday I came screeching into the parking lot, cursing under my breath that we were late, and then went to deliver my daughter into the dreadful unknown of A New School. I cried a bit that day - seeing her scared little face and her incomprehension in the face of a classroom filled with a language with which she had only a slight association made my heart ache.

Three months (but what feels like about two seconds) later, I did the same thing with my son. We were on time that day, but he had even less preparation than The Girl, coming as he was from a steady diet of "At Home with Mommy." Wincing at the pleading eyes that begged me not to leave him there, I walked out of the building with a heavy heart and misty eyes.

Yesterday my eyes were misty, but for entirely different reasons. It was my first "last day of school" that included both of my children. Watching them hug (over and over and over again) all their little friends with declarations of "I love you!" and "Bonne Vacances!" reminded me of how grateful I am that my children make friends quickly. And although I haven't made any BFFs, I still had my own share of bright "see you next year!"s for other parents.

This has been an amazing year for my little scholars. The Girl has gone from a timid, bewildered struggling student to a lively, chattering repository of knowledge. Her teacher loves her and has inspired her in ways we couldn't have dreamed. She can read both French and English, writes in cursive, and can add two two-digit numbers in her head. These are probably pretty typical first grade achievements, but my buttons are fairly bursting with pride.

The Boy has also learned a substantial amount - mostly about how to interact with others in a school setting. He has a good linguistic foundation (he's just recently started to try out his new French vocabulary at home), but more than that, he has made great strides in learning how to "do school."

I know there's a lot of controversy about how we destroy children's imaginations and free spirits when we feed them into the individuality-squashing-machine that is The School System at earlier and earlier ages. And I can't say I didn't worry a bit that putting him into a formal all-day pre-Kindergarten would constrict his creativity in favour of a uniformed automaton.

But I have watched him be consistently encouraged to explore his gifts while also learning to do so in responsible ways. He doesn't follow the rules as readily as his sister, and we've had to have a few conversations with his teachers that begin with "The Boy is a very sweet child but...." Yet we've always managed to find a solution, and he is the better for it.

The official request to celebrate the end of the school year is McDonald's, so I suspect that Kids' Meals will be on the menu today. On Monday, the kids head to their summer daycare - we visited this past week and they're pumped about the onsite pool, field trip schedule, and rooms filled with brand new toys.

And, before I know it, September will be here, and we'll be starting all over again. Hopefully we won't be late this time.