This school year brings with it a lot of change and new beginnings for our family. Unlike last year when I had all three school age kids at the same school on the same schedule, this year we have four kids at three different schools on three different schedules.
Mason started 7th grade at American Fork Junior High. He is very excited and ready for the increased independence and accompanying responsibility this brings. He will have 8 different classes (4 on A day and 4 on B day) to keep on top of now. His first semester schedule includes Concert Band, History, Science, Accelerated Math, College and Career Awareness, Exploring Tech, PE, and English. So far he has been doing great keeping up with everything, although he doesn't love the amount of math homework or practicing his clarinet for 30 minutes a day. I am really excited to see what this new phase of life brings for Mason.
Brynn started 5th grade at Legacy and is in Mrs. Bautista's class. On the first day of school she came home and said, "I LOVE Mrs. Bautista, she is so organized!" That definitely makes for a good school year for Brynn. Once again, not many of Brynn's friends are in her class year, but Brynn isn't worried about it at all since last year she made so many wonderful friends when she didn't know anyone at first. Her good friends London and Trevan are in her class.
Miles started 2nd grade at Legacy in the Spanish Immersion Program again. He seems to be really enjoying school and I am amazed at how quickly his Spanish skills are improving this year. He doesn't have near the amount of anxiety about his Spanish portion of the day as he did last year, so that is a relief.
Last, but not least, Ryan started Preschool this year! Six months ago when registration opened for all the preschools I wasn't even sure if Ryan would be ready to go to preschool by this fall (his separation anxiety was horrible). By the time Spring rolled around I started to feel more confident that he could be successful at preschool and that it would, in fact, be very beneficial for him socially. Unfortunately, by that point all the preschools I had my eye on were already full. I got on their waiting lists and crossed my fingers we'd get in to one of them. Right before the end of school I learned that a lady I have worked with in the PTA at Legacy does a preschool and I just knew she would be the perfect fit for Ryan. The stars aligned and she had one more spot open in her 3-year-old class and I can't help but feel like it was all supposed to work out this way. Ryan talked a big game all summer about how excited he was to start preschool, but I was curious to see how he really felt about it when the time came. The week before his first day Miss Jaimie had a preschool playdate where the kids could all come explore and play in the preschool and meet their friends with their parent by their side. This was EXACTLY what Ryan needed since new environments are really really hard for him. He had so much fun at his preschool playdate and was super excited for preschool to start. All that changed when he woke up on Tuesday morning and we announced that today was the day he would start preschool. Now that the time had actually arrived he was feeling pretty nervous and wasn't sure this was such a good idea. He hesitantly rode over in the bike trailer muttering, "I nervous, I nervous.." over and over. He refused to take his first day of preschool picture for Miss Jaimie without me in it (yikes). When the time came to say goodbye and go in with his class he screamed and fought like a lamb being taken to slaughter. Miss Jaimie is an angel and just scooped him up and carried him in and then sent me a text 10 minutes later saying he was playing happily. She won him over pretty quick because he came running out happy as can be at the end. Today was day two and he didn't even bat an eye about going. He wanted to ride his scooter over and then just hopped off and said, "Bye mom!" While running in. I am so excited for the year of learning and growth ahead of him. Four hours to myself each week doesn't sound too shabby, either.
