First Day of School

Well, today (Friday) was Sage's first day of school and it went over very well.

I have to admit this is MY first day of school for my son as well, so I was totally nervous and he was totally fine.  As usual.  I'm such a wimp....

Anyway, as a teacher myself, I know a lot of the ins and outs of the kindy and elementary world, so I will be keeping a close eye on things, but basically Jo and I have decided to let Sage go to a public school and immerse him in Chinese so that his Chinese will overtake mine in a few months or years.  Also, Da Peng Elementary school is public, which (supposedly) means less stress compared to private schools (which are commonly 4-10x more expensive mostly based on 'bilingual education'), but we shall see. 

Our initial impression has been very good and our conference with the school on Thursday went over well.  We tried to give the teachers a heads up about Sage's situation but they already knew a lot and have planned ahead, which is good. 

But the first day came and went and it was a breeze, especially since it was basically play day.  That helps.

Here are some pics... 

The night before the big day!

 Ah, a few minutes before we head out

 Yeah!

 sage is happier than I am!

 Jo thought it was a good idea that I did not go with him, so just she and Sage went.  Here he is playing one of his favorite games: 'kick the ball' (which is pool, but he prefers his version)

 This is a non English school, so he will be getting used to his Chinese name of Chi Hong Yi.  His student seat is #24.  He is in "Honey" class (the others being "Heart" and "Sweet" classes)

 This is where he will be now with 27 other kiddies...

The girl is the assistant teacher and she will be helping everyone a lot.

 Here is Sage's main teacher: Ms. Ye Zi.  

A good sign is that Sage did not want to go home at noon when we picked him up.  

More to come!

School Starts Soon!

After a bunch of long posts for our summer trip back, I took a break in the interim and just tried to remember it was summer and relax.  

Thankfully, my class load was less so I had more down time, but we also had our 2 nieces here with us for the entire 2 months after we got back to give them English classes each day (for about 3-5 hours a day, too).  That was good since we got closer to them and they learned a valuable skill that will help their future job prospects.

Anyway, the school year is starting on this Friday (Aug 30) and I am a worried / excited dad.   He will be going to Da Peng Elementary school, which is within 10 min walking distance from our house and is fairly new (or at least newly remodeled).  We have our first intro meeting this Thursday to meet the teachers and for them to meet us, so that should be interesting.

Basically, I am worried since I wonder how well he will get along with the other kids and teachers and how well he will learn in this school system.  I am not worried about his language skills at all, since he will pick that up fairly quickly, I am sure.  

Course, I am excited since I will have some free time again - well, til 1 pm anyway since he will be on a half day schedule to start - so I can start my exercise program in earnest, do more writing and recharge a bit.  I used to teach kindy and while I loved it while I was doing it, that age really does suck a lot of energy from you (they give a bunch back, but I still feel drained). 

I told myself when Sage was born that I would reprioritize things and try to spend as much time with him as I could from 1-5 since I believe that is the most important formative time and I have for the most part - some might say that I have even spent too much time with him, which I think is not possible, but that is another post. 

Anyway, we are embarking on a new part of our journey now and we are all looking forward to what comes next.

We got our fee letter awhile back and here is the run down for a semester:

Tuition: 5,600
Activity Fee: 987
Materials: 1,645
Lunch fee 1: 100
Lunch: 1,760
Desserts: 2,000
Misc Fee: 1,000
Parents Group Fee: 100
Insurance: 158

 Total: 13,350  (about $445 US)

I find it interesting that the desserts are almost a third of the tuition itself!

Anyway, this is the pre-going-to-school post and I am sure there will be others dealing with after.

Let's hope they are full of smiles and "Dad, I don't want to go home yet!"

We'll see!