Easton's School Visit

Today was a very big day for our oldest boy. He did his school visit where he got to see his classroom, meet his teacher and the classroom animals, and get some of his first lessons on some of the "work" he will be doing.

Easton's actual first day isn't until next week, and on that day all the kids come (half the class at a time) for one hour with a parent. Not two parents. A parent. And we both like to be involved parents when possible and both want to be there for his first day, but that's not how they do it there. Not that we'd both try to go at once anyway...

So that J could feel like a part of things, he took E for his school visit today. A few days ago when I asked Easton what he wanted to wear for his special school visit he picked his guitar shirt. It's getting small on him but that's what he picked and so that's what he wore. (I'll pick his first actual day of school outfit, thank you very much).

Anyway, Daddy and Big E stopped by McDonald's for a special breakfast and playing beforehand. And then they headed over to the school:


Easton got to meet Mrs. M (she gets to be somewhat anonymous on the blog too!). Turns out I'd been pronouncing her name wrong and it's going to be a pain to get Easton to come around to the correct way now that he finally got the hang of the wrong way. Oops! Jason said he likes this new teacher perhaps even more than the one we signed up for. He said she was great with Easton. Whew!

He was excited to meet Chocolate and Butterscotch, the class guinea pigs:


They also had a bird (which you'll hear if you watch the video) and some fish.

I am quite certain that Easton was thrilled to see the "treehouse" in his classroom. One of the first things he said when he came home was how his teacher would get the ladder out for him the next time he comes:


Jason said Easton did great. Never acted nervous or shy. That he was talking to his teacher a lot, although Jason did have to explain what E was doing when he was saying, "This is Max's favorite color" and saying how next time he'd come to class with "Ruby and Morris". Mrs. M thought it was funny and teased him that he was confusing. I hear that the teacher said she was impressed with Easton's ability to focus. Yay! She said he might be analytical. Analytical types tend to do whatever it is he was doing. Whatever that means...

Here he is focusing:




Montessori is very different from many of the "play based" preschools and daycares. I was somewhat hesitant about it at first. But just because the skills they are doing are called "work" does not mean the kids don't find it fun. Jason said Easton kept lighting up when Mrs. M would show him something particularly cool. And also, it's only two mornings a week. We still have plenty of time to play and have fun.

Furthermore, its not like he just pours crap and moves water from bowl to bowl the entire time he's there. They also do more interactive stuff as a group, or small groups, they go to the library once a week, they have snack, circle time with their Bible stories, praying for sick classmates, learning their phonic of the week, art projects... I think it's really going to be good for him. Montessori schooled kids seem so responsible and independent...things we definitely want for our children in the long run. I think it will be a really good influence on his behavior here at home...they clean up their own areas, push in their chairs, shake their teachers hand when they leave, they're extra polite and respectful...

Although I must admit when he got home he started getting a bit ornery. We'll hope it's just a coincidence and has nothing to do with his school visit this morning.

Here is a bunch of LONG movies (5 minutes of video) that might only interest maybe Britten (a Montessori teacher and mom) and the grandmothers (my mom was a Montessori teacher at one point too):

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

(By the way, Britty, feel free to chime in the comments and explain WHY he might be doing what he's doing in the video--why is he pouring and moving water? why is he moving those green things from bowl to bowl?)

Meanwhile, Dalton and I hung out here at the house. We didn't do anything exciting but it is nice to have just one kid like that every once in awhile. D asked for Bubba first thing, though. How sweet. Instead me and D just had a regular ol' breakfast:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

And we did some vaccuuming and bed making. With my house somehow more than half as loud as usual, I made a phone call about a bill we got for an x-ray of Dalton's. As soon as I hung up the phone Dalton face planted off a stair onto the tile floor and gave himself a fat lip:




Big Bubba and Daddy got home and we heard all about the morning. Bless my husband for taking all those pictures and movies for me so I feel less like I missed out. It was hard to stay home on such a big day for our big guy, but I know I'll get my chance next week when just E and I go with half of the class and their moms. And I can't promise all the pictures and movies for Jason like he did for me.

So that's that.