School's Out

 Aspen finished her first year of preschool.  Academic learning isn't exactly her favorite, not because she doesn't have the ability but because she has a lack of interest.  But she now knows most of the uppercase letters.  And she did love going to school and playing with friends.  I was worried she would be difficult at school, but she did great and never had to go to time out.  I think she matured a lot during this year of school.  She will be going to a new preschool in the fall, so we'll see how that goes soon.

Sophie was in year round school for Kindergarten.  So she only finished school at the end of June.  I didn't mind year round too much until the summer.  It was hard when all the other kids were out of school and Sophie had to keep going.  The hardest part about year round was the constant changes in routine.  As soon as she would be off-track, Sophie would drive me nuts for a few days by demanding to be entertained and to do crafty things.  (I have decided my entire goal in life with her is to not squash her creativity and love of learning because it takes a lot of work to support her with it.)  But then we would get used to our new routine only to have to go back to school.  Then it was a challenge to get up and ready in time to make it to school.  I'm glad we tried it out, but I'm glad she'll be going to a traditional schedule next year.

Anyway, Sophie liked kindergarten okay.  She was in a class with only 4 girls and 16+ boys.  Unfortunately I don't think she learned much the entire year because she could read going into kindergarten and a handful of the kids didn't know any ABCs or how to count to 10.  I definitely saw the flaws of public education.  Those poor teachers are doing the best they can, but it's impossible to juggle that many academic levels.  Sophie was also really disappointed with the lack of crafts they did.  She was able to do some sort of art project every day in preschool.  But at kindergarten she only colored with crayons.  She would come home almost every day saying "we didn't get to paint today".  And she would frequently say "I wish I was still in preschool".  I think she had more fun there and learned a whole lot more.  I didn't realize how great her preschool was until I sent her to public school.  But hopefully 1st grade will be a better experience for her.