My son, Lee, will be attending a private Catholic school on the upper west side of New York City and last Wednesday was new parent orientation night. It was a chance for all of the new parents to meet each other, meet the teachers and hear from the principal about procedures and policies. It was a nice night. I really like the fact that spent a lot of time with the teachers and fellow parents, asking questions and getting acquainted. This is my son's first school experience so I'm extremely nervous. Like most parents, it's hard to know whether or not you've made a good decision choosing a school/program that is a good fit for your child.
A few days after school starts, we will sit down with the teachers again for a more detailed discussion of the curriculum and what the days will be like for the kids. Communication is extremely important and so far this principal has really been good about being open and accessible in addressing my queries. And trust me, I've got a lot of them!
Each family was given a list of supplies that they need to provide for the classroom. It's a very reasonable list and we are happy to supply them.
Lee is not excited to start school because he wants to continue staying home with Mommy. That's to be expected, since I've been home with him since he was born. This will be our first separated experience so we'll be figuring things out together. The program is all day from 8:15 to 2:30, five days a week. There is an after school option available on a daily/weekly/monthly basis which is great to have if, or should I say when, I start working again. We enrolled in a five week summer program this summer so that he could get used to being away from me for longer periods of time. He cried every morning that I dropped him off up until the last week. Even though he cried, he did say that he had fun when I picked him up in the afternoons so that made me feel better. I know we'll be going through it again when school starts but I'm better prepared to handle it this time.
