Alice's first week of kindergarten is complete. Overall it was a success and she is totally fine, but it is definitely a mental adjustment for me.
First of all, our routine is different. Before, Zac took both kids to and from school most of the time. I would try to do pick up once a week, just to say hi to the people at daycare and to stay connected. Now, I am doing drop off and pick up for Alice everyday, while Zac does Simon. The mornings are pretty smooth, although we have to wake up about 15 minutes earlier now, to make sure I have enough time to drop off Alice and still get to work. Also, since I usually pick her up on my way home, I now have to make supper with her interfering - I mean helping. Before, the 45 minutes after I get home and before Zac shows up with the kids is a peaceful (but rushed) time when I cook supper and listen to NPR. A few days a week I try to leave work early enough to have time to take a walk before making supper. I'm still adjusting and trying to figure out the new routine, but one day this week I went home, took a walk, then picked up Alice. It's more of a time crunch though, since I have to factor in an additional 15-20 minutes to get her.
Another thing to adjust to was the idea that she just wasn't going to be taken care of in the same way she was at daycare. At daycare, all the teachers knew her really well and were always so kind and friendly. And while I'm sure her kindergarten teacher will know her well, the idea of a whole school full of teachers that don't really know her or care about her is weird. For example, when I pick her up from the after school program, none of the people running it really say goodbye to her or appear to have any relationship with her whatsoever (granted --it's only been a week). So even although I know she's in good hands during the school hours, the part I interact with in the afternoons at pick up makes me feel like everyone is just indifferent to the kids. Alice doesn't seem to notice and is quite fine, but it's just a different feel from when I'd pick her up before and chat with her teachers and she'd give them a hug before she left every day.
Another thing is that I get the impression they're focusing a lot on obedience, which is kind of weird. I mean, it makes sense that you have to get all these kids through the halls without making noise and make the school function well, but I wonder how much time they're spending just getting the kids to line up and be quiet. It seems like there's a lot of bribery involved too, like giving the kids tickets every time they do stuff right. Alice loves it all, of course, but my goodness. I guess this is why I teach high school--we don't have to spend any time telling the kids how to walk through the halls.
The other thing Alice really loves about kindergarten is that they watch videos every day. This seems weird to me, too, because I can just have her watch videos at home, but it seems like she should be doing something more productive in school. Teachers better be careful because someday someone will just have the idea that the videos can do all the teaching and the kids will just sit in large auditoriums watching screens, while minders march up and down the aisles making sure the kids eyes are tuned to the screen. (See, I told you I was having some trouble adjusting. I just loved her daycare so much.)
