Expectations and a $100 Visa Gift Card
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This was the first year that I really noticed it. It was the first time I felt it so strongly. It may be the last time, and I have to sort of hope that is the case.
Back-to-school season is really quite uneventful when your parents both work full-time.
Alexis' schedule has not changed one iota now that school is officially back in session. She still gets up at Way Too Early O'Clock, just as she has all summer and the spring before that and the winter before that and, well, pretty much her entire life. She has gone to school every day for as long as she can remember. Sure, the summers are filled with more time playing outside and less time in the classroom, but still, it's mostly the same.
It was particularly noticeable this year as everyone asked her if she was starting school this year. It's a really very confusing question for a kid who started school waaaay back in history and has never stopped going. People would ask her if she was going to kindergarten this year, which she's not. She is, however, in "pre-" kindergarten, so the question really just made her brain explode. What does "pre" even mean to a 4-year old, you know? She could sense everyone's anticipated excitement when they asked her. She wanted to be excited, but she didn't know why she should be.
And now she has built kindergarten into a Really Amazing Thing. Every day she talks about how when she's in kindergarten, she's going to do this and that and it's going to be so fun and her friends will be there and she will get to play and blah, blah, blah. She is vibrating with excitement, and she still has a full year to wait.
I can only hope it lives up to her expectations.
What about you? Does your life change when school starts back up? Does your routine change in any way? Tell me and you could win a $100 Visa Gift Card, courtesy of the Mom's Breakfast Club. Official rules for the giveaway can be found over here, and you can find additional opportunities to win over there.
Psst . . . this post is part of an affiliation with BlogHer and the Mom's Breakfast Club. Mom’s Breakfast Club was started to help educate moms and families about kids’ cereal and share the scoop on their nutritional benefits and ingredients. To learn more about the program, visit www.loveyourcereal.com.
burghbaby
And the winner is . . .
That would be Jenda. Congratulations!
Reader Comments (124)
My routine changes big time! Since I am a SAHM, we get back into a routine (thank goodness!) and all the sports and activities also begin so we are very busy trying to adjust to all the added running around. My kids are pretty good about it all though and things run pretty smoothly.
I remember the days when mine were excited to go to school LOL
My kids are a bit older than your daughter. They get the summer off, at home. Lucky little....... and I get to go home and clean up after them. Back to school means my house isn't near as messy when I get home from work. The kids do get a kick in the rear tho when they got to sleep in until 10 or 11am and now have to get up at 5:30 and 6:30 am. We have more scheduled activities this time of year as well you know gymnastics and the like.
Poor Alexis, those crazy adults can be confusing. Thankfully Elianna is too young for back to school, and we are fortunate that she spends her days with grandparents. So maybe when she does start school she will get the excitement.
Miles finished his Master's in napping a long time ago, so the start of the school year doesn't mean a big change for us.
I'm a teacher so every fall everything changes. Like my life falls apart. Don't get me wrong. I love being a stay at home mom in the summer and I love teaching, so in theory it should be great. But the transition just breaks my heart every year. Alexis is the same age as my daughter Julia - she is back at preschool for a second year. She thinks preschool is great. She can't WAIT for kindegarten. We have the option of sending her to kindegarten in the same building as her preschool - I think I won't just because she would love the change.
Huge routine change. Summer = freedom! School year = work.
My son started his life in daycare but that ended around age 3. Kept going to nursery school 2 days/ week then preschool 3 days/ week then pre-K every day (all only a.m.) Kindergarten was supposed to be awesome! Growing, learning, ALL day excellence. Instead my son had the teacher from hell and the most miserable K experience I could imagine. Hopes were dashed. Lessons about dealing with difficult people and overcoming adversity were learned.
First grade, in stark contrast, was rockin awesome! Kid was sad to see it end. But not THAT sad as nothing suits him more than the freedom of summer w/o daycare/school. He was flopping like a fish out of water when people asked him if he was looking forward to the school year starting for 2nd grade this year - yes, no, yes, maybe, no. Then the day before school started he had this long rant about "we're not really *free* you know". I hope to someday turn it into a poem or story to give him when he graduates college or tech school or whatever and starts having to work and deal with major responsibility. LOL
If he could learn math in a kayak, have reading lessons under a tree and learn physics on Kennywood rides school would be alright ;)
Thankfully shorter days creeping in help with earlier bedtime, if only Mr Sun would come up earlier so the kid didn't have to rise before the sun. Thats a big problem. We eat breakfast together though during the school year vs. mom just running out the door to work. Dinners are more sitdown and less grab n go. Homework comes before movies, "fun" reading, "mommy" learning (what I want him to learn - keyboarding, another language, ecology, etc.) and there is always that urge to rush and not do a good job to just finally have the "work" of the day over with.
