Team Kearns: August 2015 - First Day of School

August 31, 2015 was Andrew's first day of first grade! He is going to The Woodlands Methodist School this year. We had a good experience at the public school last year, but after Andrew's kindergarten teacher suggest Andrew skip first grade, we started thinking about where he really needed to be. We looked at a lot of schools around the area trying to decide what would be the best fit for Andrew. He is incredibly smart. He loves learning. He asks questions all the time and reads for answers. He loves math and learning almost anything. We decided we didn't want him to skip a grade although we knew he would be fine academically. He is always going to be one of the oldest kids in his grade which we hope will continue to be to his advantage. We also wanted him to stay with his same grade for social and emotional reasons. He may be reading off the charts and doing long division (seriously) but he still is very emotional and still acts like a first grader.

Bailey was already enrolled at Children of the Woodlands which is the sister school to The Woodlands Methodist School. She got in very easy because Andrew is considered an alumni since he went there for two years before kindergarten. We decided to check out the Methodist School for Andrew even though there was already a wait list for first grade. We met with the director of the school for a private tour and asked her all of our questions. When we left we both knew this was the school that Andrew needed.

We love their philosophy. Kids should be kids. They need recess and less time doing homework. They start school one hour later, encouraging kids to get the sleep they need, but because the campus is small they can get around to all their needed areas quickly without wasting time and finish the same time as Andrew's old school. The class sizes are small too. Andrew has 16 students in his class with two teachers. That allows them to get their work done at school and they get less homework sent home. Also with small classes and two teachers, each student gets a lot of attention and time isn't wasted trying to get 25 kids to behave. We were worried that Andrew would be left to himself in a large classroom with one teacher since he was so advanced. At the Methodist School, his teacher pushes him and encourages him in the way he really needs. She has even told me that she is ordering more advanced materials for him. No way that would happen at a public school. His teacher said he's reading at a third grade level at least (they couldn't test higher at the time) and is very advanced at math. He does get so excited about learning that he tends to shout out the answers, so we're working on that.

Anyway, here's the traditional photos with the kids on their first day. I make the kids write their own signs so they can be compared each year.

Andrew's school.

The director of the school (in the black dress) welcomes each child by name.

Andrew's classroom. There are lockers for each student outside their classroom.

Andrew's first day

My baby boy is growing up!

They have an amazing lunch menu each month! Andrew gets to buy lunch once a week and he always comes home excited about what he ate. Bacon wrapped tilapia? Yum!