school love :)

My kids are all in school. I am so thankful and hope they will learn to love and enjoy school at a young age and that love will continue throughout their educational career!
I taught preschool for a couple years and worked in child care for about 10 years and I loved it. I could see how much children benefited from the time they spent with their peers, a loving caretaker and fun experiences that most would not get at home. I am so excited for my 3 younger ones to get the experience of a preschool setting. I attended headstart as a 4 year old and those are some of my earliest memories and they are all happy memories. I remember loving the time at school, my teacher (Lola), art and the play house/dress-up area! There are so many things the kids will get to experience that i just don't have the time or space to do here at home. I find myself getting caught up in cleaning and cooking and driving and grocery shopping and all the other everyday activities that i forget to sing songs and walk like a robot and play with macaroni and make fruit loop necklaces and jump like a frog and make 'goop' and fingerpaint and watercolor and glue with glitter and all those other messy and fun things that i just don't have the, let's be honest here, the PATIENCE to break out every day. I try to do it once in a while and maybe with the colder weather coming soon, we will have the time to break out more of that stuff. It is so hard to break out that cornstarch goop when you just finished cleaning the kitchen from breakfast. I am grateful that they are able to go to school and get these experiences in larger and more frequent doses.
I see the difference from preschool and kindergarten. It is such a big difference! There aren't the toys or the open space or the free time or the play time that gee had in preschool. There are such high expectations and i can already see gee being left behind. He doesn't have the focus yet and it is something we have to work on with him. He has extra homework and we need to try and get him caught up to the other kids in his class. We will do it, it's just going to take a lot of extra effort and some extra time with him. I am so excited that he will be able to read! yes, read! at the end of this school year. I am an avid reader and it is one of my greatest joys in life. I hope all my kids find a love for books. It is just so hard to imagine him learning so much in a school year and it amazes me to think of how much knowledge his lil' brain will be able to soak up and i just hope he doesn't get frustrated or discouraged. I want it to be fun!
I hope that the younger kids will get the foundation they will need to succeed in kindergarten. I am excited that they are attending preschool at the same school that they will attend kindergarten and beyond. The preschool teacher will know what the kindergarten teachers are expecting and their program is in sync with the whole school curriculum and philosophy. I am excited i was able to open enroll the kids in a better school than the school in our boundary. It is an excellent school. They have wonderful teachers, a strong parent involvement, high test scores and a wonderful philosophy. I love the school already and can't wait till i have the opportunity to volunteer more. I am hoping next year the kids will all have the same schedules and it will give me the chance to spend more time in their classrooms.
I always loved school and hope my kids will have the same love!