Lily and I attended her Student Orientation on Friday morning at her new school, River's Edge Christian Academy (RECA). This was her first chance to see her classroom, meet her teacher Mrs. Anderson, and meet her 7 other classmates.
{Lily has a loose tooth and continued to wiggle it in all the group pictures.}
Lily was very shy at first and hid behind me. But as soon as her little friend Lexi walked through the door Lily perked up and was eager to play and get involved in the activities.
{Lily and Lexi in the cozy corner.}
It was a really great experience and I'm so grateful that things went so smoothly. Lily is now excited about her first day of school on Monday morning. We have our curriculum, school supplies, backpack, snack/lunchbox, and our lesson plans for our first week. I'm so excited to be working with Lily on all these new skills - reading, math, social studies, weather, date/time, etc. And best of all her curriculum is completely from a Biblical worldview. She will be learning about her Creator God and about all the wonder of this big world that He designed for people that He loves so much. Just thinking from a Kindergartner's point of view, it must all be so new and exciting and it makes me very excited to be walking this journey with her - seeing her world expand before her very eyes, and witnessing her make connections about our Savior and His boundless blessings and love for us.
Some things that I already love about her teacher Mrs. Anderson and RECA and why it's a perfect answer to prayer:
- Mrs. Anderson is sweet, soft-spoken, gentle, loving and very patient.
- Mrs. Anderson explained that she will be doing things a little different from the other K5 RECA teachers by giving the students small breaks every 20 minutes between subjects. If you know Lily, this is perfect for my little sensory-seeking-very-active-can't-sit-still-for-too-long student.
- This one may sound trivial, but it's a biggy for Lily...Mrs. Anderson is incorporating ways for the students to bring with them to school a favorite item from home. This is a huge comfort for Lily to have a familiar object with her. Lily had a preschool teacher and various Sunday School teachers who have discouraged bringing favorite items into the classroom for fear it would be a distraction. Perhaps it's a small thing, but again this is another answer to prayer. I've already seen the excitement on Lily's face when I've told her she can pick out one of her favorite things to take with her.
- Mrs. Anderson is very flexible and has already demonstrated how much she wants to work closely with us parent-teachers. It'll be a perfect match!
- RECA is Christ-centered. Every day begins with devotion and prayer. And all the curriculum is from a Biblical worldview. Dress code enforces modesty and fairness. I love having that one less worry for my little girl.
- RECA is 100% parent-led and run by volunteering parents. Even before the first day of school has begun, I've already witnessed the beauty of this process. All the parent-teachers, mostly moms, in Lily's class have already begun working closely together to supply Mrs. Anderson with extra supplies. Since we are meeting in a brand new satellite campus for RECA, and right now it's the only classroom meeting at this location, we are trying to help Mrs. Anderson have all the things that she would've had at one of the larger campuses. It's awesome to see all the moms pull together, volunteer, and help. Such a cool concept!
BJ will be taking care of morning drop-off...what a blessing that is! And so I won't be there to witness Lily walk into her classroom for her first official day of school. I know she'll do great! (And it also helps me to know that I'll be picking her up very soon afterwards since they fit in all academics, playtime and snack time in only 4 hours!)
5 comments:
I am excited for Lily and you, since tow younger boys and a newborn will be more than enough to keep you busy. I am very curious though. What exactly are saying the arrangement is. Is Mrs. Anderson a paid teacher or a volunteer mom who just happens to have 3 or 4 spare hours? Do you assist at home with lessons or do you or other mothers teach at RECA?
Well, neither boy is blond haired, so I meant two boys.
All the teachers at RECA are paid certified educators, and most of them have many years of teaching experience in public, private and/or homeschooling. RECA even has a few PhD teachers in the upper grades. The classroom teacher and parent-teacher (me) work closely together following the same lesson plans throughout the week. Lily attends class M, W, Th and we do home study on T, F. The shortened school days encourage family time and more extra-curricular enrichment such as art, music, science, field trips, family trips, etc. But, yes, it takes a lot of the stress off me since having so many little ones at home will be a challenge in itself. I'm grateful for this awesome concept that I feel is a complete answer to our prayers. Our tuition (greatly cheaper than private school) helps pay the salary of the teachers and a few administrators who keep the place running. There are 3 other similar programs in Knoxville, but we chose this one due to location and because we liked their approach to education - it meets our family goals.
I enjoy hearing about Christians that do innovative things to further God's calling in our lives. This is indeed exciting.
So very excited about this new adventure for L! God is good!
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