He's getting so old!

Last summer I really struggled with with sending Orion to kindergarten. I knew he was "ready" for school, but I didn't want him to be away from us (me) for the entire day, five days a week. At the beginning of the 2007 school year our school district started only offering full-day kindergarten. This was not part of MY plan. I had always thought Orion would go to half-day kindergarten and then spend the rest of the day with his siblings and me. It was a BIG adjustment for all of us to have Orion in school for seven hours a day (including the bus ride home).

Orion did fabulous in kindergarten this year. Orion has learned to read, spell words, write, add and subtract, function in a classroom and a school. He started riding the bus home from school early on in September. He loved sitting with his friends on the bus. After spring break he started riding the bus to school as well. He went on field trips to the pumpkin patch, the zoo and a play (If you give a pig a party). He ran in the cross country meets and participated in cup stacking after school. He celebrated the 100th day of school and made a leprechaun trap. Orion learned a lot, made friends and thoroughly enjoyed kindergarten. I still wish he had been in half-day kindergarten, but I just had a very liberal stay-home-from-school policy. :-)

Orion's Kindergarten teacher made a huge Power Point slide show of the entire school year. I condensed the slides to just the ones that Orion is in - not that the other kids aren't important, but both I hesitate to post other people's children's pictures to the internet without their permission and people who check our blog only know Orion. :-)

Orion kindergarten - Upload a doc

Read this doc on Scribd: Orion kindergarten

Orion was so excited to pose in the "good, flat body position" on the bike that I have to post this picture. We are creating little triathlete monsters.

I took this picture after he rode the bus home on his last day of school. You can compare the before and after by looking at the first slide - that picture was taken by his teacher on the first day of school. I see differences in his face - he is a lot more sure of himself now. :-)