Back to School

Summer unofficially came to an end at our house on Thursday, with the new school year starting. This was a big deal for us, because Ry finally started Kindergarten. We’ve been trying to get him excited about the whole thing, especially when it comes to familiarizing him with letters and numbers.

His take on the whole thing has been let’s say, less than enthusiastic. He’s a little kid, and this is a big change for him, because a) it takes him out of his comfort zone and b) he doesn’t have the free reign that he did when he was in pre-school. I get all of that, so I have to be a little more patient with his transition.

Meeting Mrs Uchiyama

The sad thing is this is the only year both Ry and Karsyn will be attendingthe same school.

From what I remember about Karsyn, she was a little more in to the whole school thing when she started Kindergarten, but there was a little transition for her as well. I think Ry will do fine with the whole thing, but he’s been able to charm his way through life up to know. School is about getting out wheat you put in, so charm alone won’t get you very far.

Karsyn on the other hand is an old hand at school. For her, she’s the big fish on campus, because her school only goes up to 5th grade. She seems excited about her teacher, and her classmates. We don’t know much about her new teacher, other than she was born in Korea.

As soon as I heard that, I was instructing Karsyn how to say hello in Korean. It never hurts to grease the situation! What better way to establish a rapport with someone than to call out your similarities. Most people have no clue that she has Korean in her, so it always comes as a surprise. Spring “hello” on another Korean in their native tongue, and you’ve just created an ice breaker.

5th Graders!

This is the launching pad to junior high school, which is the spring board to high school, which is the predecessor to college. That means that this is the year that her future really begins to establish itself. She did a great job in 4th grade, by taking more initiative in her studies. For that I was really proud.

She mentioned to me the other day that she was disappointed that she didn’t score in the highest ranking for math on the state proficiency testing (she was one group below), so I told her that rather than fret about what she didn’t accomplish, she now has a target set on an area she can improve on.

Her attitude is what I’m most proud of. I just hope her brother picks up the same trait. She’s becoming more competitive about her grades, which is a good thing, because the competition is stacked.

In any case, it’s the start of another school year, which is always fun. Some old faces, some new faces, and plenty of opportunity. Almost makes me wish I was back in school.