Monday, September 30, 2013

I have to admit it's getting better

Since the last post, things have gotten better with school:

* I've figured out a new nap schedule for Dorothea (which meant consolidating two naps to one) and better times to go for pick up. It means he waits a little longer for me to get him, but it was me and Thea waiting for 40 minutes plus or him for an extra 5-10.

*We have had several talks about how to make better choices about who he spends all his time with at school. It's not that I don't want him to be friends or friendly with certain kids but since he made some changes, he hasn't had any behavior issues, that I'm aware of, at least. The only basis I ask him to use for who to play with is, "do they make good choices and do I make good choices when I am with them?" So far, so good.

*I found out recently that part of the problem was he is in a class with 15 transitional kindergarteners which means they can be almost a year younger than normal kindergarteners and those were the little boys he was playing with the most, though I think was is older but he doesn't play with him as much now. It also helped me understand why he was put in another K class first even though I had asked for Mrs. Rampley and I had to have it changed right before school started to get her. Now that she has done all the skill testing and moved groups around he is with the older kids at center and table time where they all know how to do their work so no one bugs each other and they are older and able to behave themselves better. I use to think Henry would be a leader but it turns out he is a pretty big follower so the group switch has been great.

*My volunteer application should be approved at the next board meeting which means after October break I should be able to get into the classroom.

*He loves his teacher and her style is really good for him. She is laid back with a lot of things but also high energy and does lots of fun activities. While I think he'd like doing more art and craft projects he still does some at home when my mom brings them back from her class so it's not too big a deal. I am sad though that he seems to be more interested in coloring now and it feels like he is more careless with drawing. Whaddaya do, eh?

*While he is still tired, he seems to be adjusting a bit better and we try to be really good about getting him to bed on time all the time, even on the weekends. He's also finally, finally started sleeping in a bit on the weekends (7 and sometimes 7:30) so that helps too.

Overall, school is fine since the changes. I still get sad sometimes about it and I was happy when I got to keep him home the other day for a doctor's appointment. I'm really looking forward to fall break in just a few more days! We'll go ahead and keep him in school through K unless something big happens to change our minds and we'll reevaluate at 1st about if he still, we still want him to go and if we'll switch him back to the other school. Here's to the fun of parental decision making!