School Starts Tomorrow
Tomorrow marks the beginning of school, and the boys have a mix of feelings, though it's hard to discern exactly how they're truly feeling. For me, the challenging part is the uncertainty. What time does school start? Can we go in to meet Charlie's teacher, or is it a drop-off outside the school? What's the protocol when it rains? Will he still walk to school, or do we need to drive him? What do other parents do? As for Luke, when does he get his schedule? How will he know which classroom to go to first? Where does he park his bike? The questions feel endless. I shared these concerns with Gabe, hoping for some clarity, but his response was a mind-shift for me. He said I don't necessarily need to know all these things right away. Charlie will go to school, and we'll adapt based on the guidance we receive from there. It seems kids here are expected to be more independent. I'll need to embrace the unknown – to let go and trust the process, just be along for the ride. But there's at least one thing I felt we needed to know – what time Charlie should be at school? So, I reached out to Stacey for some guidance. She kindly replied, "Okay, I think doors open pretty early for the kids going before school starts (garderie), but we usually arrive by 8:25 - it starts at 8:30. If you are late, you have to wait until lunch unless you have arranged something in advance as they don’t have people in a front office. There is very little tolerance for tardiness. You can take them out for doctor appointments and things on off-hours but you need to arrange it in advance." Ooph, the concept of very little tolerance for tardiness feels quite stringent. It's a sharp contrast to what we have experienced, but it's part of adapting to a new educational system and culture.
We walked to Charlie's school, just to familiarize ourselves with the route. Charlie led the way so that he remembers it well. To ensure we're not late in the mornings, we set a timer to gauge how long it takes to get there – a brisk 18 minutes. We've decided we'll leave at 8 AM every day, allowing for a 10-minute buffer. Our goal is to make the school mornings as smooth as possible.
I'm naturally the kind of person who likes to have all the details right away, especially when it comes to important things like school schedules. So, I asked Gabe to look up what time Luke starts school. To our relief, we discovered that Luke's school starts at 9 a.m.! Even better, it turns out he doesn't begin until 14h on Tuesday. Apparently, they stagger the start times for different grade levels during the first week. The first full day of school for him is on Thursday. This eases our planning for tomorrow and gives us a bit more flexibility in coordinating the boys' drop-offs at their respective schools. It's all about one step at a time!
