Luke the school boy

I had my reservations about signing Luke up for preschool. I like knowing his entire world and being part of all his learning experiences. I stay at home, and so extra childcare isn’t necessary. There are still several years for him to acclimate to a school setting before kindergarten – why rush the growing up when this stage is so sweet?

But after looking into it further, we grew more and more excited about the benefits of preschool for our precious little boy. Luke loves his friends but we rarely see them more than once a week. Getting to see friends twice a week and having teachers guide them as they play together is such a fun way for him to learn and grow. It gives Luke a new environment to explore which can be hard for me to achieve each day with Eleanor’s morning and afternoon naps. It reinforces lessons we’ve been working on at home: Bible stories, sharing, potty-training, etc. I was craving more one-on-one time with the sweet Ella-princess for playing baby-geared games and relishing the baby stage. Plus it would be nice to get a few chores done during her morning nap. I’ve also appreciated having a dependable time slot to schedule appointments or activities that are best done with only one child.

So I visited five different schools and we zeroed in on an aptly named institution – St. Luke Preschool and Kindergarten! Perhaps our goal for preschool is summarized in the school’s name? :) We signed Luke up for two mornings a week and after nearly two months of school, we’ve experienced many preschool rites of passage…

1. A school-wide field trip to McCall’s pumpkin patch. A parent chaperone was mandatory and Erik was able to take the morning off so we could all go together. I was glad he could come since this turned out to be our only chance for pumpkin harvest fun this year!

The corn pit was a favorite with both our kiddos:

Here Luke is scouting out the prime pumpkin to take home. He seems to still prefer the green pumpkins, which I quite like as well. (Check out last year’s visits here and here, more of this year’s pumpkin pics here.)

2.  A pertussis outbreak. (Whoop!) We didn’t catch it thankfully. We did receive a very serious notification call from the NM board of health though. I listened to the phone message while I was making dinner and thought the caller was announcing an Ebola outbreak in Luke’s class at first!

3. Halloween costume parade (fire fighter reprise, photos here)

4. Class photos, which I loved but Erik didn’t think we needed to order. We do have plenty of wonderful Luke faces, but I adored the series caught by the photographer. In the first one Luke wrinkles his nose and looks at the camera suspiciously. In the second he’s sitting very awkwardly as if trying to follow some sort of direction. And in the third his eyes are bugging out and he’s sticking his tongue up over his top lip like a crazy person! I wonder what the photographer said to elicit expression #3?? I love it though!

5. The problem child?  Back in September a birthday boy brought cupcakes in for Luke’s class. At the end of the day, I passed a number of normal-looking children and then found my blue-stained boy. It was clear that he’d been cleaned well but a bright aqua stain remained on his face, shirt, and hands from the blue icing. The next school day there was a notice announcing that birthdays would be celebrated differently from now on. Instead of cupcakes, there would be a song, a crown, and birthday children could bring their favorite book to be read during circle time. I wonder if Luke’s blue face was a reason for the policy reversal. I don’t serve him cupcakes at home either – too messy!

6. Next week we have another school staple – parent/teacher conferences! I can’t wait to ask lots of questions about what Luke is like during the school day. His accounts to me in the car just aren’t detailed enough!

I had a hard time dropping off our big boy at first, but from the beginning he’s jumped into playing with the other kids and listening to his teachers. He was a little reluctant and nervous about going the first few weeks but now he often asks hopefully: “Luke go school today?” Followed by the query: “people coming over?” He’s dismayed if the answers are a double negative!