She made it! And so did we..
It has been an exhausting last few weeks getting Syona queued up for the big K.G. We spent the last few months filling out forms, taking her to pre-attendance testing, doing TB tests, printing out proof of residency. Honestly, I think buying a house was an easier process, or maybe that's because houses come and go.
Many people asked me if I cried sending Syona off to KG. I didn't cry BUT I did randomly cry the weekend before.
So Syona started at San Jose Unified school district. Good scores, OK school. We were not thrilled about the teacher student ratio 1:30. The school was good, and had a lot of school spirit, but just wasn't as organized as we would have liked it. We had a few months back, filled out a transfer application to union school district. We snuck in to the orientation.
The school was amazing. The teachers were great, the principal was really good, ipad minis in the KG class, 1:24 ratios with a SCU TA. Amazing.
Paul called everyday for a week. We found out the night before that she got in. We knew nothing the first day, and showed up at 7:30AM as a family to get her teacher assignment and send her off.
It was fantastic how I had to get 2 sets of completely different things for both these schools. Unforms, backpacks, school supplies for one school. Tote bags and other school supplies for the other school. HAHA. It was a crazy two weeks, but we told Syona not to worry about starting KG again, because she is an expert experiences Kinder.
She was slightly nervous about starting at Guadalupe the night before and morning of, but I took her out to get a new dress and new pink sneakers that night. I think that made her feel special and get a little excited. I was like yay no uniforms, let's indulge, startinf KG twice is OK! hahahaa
She she cried a little at home in the AM, and then we made her laugh after 10 minutes or so and she was good to go. She did amazing at the Champions before and after school care and ran around with Kyran which I think made her feel comfortable that she had a buddy for 20 minutes while we got situated.
We found out her teacher was Warpole, but then later got a call that it was now Miss O'Brien. I met Syona right before her PM KG told her about the teacher change lol, she was confused but was a trooper. Walked right in with a bye mommy. A turn of the head, and off.
I couldn't be more proud at how well she handled it all. Starting at Los Alamitos with a uniform, not knowing anyone, getting assimilated in 4 days and then starting again at a whole new school, and loving it so much the first day, that I had to wait for her to finish playing Battleship in the afterschool care for 45 minutes. She didn't want to go home.
Miss O'Brien is the best teacher. I could tell her value system fits hand in hand with ours. This school's objective is to expose Syona to as much as they can. Whether she masters it or not is not the question, that is what first grade is for. They want to teach these children to be human, which is what I think our society needs so much of.
All in all, I feel SO BLESSED to have gotten this school. I intend to volunteer and dontate $ and do as much as I can to give back and pay it forward.
