Let the socialization process begin….


8:45 a.m. Stephen happily puts on his backpack, declares himself Jango Fett. We arrive at school where children are sitting down nicely coloring. I hug Stephen good-bye, the teacher takes him, he starts screaming and crying.

I head over to the school office to check what the school’s policy is about new students and parents standing in. The office person actually seems disturbed that I didn’t stay in the classroom with Stephen and takes me back. I ask the teacher’s permission to stay, she seemed relieved.

9:00 First activity of the day is singing and dancing to music CD’s. Stephen has trouble following along with the instructions in the song to “run slow, run fast, ski slow, ski fast, etc.,” but considering it’s his first time, I’m not too worried. He seemed to find the whole thing amusing.

9:30 Kids head off to the bathroom in a line, arms outstretched to touch the person in front of them. Stephen has trouble grasping the concept, but finally gets it by the end of the morning. Must remember to bring slippers for him to wear at school. Going barefoot in the bathroom is GROSS. Some of the other children are able to use the potty by themselves. Hope that motivates Stephen too. He loved the kid-size and height sink.

Snack time. Everyone sits down at the table and gets a cup of orange liquid (I believe some call it juice) and a roll with raisins inside. Most everyone picks out the raisins including the teacher. Stephen won’t eat or drink, but is ok with sitting down.

10:00 Kids go to the library to watch some Mickey Mouse Christmas DVD (fortunately, Stephen loves this DVD) while the teacher prepares the paint supplies for arts and crafts. I can’t say I’m crazy about having them watching TV at school, especially because he watches enough TV at home. It might have been better for the teaching assistant to read them a book, but maybe the teacher isn’t comfortable having her to do that because of her English (the TA is Vietnamese)? In any case, I try to think positively - this will teach Stephen to sit quietly when we bring him to the movie theater in the future.

10:30 Kids go to the play area with the TA to run around. Stephen insists on bringing one of the books from the library with us. I end up reading to the kids. The teacher gets two kids at a time to join her in the classroom for painting their countries’ flags.

11:00 Stephen gets his turn at painting and enjoys it for a few minutes until he melts down and demands to go home.

THE END

Conclusions

We were both exhausted by the end of the morning and Stephen immediately fell asleep for two hours when we got home. It was hard work trying to get Stephen to follow the other kids. I think he did as well as could be expected. I’m just not sure when he’ll be ready to go to school by himself. My helper, who used to be a kindergarten teacher, tells me it will probably take a couple of weeks.

I have to admit that I had frequent thoughts this morning that all the things they were doing at school were things I do with Stephen at home. But I’ve been preoccupied with blogging lately (I know that sounds pathetic, but I really do treat it as seriously as any job) so Stephen has been watching way more TV than I ever intended.

These are the three goals I’d like Stephen to achieve during this year of nusery school: learn how to socialize with other children, follow instructions, and be independent of me. For that, I think a three-day week is enough. So I’ve decided to send Stephen to school Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 8:45 a.m. to 11 a.m. Six hours a week should be enough to indoctrinate him into the school culture. (Then maybe another 10 years as an adult to break free of it.)