So yeah, there are huge routine changes but its mostly because we have SO much fun in summer to make up for not having the time the rest of the year. And now there are people advocating school year-round or longer days or adding saturdays...I hope it takes them at least 10 years to hash that out and my son doesn't have to deal with it LOL
I work in a church, and because so much of the church focuses on children, there are two church calendars: the liturgical calendar (with Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and other special days) and the school calendar. So "back to school" for many is often when church programs begin again. Summer days, where there's only twice as much to do as I can get done suddenly turn into days when there's four times as much to do!
And, strangely, this time of the year smells like cross country. My heart wants to go out in the woods and run--for the loneliness of the long-distance runner and the camradere of the cross country team.
My routine DOES change and this year "routine" is a sketchy word. Normally, my DH takes the boys to school but when he's not able to do that, I have to get 5 people dressed, fed and out the door by 8. Not too hard, except that my boys, who were also in the Way Too Early O'Clock club THEIR ENTIRE LIVES, have now started wanting to sleep past then. {SIGH} Add to that the Princess who thinks any time before 8:30 is unacceptable and you can start to get a feel for my morning. Of course, I also have Little One who is my built-in alarm at 5:30. AM!! At least that gives me plenty of time to shower/dress/eat...
My routine changes in that I no longer have to spend my week days referree-ing my fighting children. Much more peace here.
This was our first year starting school. Sabrina only goes 2 days a week but it has definitely changed the way I plan for the week. And strangely, I can never seem to get all of the things done in the 5 hours that she is gone that I think I should be able to get done.
The start of school means that we must shut the windows because kids scream outside of our bedroom way too early for the BF. I also must leave the house a grueling 15 minutes early to miss the additional bus traffic. But its cool because my niece is in Pre K now too!
Nope, I'm pretty much like Alexis... I do the same thing all year. It's just that when school 'starts' I happen to take about 2 hours out of my week to sit in a room and have someone lecture me, which doesn't really happen during the summer.
Since we both work, our lives don't change too much - we still have to get the kids off to daycare every day in the summer. but things get more hectic, because activities ramp up, and the mornings get a little more crazy.
I have the same guilt. Our schedule doesn't change much. In July, they do get to hang out at their dad's house for summer visitation, but aside from whose house they're hanging out at after daycare, not much changes schedule-wise. Gracie, my first grader, does love that she gets to play all day instead of paying attention and having to stress about behavior grades during the summer. Really, the best part is that I don't have to make lunches every day!
My life goes from constant chaos to sitting-on-the-beach-type rest. The obvious reason would be the fact that the boys are in school while I sit at home listening to the quiet, enjoying the house being clean for longer than 38 seconds, and going to the bathroom uninterrupted. I have learned to love them being in school just like I love them being home. It's just another facet of my life. But yeh, definitely different. WAY different.
The start of school usually means more traffic, more strep throat - pink eye - vomiting, more fundraising - more rushing in the evenings - more baths - more clothes and shoes ..... ugh! On the flip side it does mean that they are out of the house from 8am-4pm ---- whoo hooo!
My oldest has been going for 7 years now. So I feel it every year. My wallet feels it every year. This is the first year it hurt me. With Riley entering kindergarten against my every wish and belief for her. The pain has been palpable.
In the next couple of weeks I hope/plan to bring her home again. Teaching her in the only environment she feels safe and at ease - without the pressures of a school wanting her to be 'normal' when she so clearly is special, without the pain of watching the kids do what her heart wants but her mind won't let her. Until she grows into her strengths and can handle such a confusing social situation.
But again, my eldest has chosen to ease my suffering by blossoming this year. He's 12 and has started to grow into a real young man. Yes, our days are far more hectic with all he has to do - but it's so very worth it.
I won't know until next year, when my son starts school...but I imagine a HUGE change, considering my child normally isn't out of bed before 9:30am during the week.
It does for us. I lose my stay-at-home husband because for teachers, back-to-school also means a huge change in schedule.
Sasha has to start going to full-time childcare arrangements rather than part time. It's a bit of an adjustment for him because pummeling Daddy all day and constantly eating is right up his alley.
