August: Drew Starts School

At the end of August Drew started school at a local charter school. We went to the back to school night on Aug. 19th, and Drew was a little nervous to say the least. We went to meet his teacher and as soon as he got into the classroom he seemed perfectly at ease. He sat right down at a desk and listened to his new teacher Ms. Allen introduce herself. She told the kids some things about her including the fact that she had never been stung by a bee. Drew shot his hand right up and proceeded to tell her and the rest of the kids and parents in the room about how he had recently been stung by a "moth" and that it really hurt. She was a little confused about that one. I was like, "No Drew . . . A wasp . . . not a moth." But he was pretty proud of his story despite the mix up. Drew has been loving school. He is so excited everyday to tell me the things that he has learned and the fun things that they did in class. Having Drew in school has brought some good changes to our family. Having Drew in school has forced us to have a bit of a different routine. Well, I shouldn't say "different" routine . . . I should just say a "routine" period! We have never been a strict routine family. Except for our nightly routine of scripture, stories and prayers . . . we have been quite free spirited. Drew has always responded well to routine though, and he has adjusted to our new schedule very well. We bought him his own alarm clock which goes off every morning at 6:40 in the morning. He then gets up says his prayers, makes his bed, cleans his room, and gets dressed in his school uniform (yes they wear uniforms and I absolutely love it!) Then Drew can come down and we can eat breakfast. After breakfast Drew does his chores, finishes any homework that he hasn't done, and then he practices his piano. The first week was a little rough for him. He had a hard time waking up in the morning, but it didn't take long for him to get the hang of things. He has never been so efficient at getting things done. It's forced us to wake up and utilize our mornings as well, and it has been fabulous. Below are some pictures of Drew at the end of his first school day. He was pooped and practically falling asleep at the table! It's been really great though because since the family is up and going so early in the morning, the kids are more than happy to go to bed at about 8:00 at night.
Drew got a little too comfortable after the first week, and started acting a little silly in class. I talked with his teacher after school one day and she mentioned that Drew sometimes had a hard time listening in class. It would take him awhile to do something when she asked him too. This honestly wasn't too surprising to me. Drew can get distracted very easily! The other problems he had been having was getting into kids space (acting silly) and singing loudly in the bathroom. I tried not to laugh when she told me that last one. I told her that we would definitely talk about those things and I asked her if she wouldn't mind telling me how he does each day in order to hold him accountable. So we went home and we talked for awhile. I talked to him about some people in the scriptures like Noah, Samuel, Jesus, Nephi etc. and about how fast they listened when they heard God's voice, and when God asked them to do something they didn't dawdle they obeyed quickly and how important it was to for us to learn to listen and obey fast. We made four rules and Drew chose the consequence. Drew really has been doing a lot better. In the last two weeks he has only had one day that he has misbehaved. He is so excited to have me read the emails his teacher writes to me and to find out how he did that day.