Emmy's First Day of Kindergarten

The things you learn when it's too late - like having a September 8th birthday means you can't go to kindergarten for another year.  Or at least when you go to DODDS schools.  Grrr.  Man, if I had only scheduled that C-section a week earlier!  It's an issue that sorely irks me because my September 8th born child is ready for kindergarten.  So what do I do?  Skirt the system, of course, and decide to homeschool her!  Yes, I am a glutton for punishment.  No, I'm not trying for the mom of the year award.

As a part two to my crazy decision to homeschool, I also invited a friend's daughter to join in.  Actually, this was for many good reasons: Molly also faces the random cutoff date and would be put behind a year and I think it will actually be easier to teach kindergarten with two kids instead of one.  To me, kindergarten is about socialization: learning to take turns, sit in a circle, walk in a line without talking, etc. and these concepts are a little hard to teach with only one pupil.  But just to make sure Emmy is well-socialized, we also enrolled her in the pre-school here on base for 3 afternoon sessions a week.

Back to school - like the outfit?

So the Coats Academy re-opened this morning with double the enrollment from last year.

Molly and Emmy

The day went great (although I was a little nervous since my curriculum hadn't arrived yet) and the girls had a great time - they got along like long lost friends.  I think it's going to be a fun year!

Doing a science experiment - mixing colors

Playing letter bingo

After morning studies, then lunch, I took the girls down to Kuwae Preschool for their afternoon entertainment. 

Heading into Kuwae

Their day starts on the playground - can you see the tearful goodbye?  No?  I didn't either.  They ran ahead of me and didn't look back!

Preschool teachers Ms. Alicia and Kaori-san

Ready to roll!

I now have 1 1/2 hours of freedom from being a mom three times a week - what am I going to do with myself?  Oh, don't worry, the list is so long I don't know where to start!