I have to say we built school up for him because it actually was a big change to go to preschool vs. home-based care. And I think he wasn't sure what to expect. But so far he has NOT been disappointed in the vast excitement of what Preschool means. But then, this place is kind of fancy. they have a moon bounce for recess. They have regular field trips. They spent a day talking about volcanos, built one, and did the baking soda/vinegar experiment. To him school is a supremely magical place.
As a coach, school year means the start of the season, which ultimately means longer days. IT also means dealing with parents, which is not the best part of coaching.
I have an older child so things go ok for us! We're pretty quiet in the morning, and we eat something quick-like cereal!
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We don't have much of a set schedule in the summertime, so when school starts we get back on a schedule and get back into our routines. It's nice for me because I start having some down time with just the baby to catch up on blog reading etc.
No change for us. Except the summer program is wall-to-wall fun and swimming and running outside. Juliana has already told me that she wishes it could be summer childcare instead of school. And we have always called it school. The only difference next year will be the school bus depending where she ends up for K.
Our schedule definitely changes when school starts back up. I teach for a cyber charter school, so I work from home. However this year my son is starting preschool, so due to my teaching schedule I teach from his preschool twice a week because that's the only way I can get him there. We are there an hour before his school starts and we leave 30 minutes after his school ends. It's going to be interesting this year. :)
my life has changed in that there are no more big kids at the playground to push my little ones around!
No changes here! With a toddler in daycare, things remain pretty consistent. Now come late December when I have to get an infant and a toddler out the door and to daycare? Changes will be happening. I'm scared already!
Yep, my routine changes. It's been a few weeks, and I'm still adjusting. Getting him to school on time is the biggest challenge. Also, as a nanny, my life (usually) gets easier with the kids going back to school. (This new job is not cooperating)
I always felt like the start of the "year" should be September 1 and not January 1. I mean, is there really a difference between December 31 and January 1? No. But a lot changes in September. The weather the first week of September can be vastly different from the last week of August, then there's the whole starting a new year of school thing...
My daughter will be just like Alexis - confused about when "school" actually starts since we've been calling her daycare program "school" since she was an infant. It's heartbreaking yet awesome all at the same time. I suspect she won't have any of the anxiety that some other 5-year-olds might just by thinking about what "school" is about. I think her most exciting moment will be getting to ride the bus. The school bus is just one of her many obsessions lately!
Being that I take classes year round I guess my schedule is just consistently crazy. The first couple weeks of each term I spend adjusting to the demands of each class. This generally means no sleeping and definitely no time for breakfast that is anything more than waffles! Thankfully it's only 2 classes a term. Also, this is my last fall semester and I'm so psyched! WOO
Being kid free and an adult school season doenst effect me.
Now pay me! Wooooooo!
All hail the awesome one. ;)
Our routine changes tremendously. The pool closes, and fall activities start back up. We have homework again, and lunches to pack. It's chaos until we get settled!
I work for the boys & girls club as a educational.program manager. I do work in the summer but its very laid back & I mostly just played with the kids. But as the kiddos start my program in the fall, im at a zillion meetings, sending 50 emails a day, reviewing curriculum & lesson plans, collecting data, & still try to find time to goof off with the kiddos too! Absolute insanity! But I love it:)
As my son starts preschool, I realize that I feel more nervous than him! I feel like I've had him all to myself and now these other people who don't know anything about him are telling me where he should be, what he should eat, what he can nap on! I guess Fall brings up my big problem with authority figures!
My daughter isn’t in school yet sooooooo—-a food always found on our breakfast table is scrambled eggs!
I hope this Twitter link is right. I'm having a hard time firguring it out on iPod
http://twitter.com/burghbaby/status/24527532903
we have a brand new kindergartener this year so our schedule has completely changed. in fact, still adjusting. working from home, full day kindergarten, 3 yr old in preschool 2 days a week and a 1 year old....
Yes and no. We already had a routine for when we go to the gym in the mornings, but now that a certain someone has started preschool, the routine for getting ready for that is new to us. It's the same basic stuff, just with a different destination and a snack. I expect the real chaos to start when she starts kindergarten. That's how it works, right? (I just jinxed myself for next week, didn't I?)
I love for school to start! I feel so much more organized with a full schedule!!!
I only know Alexis through what you tell me on your blog, but I have a feeling that she won't be disappointed. She'll make the most of the situation, even if it takes a little warming up to the whole thing.
