Kindergarten Day 1: Will I Learn to Read?

Our baby girl, Maria, turned 5 in May. Just before her birthday, she got to visit school one morning with Miles. Even though we homeschool, they attend a local elementary a few hours a week with other homeschool children for "specials" (art, music, P.E., library, etc.).

Fortunately, after the shock I experienced when Miles confidently walked into the classroom without even telling me goodbye during his Kindergarten visit, I was only slightly disappointed when Maria didn't want me to walk in with her ("I'll be okay with Miles") and didn't look back at the van even once as she followed big brother into the building. When I called my wise sister to share my sob story with her, she pointed out that I must be doing a good job of teaching the children to be independent. I countered that I didn't want that much independence at age 4!

But what shocked me most, was that after 2 years of participating with Miles while he was schooled at home, Maria still had no clue what it was all about. The night before her visit, when I told her where she was going the next morning, she eagerly asked, "Will they teach me to read tomorrow?"

Maria has been working hard at learning to read. Today's read-aloud story had "kitten" in it, and after successfully reading it, she looked up and said, "That was a big one!" It's fun to see her get so excited about reading.

And our children are truly opposites. Miles cringes at the sight of a workbook page and is overwhelmed with the idea of answersing SO MANY questions. Maria, on the other hand, complained to me a few weeks ago that there should be MORE workbooks in school. I guess variety is the spice of life....and school!