I don't want this to sound like ANS is the only place I learn and grow. But I have to say ANS is much more of a school for both child and parent than Elementary school has been for me thus far. Abby's years seem to fly by and I just hope I am helping her as she races through youth. In contrast ANS feels like quite a journey for me and the kids that go through the year.
I started this year feeling completely confident with Finn in Milly's room for the second year in a row and... interested to see what would happen with Jack's last year at the school.
Oh heck- actually - that's not true - I started this year as a total and complete mess. We were and had been living with David & MarySue. I did have emotional room left to be very worried about Jack though. Something tells me I'll always have energy to worry about my kids.
Janet was Abby's only teacher at ANS so there were no doubts about Janet's capability. Yet the pressure that this was his "last" year was on. Because he was a bit old to automatically do a bonus year.
There was a freedom about being in the homeless space at the beginning of the school year. I wasn't "together" - not even close - but then again, I wasn't really nearly as expected to be as people that have homes are. I had a ton of co-op work days since I had two full time boys in the school. But, as I'm sure I said at the time, there was an odd freedom from responsibility because we didn't have a home. We tried to be good "houseguests" which was highly stressful, but still.
Finn had no trouble that I remember immersing himself back in his classroom. Jack had no obvious problems, but Janet wanted to talk and helped me start a new regime for him. We simply had to put his tendency to stall out on the front burner of our priorities. One lesson I've learned from ANS - when the teachers suggest something - unless it involves illegal gambling - you should always try it. It may not solve the exact issue you wanted, but it will lead you down an important road.
He got tested for Kindergarten readiness at PCS and he was so cute - so proud of the time he had with the instructors afterwards. And they suggested getting an OT eval, which you'll remember from 2010 as a big ole waste of time because in order to be evaluated you have to do their tests. If you won't do the tests they just make assumptions based on the fact that you wouldn't do the tests. Not exactly a confidence builder for a parent trying to figure out what they need to do/ not to over do testing etc.
Instead we had just moved so we had glorious space for him to run and bike in and something had changed and he made such incredible progress in just two weeks. So we decided to have him re-tested for Kindergarten. This time, in just a few weeks - he passed Kindergarten readiness with a caveat: They still wanted him to get evaluated.
We didn't really get any diagnosable thing from that eval - we are now just encouraging his writing (once he decided to do it - there was no problem) and encouraging him to try new things.
February turned out to be a pivotal month for Jack. I really cannot express how proud I am of him.
In the meantime Finn kept up his social kingdom in the 2 year old classroom with Milly pushing him to the next level whenever she felt he was a resting a bit too easy.
His milestones are quieter, but just as wonderful. He broke my heart at Jack's graduation because he knew... I'm not sure what he knew - but possibly that Jack was leaving. But Jack & Finn are best friends. I don't think of them that way - I'm always so focused on one thing or the other with each of them separately, but yes, they are best friends and this is the last year they would be together at ANS.
Last workday with both boys
Last few times the boys could play together at ANS
Miss Janet's 3rd annual Poetry Slam
I was SO proud
Finn at graduation with Miss Milly's lipstick kiss on his forehead. I personally feel he knew he was losing Jack. At least at school, at least for a little while.
Jack was so proud
What a crazy difference between this little young man and the baby that started off here.
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