Shock and Awe!

Poor Callum!

He wouldn't talk much last night about school. But he did ask "How long will this thing called school last, anyway?" He was mainly in shock we think. It was a long day for him, 8:15 till 3:15. Lunch was at 12:45. Apparently they mainly did art, except when they did math (like instead of going outside at playtime, but then it was over 100F with a heat advisory).

Pennie and I both went to drop him off. It was chaotic! There are 5 optional first grade classes and 4 regular 1st grade classes. We had to walk through the kindergarteners to get to first grade. We go in the back door - the older kids are round the corner, so we didn't run into them on the first day. Grahamwood goes through to 6th grade (I think) and there are about 1200 students there total.

His teacher is Ms Taylor. She seems very nice and is "firm but fair" we have heard. There are 24 kids slated to be in Cal's class, but only 18 showed up on the first day. Theo, who we have known since he and Cal were two, and Ricky, who is one of Callum's friends from kindergarten, are in Callum's class.

Lunch time in the cafeteria was somewhat traumatic, I think. Callum took his lunch, but one can buy food there too. He said there were "maybe 90 children" in there when he ate, which we take to mean a lot! They have a red light system for when it gets too noisy - if the red light comes on, they have to be absolutely silent. I don't think they used it on the first day.

Pick up was even more chaotic than drop off. We got to the school about 5 minutes before the final bell. There was a long line of cars waiting already, snaking through the parking lot, out onto the street and round the corner. We (Pennie and I, and Sarah, so she could see what the process is, and therefore also Lexie and Belle) sat in this line for a while without it moving. Then Pennie decided to just get out and go get him. The line slowly moved, and Pennie and Callum showed up when we about half way to the door. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights!

When he got home, he went straight to the computer and played some games. We let him just decompress! As I said, he could hardly even talk! We are glad that we held him back, as this might have pushed him over the edge a year ago. We have been hearing stories from some other kids about his age who did go on last year, some of whom had to get transferred part way through the year, and some of whom just cried everyday (along with their parents) until after a semester or so they caught up. Hopefully, in the long run, we have done the right thing.

This morning, we dropped him off again at 8:15. We took him in again (when he gets used to it, he can go in by himself) and to the classroom. Ms Taylor had them line up outside, then they all went in quietly to their seats. She has them trained already...

So there we are. We are now the proud parents of a first grader. And, to answer Callum's question, this lasts for the rest of your life!