This year, Olivia is finishing up 5th grade, Claire is finishing up 2nd grade and Nicholas is finishing up 1st grade. Olivia has been excited all year that she will go to junior high before her California BFFs! That is, until we attended information night at the junior high, she did not realize how big it was going to be at the junior high school.
While I was sad (as were the girls) to leave beautiful California, I was looking forward to the kids changing to a different school district with lots more resources. We live in a wonderful community with lots of friendly families and wonderful amenities. We live on a cul-de-sac again and the kids often play outside with neighbors.
Nicholas struggled with the transition to 1st grade and a new school with lots more rules. The first several months of school were challenging for all of us. Fortunately we were finally able to get help and he has an IEP finally! He is getting more in class support this year with more accommodations. It is our hope we can reduce that and move to a 504 in the near future. His grades have gone up but he still struggles with reading and writing, but get this, he gets ESL support! I debated about what to put on the home language survey but ultimately, figured, what the heck, might as well write that English is his 3rd language. Well, it turns out he tested limited English proficient. Now, it could very well just be that he couldn't focus well on the questions due to his ADHD but he will get extra support through 2nd grade! Yay for our new school district!
While this has been a good move for Nicholas, it has been hard for Claire since she is repeating 2nd grade. See, she started Kindergarten at age 4 in California where the cutoff for school is different. Although she is bright and mature for her age, we decided it would be best to 'hold her back' and repeat 2nd grade since she was still 7 and students here in 3rd grade would be 8 and 9. I'm thinking about the future too and what the age difference will mean during junior high, high school and into college. I don't think she would be ready to leave home at 17, especially as she has the most separation anxiety with me. I had hoped she would have a teacher that would challenge her this year but she has been really bored. I was disappointed the math program does not advance at the student's pace (meaning move up to higher math as students who need to learn more), however, her teacher has finally been giving her some extra work and Claire is happy to do the extra work.
I think Olivia is having a good year, I think she has been the one to miss her friends in California the most. She is doing great in school although seems to be slacking a bit lately.
As for me, I started selling Ava Anderson Non-Toxic (http://www.avaandersonnontoxic.com/katherinekurima)before we moved and I try to do that part time. The kids and house and dog keep me busy most of the time. I am looking forward to the summer when we make a few trips to spend time with friends and family. I am looking forward to using our pool and our neighborhood pool and hanging out with the kids, making special trips to museums or the beach.
San Jacinto Monument
Houston Rodeo
Exploring San Juan, Puerto Rico
Snorkeling in Puerto Rico