Throughout my three decades, school has had a profound impact on my life and the schedule on which it runs:
- I didn't grow up in a town that offered pre-school or daycare, but before I entered kindergarten, I was already getting an education. My older siblings would come home and we would play "school" on the large chalkboard in our sun porch. I think it's because of them that I was already way ahead of my age group in reading and math.
- As I got older, being in school meant less time outside but more time playing sports. I got up at 5:30 AM to make 6:30 AM practice at the pool. I swam for three hours after school, not including competition meets. I stayed up late doing homework throughout the year, averaging 4-5 hours of sleep a night. Summers meant I could sleep in a little, but not much longer since being a farmhand meant feeding pigs at 7 AM.
- As an undergrad, I could not wait until classes resumed because by that point, my parents and I could no longer stand living under the same roof. Yet my schedule wasn't that different since I was an overachiever and took classes at the local community college every summer.
- Grad school meant working full time and commuting an hour each way to a 3- or 4-hour class, four days each week, for two years. Graduation never felt sweeter.
- When I began working in academia nine years ago, my mom asked what I would do with my summers now that I was off. I informed her that I was staff and didn't get the summers off.
- Summers are now my busiest season thanks to school. When you train high school teachers, the only time you can really get them into your classroom is in the summers. No one wants to be there on Saturdays. My spring/summer schedule becomes a mishmash of writing reports, preparing e-learning material, writing narration, evaluations, and more biology that you can shake a stick at. A return to school (for the students, not me) means visiting classrooms, but it also means that Oakland becomes somewhat of an ecosystem unto itself. Sure, the buses are more crowded, which means I have to get up earlier to get a bus, ANY bus. The streets are more congested, but school means that the place feels ALIVE again.
As a singleton, my life doesn't really change much. Except it did this year! My 16-month old niece, Little C, started "school" (aka daycare) this year, and now I get to call and find out all the fun things she did that day.
And sometimes, like today, she even manages to say "Hellooo." to her "An Cleh"
Who said going to school isn't awesome!?
Yes, once they get into "reg" school then yes, there's a HUGE difference between summer and school year.
It's definitely a big change for us! I have 4 kids and 2 of them are in school, so it's a lot quieter around here- at least until 2:45.
My little irish twins are VERY excited to go to Kindergarten next year. They play school all the time. It's really very cute. I hope all of this excitement holds up through the years.
I tried to make going to kindergarten A Big Deal for Tommy so he wouldn't feel overshadowed by the arrival of his new brother a week before school started. We did some school shopping and some special end-of-summer events, including that school readiness fair hosted by the Children's Museum. He was super excited for his first day and his first school bus ride.
But like Alexis, Tommy's been in "school" since he was 9 wks old. Last year he was in the public-school sponsored pre-K program that ran off the normal school calendar and schedule. Tonight he completed a homework assignment that made him comment "Was that it? This is too easy." It's easy because he's done it before - he's used to the work. Hopefully as the year goes on he'll be challenged further, but as far as the school routine goes? He's a pro.
Pretty much the same around here except summer camp starts and Pre-K begins again. Although her nephew goes with her to my sisters during the school year so that makes Tuesdays lots of fun & Saturdays = gymnastics & Irish dance!
back to school starts in august for me. thats when the college kids come back and there is no more parking left in oakland unless you live on a private street like i do. august also begins the time when my two school aged nephews start asking for the school stuff their parents wont buy for them. namely the expensive stuff that i dont mind spending money on because i remember being them and not being able to get anything really special. the 3 y/o is in the same boat as ms. alexis is. he goes to school 3 days a week every single week no matter what time of year it is.
My life gets much busier when school starts back! My daughter is very involved in after school activities and is more involved with her friends. Maintaining sanity is only accomplished by prepping at night for the following school day!
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We're still working out our routines! Right now, my daughter (Kindergarten) gets up around 7, gets dressed, and then she can watch TV. I try to start waking my son (PreK) up around 730. He's an absolute bear. My husband walks my daughter down to the bus stop at 830, and I take The Boy to school at 9. Then? I come home, put the baby to nap... and I have two blessed hours of SILENCE.
Considering my summer only consists fo a two week vacation, back to school means nothing to me now. But as a kid, I remember it wa a big deal, no more sleeping in. Oh how I miss sleeping in.
My daughter has been going to 'school' since she was 8 weeks old. She's only 2 now, so we aren't affected just yet, but I'm worried I'm going to miss so much once she does start school, being a working mom.
Nope doesn't change at all - same as it is all summer.