First Day of School...(a little late!)

Okay, so I've been very excited for Peyton to go school. He has also been excited. I'm a little late in posting, but it gave me some time to think about school and education in a different light...from the perspective of a parent. The first thought I had was that Peyton is the first of the third generation of our extended family (my mom and dad) to go to Hamer school. That means we need some cousins to move here quick! Second it made me think about my role as a teacher and how every parent hopes that the teacher will like their child. I hope the teacher will treat him well. I hope she will respect the things we have tried to encourage and overlook some of his faults. I think every parent thinks their child is smart, but I really do and I hope she will challenge him even if others are slower. And if he is slower, I hope she will spend the time to help him. I know also as a parent, you have to be involved which is very hard for me. High school and the kids have been our lives for so long. Even Peyton feels like he belongs here. Now to try to figure all of that out so he has a nice and enriched time at Hamer will be hard for me. I was excited to see him enter the school that I made many great memories and some not so great memories at. I hope he loves it and that he will make friends and be nice and do the things we have taught him...like flushing and washing and not getting in people's space and listening when he is supposed to. He kind of learned a hard lesson after the first day. I looked through his papers and they were supposed to write A's and little a's. He did like three big A's and four or five little a's and then began doodling and not writing his name they way he should and as I was looking through his papers, I got mad and I made him sit down and re-do his school work. I erased his name, I erased his doodles and I told him he could do it right at school or re-do it at home. She had put a sticker on it indicating it was done, and he was a little mad at me, but I told him, he knew how to do it and he was going to do it right. We erased and re-did it and since that time, he has completed his work and written his name much better! Kids will do what you expect and no more.

He acted so big on the first day. You can see how he is posing...acting like a rock star. It was fun to go in with him. I told my principal I would be late on the first day so I could stay a while with him. It was kind of funny, but he just seemed so ready. We had a bit of a hard time (and are still having) getting him out of bed. He is not a morning person...just like his mom, but we got there and he found his desk. He had to check out all of his stuff to make sure what was there. Unfortunately and (I was not very happy about this, but found out why) we didn't get to buy school supplies for them, the school does it. And even though it was one of my most favorite things to do when school came around, I will deal with it for the years he is at Hamer. The teacher had some quiet work for them to do until all of the kids got there. He was too excited and just wanted to look around and do things and see the kids. But he did try.

As you can see he sits by a cute little girl that many of you will know as Kirk and Fawn Robbins little girl. He also share a four space with Brian his little friend and Kaylee Dalling who he went to pre-school with at Laurel's house...so he is very comfortable with most of the kids. There are 11 kids in his class. 7 of them are from Hamer and 4 come from Terreton.

I was so proud of him because he raised his hand and asked if he could go and say hi to one of his friends and the teacher told him no...which I didn't think was that big of deal...school hadn't started yet, but he did mind. He was so cute. He kept saying "You can go now, Mom" and I would say, "I just want to watch a little bit more"...but I left shortly after this. I had thought about not having him ride the bus home because I thought it would be easier to pick him up and round up his stuff, but when Granny got there, he convinced her he wanted to ride the bus...so that is just what he did. He got on Johnny's bus and rode home and has been doing it ever since!

For the most part he loves school. As I look at his schedule, and saw reading, math, reading, math, reading and then art, science, social studies, and music (only one for each day of the week and only 30 minutes long) I was a little sad because that is where he has the most fun. I wonder if maybe we aren't getting our priorities mixed up and need to refocus back into those areas, but I told my mom when I was talking with her that I guess that is where parents have to pick up what is not focused on and do it with them at home. So we will be doing more art, science, music, and social studies....The first day was a little bit hectic for me and very, very hot, but it started great and Peyton had a great day!