Well, folks, Layla has been having a bit of a hard time in school lately.
She really likes her lovely teacher. She really likes her lovely friends. She likes lots of things about school. She does NOT like how much time she spends there every day. And, frankly, neither do I! How can I fault her with that? Sigh. This is a hard one for me. Because I disagree with and dislike the amount of time she spends there each day too, how can I justify it to her when I'm talking with her?
She is pretty sad when I leave her each morning, but she is completely happy when I pick her up each afternoon. Maybe it'll just take a longer time of adjustment. The odd thing is, she started the school year completely happy and confident, not sad to leave me at all the fist day. But when she caught on that this was not the short preschool schedule...then the sadness started.
She also seems to be struggling with a bit of the Montessori philosophy. I frankly didn't expect this aspect of her discomfort at school. So, one thing about Montessori philosophy is that they don't have any "imaginative play time" for the kids in the school day, unless it's outside recess time (of which Layla gets 2 big sessions each day). They have "work time," and during that work time kids and choose from many different work activities...much of which we might call play, in some ways, but it's very directed and specific. Layla is MISSING free, play time...which she would be getting more of in a traditional classroom.
So, I share that with you to pray for her, if you think of it. She is not dreading school at all. We pray together before she goes, and I talk very positively about school, and she'll be laughing and happy in the car. But when we get to the door she just wants to talk about when I'll come back and get her, and how much longer she has to go to Kindergarten, etc. Then when I come pick her up she runs to me all happy, talking about the fun things she did that day, etc. It's just so odd, but still hard on her, and hard on me too.
I'm not making any changes to her schooling right now, that's for sure. Some things are hard. Some things take time to get used to. She hasn't had much practice with either of those scenarios, really, so we'll be sticking it out for a good trial run, that's for sure. My main wish is that I just had more resources in myself to know how to better help her at home.
Ah, the first child. Finn likely won't have such a hard time, IF it were in his personality to do so, because I'll be better equipped to prepare him, and to prevent/help him deal with emotional trauma when it happens. Layla is the test run baby, the one when all the learning happens for the parents. :/
Layla's teacher has been great with me, and I've been emailing with her a lot about this change we've seen in Layla since the happy first day of school. Neither of us seem to really have the answer, or the fix, but we're both working on it from our own angle.
My biggest concern for my kids at any school is that they LOVE being there. I don't care how much they learn, especially this early in the game. In 4th grade? Okay, yeah, I'll have a few expectations then...but now? Nope. The most important thing is that she loves being there, loves the people she is around, and loves to try new learning opportunities. How much currently sticks in her head from an academic standpoint? Nope. Don't care.
Sigh. Sweet girl.
