whew! a toast to us for surviving zed's first week in his new school! now i understand why those silly mums rant over the radio about sending their sons/daughters on the first day of school! it was indeed scary, to say the least.
for starters, you worry about how your child is going to fit in with his classmates. and with zed starting school during the third term, i keep thinking it would be hard for him to make friends since those kindies have made their own groups of friends already.
flashback to my own elementary days when a newbie is transferred into our class from a different one or even a different school. we'd be warm and friendly, of course, but there's still that awkward feeling.
what more with zed who barely speaks and understand english? even with all the assurances of my own friends and family that children usually adapt very well with their new environment, it still gives me the jitters.
and then there's the school rules. no chocolates for lunch. no nutella sandwiches. never share your baon with anyone because you never know if your friends have allergies to the food you give them. always wear this. never wear that. no jumping and hopping and running.
now how am i supposed to make a 5-year-old understand that? a 5-year old boy who never fail to make me sick with worry when we go to the supermarket for all the running and jumping and hiding he does?
as i found out soon enough, it wasn't that hard at all! i speak with zed's teacher every morning at their assembly line and she says he's doing pretty well with the school activities, even ahead than the other children since he's had two years of formal schooling previously. he's adapting to the routines and activities, and there are a few filo kids as well who understand tagalog even if they can't speak it well.
and i am learning quite a bit about the australian way of schooling too, which is quite different from what i am used to. easier, for one. no everyday assignment, only weekly ones, which are comparable to that daily pinoy homework. one whole day of studying (9am to 3pm) is one subject.
mondays are art days, tuesdays are spelling and reading, wednesdays are nature (science) days, thursdays are gymnastics, and fridays are fun days.
hmmm. one whole day of drawing and painting and messing about? one whole day of P.E.? THAT would have been put to good use while i was in college, especially since i always use up my cuts for P.E.!
and a fun day? i wonder what they do then (i'm guessing math day? hehehe). i wonder what would happen if we had the same schedule in elementary. i reckon it would have been more fun than our one-hour-math, one-hour-science, one-hour-M.A.P.E, etc schedule.
oh, and yes, the lunchpack. i gave him steamed rice and fried chicken on his first day, his usual baon during his nursery and kinder years in nclc. it turned out he's the only one who's got rice for lunch! so much for blending in, huh.
into week two now. i'm still fidgety but considerably less than last week.
