First Day of School
Today was a big first for Sofia, her first day of preschool, which she has been eagerly waiting for since her fourth birthday back in January. The first day was actually a short one, in which both her and I went to her school for a meeting with her teacher, Ms. Kylie. This is how I managed to get photos of her at school and with her teacher. She is going to Coulee Montessori, a charter school part of the La Crosse School District, at a school near where Mary works.
The next day, Wednesday, she actually went to school by herself for the full session, which for preschool is from 8:15 am until 10:45. The plan was for her to ride the bus to school, as that would work best with the juggling of daycare and work schedules.
But it turns out that the bus company that won the contract for busing the district’s students does an EXTREMELY poor job of communicating their schedule to the school staff, let alone the parents of students. To make a long story short, I think we missed the bus because two busses came at once, and while I got on one bus to find out if it was Sofi’s, the other bus left. But I’m not certain that was really her bus either, because it turns out her bus’ pick up time was changed from 7:45 to 7:15 (which neither the parents nor the school had been notified about).
So, unfortunately, we were late for her first day of school. Late for the first two days of school actually, because I didn’t learn about the change in pick up time mentioned above until I talked with Sofi’s principal and he called the bus company to also learn about the change in time.
Sofi actually took this difficulty with the morning bus schedule much better than I did, telling me in a reassuring voice “It’s OK Dad” on the second morning as we all left the bus stop on foot rather than one of us by bus, with dad visibly frustrated.
The second day being Sofi’s first full day at school, she also rode the bus home for the first time. The bus home is just for preschoolers, 11 total preschoolers to be exact. I have to wonder what this ride on the bus is like, 11 bundles of post-school energy sitting on firm green pleather seats. I would guess the first couple of days were pretty sedate, but I’m guessing it has become quite the social club, as Sofi has leaked that the driver (a sweet, quiet woman named Vicki) has assigned seats to her 11 preschool passengers.
The bus ride home is a bit of issue for me as well, however, as it is quite long. Without giving it much thought, we choose the Montessori preschool furthest from our house because Mary had heard lots of good opinions about this particular program, and the school grounds offered a lot more to do outside (fields and a playground) than the other preschool closest to us. It was a no brainer we thought. But the bus ride home is about an hour long, and to daycare it almost an hour and a half. In the end when you add this to her morning route she’s on the bus almost as long as she’s in preschool.
This whole thing bothered me so much that I actually brought it up with people I work with at the Coop, people who are still in college, with preschool bus routes being the furthest thing from their minds. The thing that caused me to give up completely on this bus ride home was the day she arrived at daycare so late that she missed lunch, and she wasn’t offered one because the daycare assuming she received it at school.
I eventually decided to leave work early every day (the church I work is very gracious about my work schedule and how and where I fit my 20 hours a week in) in order to pick Sofi up from school and take her to daycare myself, shortening her hour+ bus ride to a 15 minute car ride to her daycare.
The one factor I failed to take into consideration was Sofi herself. The bus ride home must have become a pretty fun place pretty quickly, because the day I decided to picked her up at school to drive her to day care she threw a fit and melted down right there on the sidewalk next to the bus. So I chose a compromise, and let her ride the bus to a daycare that she doesn't go to, but is only a half hour away. So she got her bus fix, but it didn't take her an hour and a half to get to her daycare on the other end of town, because I picked her up at an much earlier stop and drove he directly there myself.
It is this compromise that in the end I finally settled upon, though it took several weeks to finally figure it all out.
In regards to Sofi's first full day at school, she is pretty mum on the subject. She doesn't say that she didn't like it, but she doesn't say that she did. She just doesn't say much about it period. If pressed she will say that she likes playing outside, and Mary told me that Sofi had said that there are other students in her class who know more than her (she is in a mixed class with kindergarteners) and that she has a lot to learn. But that is about it.
The next day, Wednesday, she actually went to school by herself for the full session, which for preschool is from 8:15 am until 10:45. The plan was for her to ride the bus to school, as that would work best with the juggling of daycare and work schedules.
But it turns out that the bus company that won the contract for busing the district’s students does an EXTREMELY poor job of communicating their schedule to the school staff, let alone the parents of students. To make a long story short, I think we missed the bus because two busses came at once, and while I got on one bus to find out if it was Sofi’s, the other bus left. But I’m not certain that was really her bus either, because it turns out her bus’ pick up time was changed from 7:45 to 7:15 (which neither the parents nor the school had been notified about).
So, unfortunately, we were late for her first day of school. Late for the first two days of school actually, because I didn’t learn about the change in pick up time mentioned above until I talked with Sofi’s principal and he called the bus company to also learn about the change in time.
Sofi actually took this difficulty with the morning bus schedule much better than I did, telling me in a reassuring voice “It’s OK Dad” on the second morning as we all left the bus stop on foot rather than one of us by bus, with dad visibly frustrated.
The second day being Sofi’s first full day at school, she also rode the bus home for the first time. The bus home is just for preschoolers, 11 total preschoolers to be exact. I have to wonder what this ride on the bus is like, 11 bundles of post-school energy sitting on firm green pleather seats. I would guess the first couple of days were pretty sedate, but I’m guessing it has become quite the social club, as Sofi has leaked that the driver (a sweet, quiet woman named Vicki) has assigned seats to her 11 preschool passengers.
The bus ride home is a bit of issue for me as well, however, as it is quite long. Without giving it much thought, we choose the Montessori preschool furthest from our house because Mary had heard lots of good opinions about this particular program, and the school grounds offered a lot more to do outside (fields and a playground) than the other preschool closest to us. It was a no brainer we thought. But the bus ride home is about an hour long, and to daycare it almost an hour and a half. In the end when you add this to her morning route she’s on the bus almost as long as she’s in preschool.
This whole thing bothered me so much that I actually brought it up with people I work with at the Coop, people who are still in college, with preschool bus routes being the furthest thing from their minds. The thing that caused me to give up completely on this bus ride home was the day she arrived at daycare so late that she missed lunch, and she wasn’t offered one because the daycare assuming she received it at school.
I eventually decided to leave work early every day (the church I work is very gracious about my work schedule and how and where I fit my 20 hours a week in) in order to pick Sofi up from school and take her to daycare myself, shortening her hour+ bus ride to a 15 minute car ride to her daycare.
The one factor I failed to take into consideration was Sofi herself. The bus ride home must have become a pretty fun place pretty quickly, because the day I decided to picked her up at school to drive her to day care she threw a fit and melted down right there on the sidewalk next to the bus. So I chose a compromise, and let her ride the bus to a daycare that she doesn't go to, but is only a half hour away. So she got her bus fix, but it didn't take her an hour and a half to get to her daycare on the other end of town, because I picked her up at an much earlier stop and drove he directly there myself.
It is this compromise that in the end I finally settled upon, though it took several weeks to finally figure it all out.
In regards to Sofi's first full day at school, she is pretty mum on the subject. She doesn't say that she didn't like it, but she doesn't say that she did. She just doesn't say much about it period. If pressed she will say that she likes playing outside, and Mary told me that Sofi had said that there are other students in her class who know more than her (she is in a mixed class with kindergarteners) and that she has a lot to learn. But that is about it.
posted by a n d y at
10:17 PM
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