First Day of School

School begins early in Georgia.  Some counties began school last week, but Fayette County holds out until the second week in August.

Rebecca and Emilie were up bright and early.  They will both be attending Huddelston Elementary School.  I was torn about what to do with Rebecca.  She makes the cut off date for Kindergarten, but considering that she has such a late birthday, and, more importantly, that German Kindergarten teaches no academics, I doubted she was ready.  In German Kindergarten, which covers the ages 3 to 6 (our preschool plus our kindergarten), kids learn how to play nicely.  They learn songs, listen to stories and color pictures, but there is no reading or writing.  Not even letter recognition.  That all begins in first grade in Germany.

I worked with Becca a bit at home on writing letters, but she initially learned her letters and the sounds they make from a game on her Leapster, a preschool handheld video system, without me even realizing it until she began identifying letters on signs and vehicles as we walked through our little German town.  Still, she will surely be behind the rest of the class.

I did have her assessed at the local elementary school since I was torn between sending her to Kindergarten or having her attend a local preschool pre-K program.  The teacher had a short session with Becca and reported that she was doing at least the minimum of what the school expects incoming Kindergartens to be capable of.  "At least the minimum...."

We dropped Emilie back a grade as she had been pushed ahead a grade when we first moved to Germany.  Third grade should be perfect for her.

Waiting for the bus in our rental golf cart.  This will be the first time Becca and Emilie will have ridden on a big, yellow school bus. We rented a four-seater to see if that would be big enough for us and quickly came to the conclusion that it wasn't.

We'll definitely need a six-seater.  The first time David took us for a spin, I shrieked from the back seat as we sped down our driveway, "David, slow down!  You're going too fast!"  His response:  "You can't go "too fast" in a golf cart."

A very excited Emilie and Becca boarded the bus and then we raced home to pick up Micaela (a freshman at the high school) to take her to her bus stop. For the record, I couldn't stick around for the bus as it was getting late and it turns out her bus never came.  The kids at her bus stop were eventually picked up by a random school bus driver and they all arrived late on their last day.  Micaela was told at school that this would not happen again.

After waiting and waiting for Micaela's bus, we gave up and I left to drive James to school on the golf cart as we're close enough to the local middle school that there is no bus service in our subdivision. Once he turns twelve at the end of this month, he'll be able to drive the golf cart when accompanied by a parent. Kids can drive golf carts alone with a driving permit -- usually when they're 15.  James was pushed ahead a grade when we moved to Germany and we decided to keep him there, so he'll be starting 7th grade today. 

The day passed quickly and there were no frantic calls to home.

And in the afternoon, I did the whole thing again.  Picked up Becca and Em at the bus stop, went home for a snack and a talk (they had great days) and then we were off on the golf cart again to pick up Micaela and zoom right to the middle school to get James.  The high school and middle school have virtually the same schedule, so things were a bit rushed today.  I was hoping by the time we got to James, he wouldn't be wasted away in the parking lot waiting for us.  He wasn't.

I feel a bit funny using the golf cart.  Without it, I would be walking Becca and Em to and from the bus stop, Micaela would walk alone to the bus stop and then James could walk or ride his bike alone to school.  But considering the fact that we've been having temperatures in the high 90s (just a bit too hot to be walking/standing around in the hot sun for 20 minutes), there are no sidewalks, Micaela's bus stop is right on a busy 4-lane street (I do feel better watching her get on the bus and it's much more pleasant watching her get on from the seat of a golf cart than standing around), and fast driving high schoolers in their golf carts rule the paths around here (James might get picked off walking home), I'm not feeling overly guilty.  OK, maybe that last fear about James getting picked off as he walked home was a slight exaggeration. But I need all the justification I can get.