Farewell school

The twins are on the cusp of completing their first year of school. I know there are some out there who don't believe in sending their children to school at such an early age. Getting sick and letting them be children rank among the top reasons why they shouldn't be sent to school.

I agree too. The getting sick every month and more often at the beginning is a big pain in the butt. And anyone who knows me knows that I'm very big on the children playing and the children not being hot-housed.

But I think it was one of the best parenting decisions that Packrat and I have ever made.

No doubt they were tears in the beginning. There are still tears now. Evan is going through a strange thing where he doesn't want to go to school but we think that might have more to do with the impending arrival of a sibling rather than school per se.

They also got sick a whole lot and still do. The good thing is that now, their getting sick is not a big deal. They get over it quite quickly and are not often stricken by it. They go on with their lives as before albeit being interrupted occasionally by a coughing fit or a block or drippy nose that needs to be cleared. Packrat believes that their immune systems are better for it now that they've been exposed to a gamut of children with sniffly noses and what nots.

But the most important reason why we think that school has been good for them is that they seem to be having fun and in the midst of their having fun, they seemed to have picked up a lot of stuff that had they just stayed at home and rolled tins around (as Evan has a penchant for doing and that in itself isn't a bad thing) they may not have learnt.

Among the cognitive things they've learnt would be
1. The alphabets
2. Numbers
3. Shapes and Sizes
4. A second and a third language (Chinese and Japanese)
5. Colours

among others.

Socially, they've learnt to
1. Share (this is still a work in progress)
2. Empathise (comfort people, not necessarily just their sibling)
3. Take turns (also a work in progress)
4. Accepting punishment or consequences when something is wrong
5. Taking ownership (they are made to return their bowls and utensils after lunch and put their shoes away when they get to school first thing).

They've also learnt to play with others, do a whole lot of baking (the most recent being a Christmas tree cookie), play with paint and make things out of recycled material, all of which are sent back for us to marvel at and then wonder what to do with.









































I've tried to do some of this at home but with the pregnancy, the going back to work and general busy-ness of things, I don't do it as often as I would like to.

I look at the photos over their past year; the school provided us copies of photos of their year at school and am amazed at how much they've grown. Even in the photos, there has been growth from solitary play and uncertainty to a certain amount of familiarity as well as a sense of glee and enjoyment with the rest of their class.






































And for that I am grateful. I could never have taught them that at home, try as I might have.

Unfortunately, we're going to disrupt their lives a little bit by moving them from their current play school to a proper kindergarten. There are many reasons we are doing it but top on the list is the fact that both Packrat and I would like them to be in a Christian school environment. So there will be re-adjustment and more tears; during a time that will be tough for me too (The little Muffin will be fully baked and ready to come out of the oven by then).

The only way I'm selling it to Evan is that he gets to take a school bus to and from school. I really haven't quite figured out what to do with Jordan yet. I'm just hoping it will be a case of "Monkey see, Monkey do" and she will feel the same way as her brother about kindergarten.


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