Miss G is Going to Kindergarten!

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Until today, we really didn’t know what Grae would be doing Kindergarten wise…  It’s a whole thing, but because we were in Kuwait last year and didn’t know what part of the city we’d be living in this year, we weren’t able to register her in a school during the usual November to January registration period…  We were late to say the least.  

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When we arrived in Vancouver a few weeks ago, exploring our options was at the top of my to-do list, but unfortunately, most of the school offices in our area weren’t opening until August 31st and all of the ‘alternative’ programs I’d had my eye on were full months and months ago.  The remaining options were really to homeschool {which I’d have been happy to do}, find a local Kindergarten co-op to become part of {which I would have loved to do}, or find a local public school that not only had room for Grae, but that would also allow her to attend half days… something I feel quite passionate about despite the fact that our province switched to full day Kindergarten a few years back.

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While I knew that Miss G would love being educated at home {and would thrive in the situation}, I wanted to make sure that I gave all of the options a fair chance, so I began calling local schools and chatting with secretaries and principals.  Despite the fact that Kindergarten is not mandatory in BC, the general feedback on having a child attend less than the regular 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. school day was less enthusiastic than expected.

Photo 3{the goodies Miss G was given in her ‘Welcome to Kindergarten’ package}

That is, until I chatted with Miss G’s new school. ☺  All of the things I was set on finding before I’d enrol Miss G in a public school {a school with a strong sense of community, a fabulous administrator, a friendly environment, a welcoming attitude towards parent involvement, and a wonderful Kindergarten teacher to name a few…} were found today {I hope!} in a lovely little local school not far from our house.

When Miss G and I went to visit today, we were greeted by name, warmly welcomed, and had all of our questions answered without feeling like we were being the least bit bothersome.  The principal took the time to chat with Grae about Kuwait and our recent trip to Germany, and invited her to explore the reading corner just outside of the office while I filled in the necessary paperwork.  Beyond that, the secretary went out of her way to make sure we had everything we needed and welcomed us to tour around the school and check out the brand new playground.  Overall, our meeting couldn’t have gone better.

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And so… we’re going with it.  Miss G is going to attend kindergarten half time {in the mornings} starting next week and we’ll still have our afternoons together to play, create art, explore, go on adventures, and just be – all things I think are just as important as going to school when you’re five years old.

She’s happy, I’m happy, and I’m pretty sure Brad’s just happy that we’re both happy, so that’s that. ☺  Come next week, our little lady will be starting Kindergarten.

 

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6 thoughts on “Miss G is Going to Kindergarten!

  1. Wow, changes are a happening! My little girl turns four in a few weeks and starts kindergarten next year. Our year (in Australia) starts after Christmas (Summer) holidays – late Jan/early Feb. It’s walking distance from home and is a 2.5 day kindy. I’m really happy with it too. It’s small and personable and feeds into the local school for the following year. The kindy at the local school is much bigger, so of course, more kids so it was nice to find this one. I’m looking forward to seeing how she progresses … She’s looking forward to it! We’ve already enrolled. :0)

  2. I’m so happy you found an alternative you are happy with. I’m sure she’ll love it! I’m going the homeschooling route for my daughter who is also ready for K this year. Do you have any suggestions or could you direct me to some resources that would be useful that you would have used had you decided to go the homeschooling route? I’m very new to ribs and feel so lost!
    Thanks!

  3. My baby just graduated law school and started to work on Monday of this week. But it’s so lovely to see another Mommy who feels passionatey about half day kindergarten. I was that Mom, back in the day ; )

    Congrats on your new adventure with Miss G.

  4. I love everything that you wanted in a kindergarten! Sounds like an AMAZING place. I can’t wait to hear all about G’s experience!!

    It’s funny how things are different everywhere, each state, each country. Here I’m wholeheartedly against half-day kindergarten, but I would be all for it if it was done right. I enrolled V in public school, across the street from us, as a back up plan to hs, went to the orientation and it terrified me and I didn’t look back. I thought half day would be awesome, but here it’s not – they cram that 6-7 hour day into 3 hours for those little kindergartners, they get a 10 minute recess – 10 minutes!!! I mean I guess it makes sense because they have less time to work with – but maybe they should be doing less “testing learning stuff” and more “play learning stuff”, they’re 5. The principal at the orientation said, “now just a warning, your kindergartner will be very stressed out the first 1-2 months of school because of all we have to cram into that short period of time”. WHAT?! I cried right there & said, no, they have 50+ years of being stressed out about stuff, do they really need to do that in kindergarten?! I really wanted to give it a go, I really wanted to give her that experience, I soooo tried. Hubs was like, well let her have play based learning & exploring after the 3 hour half day – well ideally that sounds awesome, but the reality of it is it will take the rest of the day to decompress my tightly wound daughter, there would be tantrums and screaming and acting out – I just know it – that’s what stress & intensity does to her. I can’t do it.

    So… I’ve decided I’m moving there, instead of you moving here – it sounds like they got memo of what kindergarten is supposed to be like. (ps until then, can you have them fax over a copy to our school districts?! k, thanks! ;) ) Until furthermore, I heart you – mwah!

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