Kindergarten Orientation ...

So yesterday was kindergarten orientation here in district 191. I know the boys won't go to our neighborhood school, the school Aliza and all the kids on our street go to. Two schools in our district have autism programs, so they will have to attend one of them. One is only about 8 blocks from our house, the other is more like 8 miles. Obviously I'd prefer the closer one. Sarah, the boys ECSE teacher, said I should attend the orientation at the school I hope they'll go to. When I called over there though, the secretary said she didn't think I should come to their orientation, she thought I should register the boys at our neighborhood school, the one they would normally have gone to, and then when they figure out which school they'll actually
be attending, the paperwork will be transferred.

The secretary at our neighborhood school disagreed with that. She felt that it would be pointless to register the boys and for me to attend their orientation when we know for certain the boys won't be going to school there. She said if I go to the orientation at the hoped-for school, at least I could possibly meet the kindergarten teachers and the principal, maybe even get a tour of the school. Then she says, they must be on the list she has, of expected kindergarteners from our neighborhood......so she looked them up on the computerized list and sure enough, there they were, two Kormans in a row in a list of future kindergarteners. Then she wrote next to their names, in parentheses, "Special Ed". And something in me fell apart as I watched her do that. I'm quite proud that I didn't complete collapse though until I left her office. It's funny how you can spend days, months, even years dealing with the special needs of your children on a daily basis, so you might think you are used to it and nothing will faze you again, and then a punch comes from out of nowhere to knock you down. This transition to kindergarten is going to be hard on all of us, I think.

Anyway, I agreed with her so I attended the orientation at the school we hope they'll attend. It wasn't a total waste of time, I did get to meet one of the kindergarten teachers and talk to her for a few minutes. She was very nice and thought there was a good chance she could end up with them in her class.  Most of it was information that won't pertain to my boys though.  I don't need to hear the pros and cons of full-day kindergarten vs. half-day.  I don't need to hear about why kindergarteners still need a "rest time" during the day.  And I don't need details on the curriculum.  I don't need to hear about the math and science my children will know, I don't need to be told how great it'll be when they start coming home and showing me how they can read a few words.

Then I went to my Mothers of Multiples meeting, where we had a speaker who talked about Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationships. And clearly I had no idea how great my mother-in-law was, until I heard some of the stories last night. It made me miss her. If there is one problem we don't have, it's family relationships. We are so lucky in that respect, we have wonderful, supportive, loving family around us. I think both Mark and I have great in-laws. *smile*