Margie and I went to a meeting at Katherine’s pre-school as the official Coaching Parents in the Transition to Kindergarten gathering. We were among only a handful of parents there, and, to be honest, we didn’t hear a lot that we (or even I, who haven’t been to all the meetings) haven’t heard before.
The presenters were from the Family Services group at the Village, so they had a bit of a different perspective. Most of the skill sets they rattled off, though, Katherine has more than mastered, so, at least from an academic and classroom behavior perspective, I’m not too worried. The increase in class size (her preschool classes are 15 kids with one teacher and one parapro) is a bit more worrisome, but there’s not a lot to be done about that (except quit and volunteer to work there).
I was, though, a bit taken aback by, again, the “oh, prepare yourself, because this is going to be so tough on the parents the first day” bit. Maybe I’m just a cold fish who thinks Katherine should be shunted off to boarding school or something, but … well, if this was going to be her first school experience, I could see it being a bit traumatic (for her and/or us), but given that she’s been doing pre-school for a couple of years now, I don’t anticipate being some sort of emotional wreck when The Day comes. Sure, it will be milestone step, but a good one. IMO.
Of course, ask me again in August.