VPK

My goodness I totally forgot to blog about Kaitlyn starting VPK this year.  In Florida we have a voluntary Pre-Kindergarten program that basically makes "pre-school" free to all qualifying children.  You do have to register them in the spring before they start in the fall and wait for "approval".  (I've never heard of anyone getting turned down.)  Our daycare offers VPK so of course I was just going to keep her there for convenience and not to mention we have the best VPK teacher in the county.  The program runs from 9 AM to noon.  We just have to pay for the extra time that she is there for daycare; it's a greatly reduced fee, YAY! 

She absolutely LOVES it.  I asked her before she started what she wanted to learn about in VPK and she, without hesitation, stated MATH.   I am not a lover of math so thank God this child does not take after her mother in that regard.  (I'm pretty sure it's because of Team Umizoomi...thanks Nickelodeon.)  I warned the assistant director, who also teaches the VPK class, that there better be some math in the curriculum or they were going to have a hot, sassy girl on their hands.  She laughed and reassured me there was...PHEW. 

She was so excited to start VPK.  They went back to daycare a week before the actual program started because as a teacher I have a week of pre-school myself that I have to go to.  She made sure to tell me to not feed Tyler something that took him so long to eat because she did NOT want to be late.  (He takes forever eating cereal because he does not put any milk in it and eat it one cheerio at a time.) 

I took the obligatory first day of pre-school pictures along with the cute framed printable I got from I {HEART} Naptime.  My plan is to hang the framed printable over the sliding glass door in the playroom for every year the kids are in school and stick a 4x7 picture of each child holding the frame for comparison purposes.  I sent her off with her daddy on her first day of pre-school so I could also head off to my first day of classes.  I picked her up after my school day ended and asked her how her day was.  She was not happy at all that they didn't learn math.  I told her it probably would be awhile before they got to the math part because they had to learn the rules and learn who the new kids were and also let the teachers get to know them.  She was partly satisfied with that explanation but firmly told me "there better be some math tomorrow."  (Oy vey her teachers are in for a year.)  Ms. Mary, the assistant director/VPK teacher, told me that she absolutely LOVED having Kaitlyn in her class and there was no doubt that her mother is a teacher.  I absolutely love hearing that compliment because we truly do work hard with our kids instilling values, respect and a love for learning in to them.  I work with a lot of kids whose parents do not make any of those things a priority and it's a constant struggle to get them to see the importance of a good education. 

Every morning dad gets a report from the day before on how adorable Kaitlyn is and how smart she is.  So far she has given a lesson on cylinder (string) cheese, speaking Spanish, and what fun words start with whatever letter they are learning for the week.  (This week they are learning the letter "B" and she geniusly came up with the word booger! *eye roll*) 

I am so glad that she is having such a good time and that she's learning so much.  She came home with homework last night and insisted on finishing it before she even ate.  Super impressive because we were having her all time favorite, spaghetti; also the homework wasn't due for another week.  Hopefully she will always enjoy school or at least appreciate the need for a good education.

So Far

Well I am three weeks in to this new school year in my new position and so far I'm still on the fence about this job.  Middle school is a whole different galaxy than high school.  They speak differently, have different schedules, routines, rules, etc.  It took me one whole week to figure out the bell schedule at one of my schools.  It's so confusing!  (It doesn't help that none of my schools have the same bell schedule.  Two are on block and one does a straight 7 day, however the two block schedules are totally different.) 

The thing I'm struggling most with is the schedule.  I'm so used to high school starting at 7:05 and being at school by 6, 6:30 at the absolute latest.  We ended the school day at 1:50 and I was done with school by 2:20.  First period in middle school doesn't even start until 9:30!  Classes don't end until 4:15 and teachers can leave by 4:20.  (I usually get to school by 8:30 and work until 4:00...as long as I get my 7.5 hours in I'm ok; benefits of a flex schedule.)  It usually takes me anywhere from 15-30 minutes to get to daycare, depending on what school I'm at for the week.  The middle school schedule severely cuts in to my time with Kaitlyn and Tyler.  They are so used to eating a snack as soon as we get home because that's what we have been doing ever since I had to go back to work after Kaitlyn's birth.  Now, it's not a good idea for them to have a snack when we get home because I need to get dinner started right away.  I know that they are used to eating at 5:00 and we don't get home until a little after so I feel bad for them, but I don't want to fill them up with snacks because they won't eat their dinner.  I also don't get to decompress with them and talk about their day and play little games with them before having to get dinner started so they are constantly under my feet in the kitchen and I'm  frustrated a lot and have to keep sending them out.  It's totally worse than having the dog underneath my feet when I cook! 

I also haven't been able to exercise in the evening because I'm too busy cleaning up after dinner and getting the kids ready for bed.  I'm feeling really flabby lately and really tired because I'm not getting my exercise in.  I tried working out in the morning, but I just don't have the energy right when I get up to get through any type of cardio or strength training.  I feel way too bloated if I try to drink a protein shake before exercising in the morning.  I've been trying to get some yoga in as soon as I wake up, but I'm just so exhausted to even try to get out of bed in the mornings.  I think I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and force my way out of bed and just deal.  The yoga DVD I have is pretty good and it's only 20 minutes.  It's a morning routine so it's not too intense which may just be the perfect thing for me as a beginning yogi. 

I'll keep trucking on this year because I'm not going to leave my three schools hanging, but this is definitely the first AND last year I will do middle school.  It may be the last year I have to work anyway :)