The Open House

Last night was Kelton's school's Open House and it actually mostly sucked. The teacher was flat with ZERO personality. There will be 23 kids in his class, apparently with NO teachers helper. Though honestly I guess I don't know that since we were given NO information. I don't know, as a parent who has a child entering the school system for the first time I had expected information. Maybe a "Hello and welcome to your kindergarten class room! I'm Mrs. FlubbityFlew and we are going to have so much fun together. We're going to do lots of fun art projects, we'll learn some new songs, play some fun instruments, learn to read AND write! Now when you arrive on Tuesday morning I'll be standing right outside the door. You will hang your jackets and backpacks right there on those hooks and then I'll show you to your seat. Once all the kids are here, our fun will start! Does anyone have any questions?"

I mean seriously - how hard would that have been????????????

I walked away from the open house knowing only one thing for certain: I'm even more uncertain about this whole school stuff and I think Tuesday is going to be even more difficult than I ever expected. Honestly, after the day camp experience, I was totally prepared to love this part. Kelton and I both know what to expect and we were ready. I can't speak for him, but I am no longer ready to turn my baby over to someone.

There are no toys or any warm and fuzzy feeling in the room. It's bleak and ...........sad. No bright colors. No happy bulletin boards. No colorful banners on the wall or a banner of the alphabet strung across the blackboard. No comfortable "circle time" area. No colorful bins for the supplies to go into. The room looked like it was ready to be turned into a storage room. It is NOT what I expected.

Feeling like throwing up, Dakota and I took the kids and wandered around the school. We found the library. It's ok - not great but ok. We stayed there until I had my wits about me again (all the while not letting on to Kelton that both moms were upset and trying to sort it all out).

Kelton and I met someone and he told her he was starting school. She asked what teacher so we told her. She said "Oh you are going to have so much fun in her class!" Kelton said "Yeah - I am." and walked away. I turned back and said "Have you had a child in her class?" She said no but that she was a regular volunteer at the school. I just looked at her - imploring her with my eyes for more information. She gave it to me. She said "You know - when I first met her I thought she was a very mean person but once she gets to know you she is really a warm, kind and loving person. She is really amazing with the kids. Honest, she is." I thanked her for the information and returned to share it with Dakota.

We returned to the room but the line to meet the teacher was super long and it was about a trillion degrees in there. We went outside again and Kelton decided to buy a school flag. Of course Kaylen needed one, too. Kelton was ok with stuff but he wanted to go home because things were a bit overwhelming. I just wanted to run home and lock my kids safely in the house forever. Dakota wanted to be sure we stayed to introduce ourselves to let her know that Kelton has two moms.

We ended up doing it Dakota's way. Dakota introduced us and Kelton interjected "I have two moms. Two moms. No dad. Just two moms." Matter of fact, that boy is. The teacher said "That's great! I bet lots of people wish they had two moms." so hopefully things will be fine in that area. She seemed completely uncomfortable with talking with all the people and meeting all the kids. I had warning bells going off everywhere! Mostly not in the teachers direction - more in the direction of the way the room was (not) set up and the general feelings I was picking up. Was this the right place for my son? More and more I wished I had been able to go to the open house in May but we were still in Seattle (it was the week between my mom dying and the funeral) and completely unable to attend.

We took the kids to the playground because Kelton wanted to see it. Dakota and I were talking out of earshot of the kids and she said "I want to go talk with someone about this." I told her I'd stay with the kids and off she went.

Dakota went and talked with the principal and basically said "Ok - after seeing the school and meeting the teacher I'm just wondering if you can ease my fears and convince me this is the right place for my son." (Gotta love that blunt and to the point personality sometimes! :) )

She said that the teacher takes a bit of time to warm up but that she is a great teacher and she believes in her 100%. She asked us to give it a week and if we weren't happy then we could have him changed to the other class (which we know nothing about since we didn't meet that teacher though she seemed nice in the hall and wore brightly colored clothes and her room seemed warmer. There are two AM classes and one PM.).

We also learned that they do art ONE time a week. That's it...and only if time allows (I will clearly be supplementing that every day since my son has always been, and will probably always be, all about art). Music once a week too as well as PE once a week. The school, as all schools in this district, are academically focused so there is no toy time or play time. I can not begin to tell you how much I HATE that. He is FIVE years old.

We talked with Kelton on the way home and asked (in our excited "isn't this great" voices) what he thought. He was excited though, as he put it, the teacher's hair kind of freaks him out. It's long and in braids. All things considering, that was easy enough to talk about. Mostly though - he does seem excited. Dakota and I talked about whether we just have higher expectations of what a classroom would look and feel like because we have the experience whereas Kelton has no expectations and doesn't know that a classroom should be bright and happy.

After we got home Dakota called up our old neighbor. (We had seen her at the school and chatted briefly before we were allowed into the school. her son is going into the 3rd grade there.) She offered to call a teacher friend of hers at the school and get information for us. She and Dakota talked and it sounds like it will be ok. The teacher assured our old neighbor that she would have no problem putting her own child into Kelton's teacher's class (and did with her first and plans to again with her youngest daughter). Kelton's teacher does has ADHD and is a bit disorganized but has good control over the class and is great with the kids. (Yeah, that is probably going beyond the bounds of info to share but still....this woman is taking care of, and teaching, OUR child and I want all information I can get to be sure this is a good place for him.)

I guess we have no real choice...just plunge ahead and see where it takes us.

The upshot though is Kelton seems very excited. I guess that should be what we watch. So - we'll see how the first week goes and re-evaluate from there. But I can totally see why people move into different neighborhoods to get their kids into different schools. I guess after his day camp teacher experience I was expecting another Ms. Emily and a bubbly personality... a bit of "Hi and welcome to ..." talk. There was nothing like that. Just people mingling in the room, filling out a form and then waiting in line to shake hands with the teacher. Maybe my expectations were too high. I really expected to hear what the year would hold and how their days would look. I don't think that would have been asking too much though. *sigh*

I'm suddenly NOT thrilled. *sigh*

Here are some photos of our time at the school.