First Day of School--- Again!

The past two weeks have been a huge challenge mainly for one reason--the school. I haven't felt good about my kids being there and have tried for two weeks to dismiss these feelings. Everything changed on Monday. I decided Monday morning to go and visit the school. I thought that if I could sit in their classrooms for a little while, get a feel for the teacher, the curriculum and discipline styles then I would feel better. Well, when I first signed in at the office as a visitor they asked where I would be going in the school. I told them my purpose for coming and then they said they needed to phone the teachers to let them know. I did not like this at all. I feel like I should be able to go into any of MY children's classrooms, sit as long as I want, observe, help and be a part of the class whenever I want (without warning the teacher). I then went to Joshua's class. The entire class was eating a snack at their desks. Joshua however was not at his desk but sitting on the floor away from everyone. I immediately asked why he wasn't having his snack and the teacher said, "He doesn't have one" I replied, "I packed it and it is in his lunch box." I went to his cubby, found his lunch box, got his snack and help him become part of the class. Josh had gotten his lunch box mixed up with someone else (both exactly the same). Josh had looked in the wrong lunch box. Well, I wasn't too impressed that the teacher didn't do more to help him. I then asked her to explain to me for the third time (once at open house, again at parent/teacher curriculum night)how she teaches reading. I was convinced again that this method would not work with Joshua. Next I went up to Kimball's classroom. I had had some pretty bad feelings about this teacher and knew that the feeling in the classroom was my main concern. When I entered she would not look at me, so I went over to Kimball talked quietly to him for a minute and then left. When I left the room the teacher was in the hallway and said to me, "I am busy! I don't have time to talk to you right now!" She said this very loudly and with dissatisfaction that I had come. She was so rude and I was in complete shock that she was speaking to me with such a tone of voice as to kill. I wasn't even there to talk to her, but I sure got a sense of the classroom atmosphere and knew immediately, without a doubt, that my son would never step into that classroom again. So I went right down to the principals office, spoke to her about all my concerns and then told her I would be looking for other options for my children. She was very embarrassed and apologetic but knew exactly why my feelings were founded. I'm was not the first parent to have such an experience.
Today my boys all started school again at St. Pius X, a private catholic school. Yesterday we all went for a tour of the school. We prayed in the car before we went in that the spirit would tell us very clearly if this was the right place for our family. Afterwards I asked the boys each individually how they felt and they all responded with a positive YES! So I signed them up, paid tuition, and got them some uniforms. Then I took the boys out on a field trip to Discovery World and had a great time. We talked a lot about following the Spirit and making decisions. So now they are at school and I am praying that they are having a wonderful time. I am really happy about the teachers. I was able to meet all of them. There are only 119 kids in the school. Joshua's class has 11 students. He will be able to blossom and the teacher will love him--I felt this so strongly. Kimball is lucky--only 5 third graders. So the class is combined with 12 4th graders. They will be testing him and he will go with different classes according to his ability. I love this! If he is doing 4th grade math he will go with the 4th graders. They are very flexible and he will be challenged. Many children in this school move around for different subjects and it is not a big deal. I was able to examine all the curriculum and I was very happy to see that it is more traditional and a lot of emphasis placed on the fundamentals--reading, writing and arithmetic.
I am just so grateful that I had the strength to follow my gut somehow. Two weeks of trying to talk myself out of those feelings was torture. I'm grateful for the sweet calm feeling that I feel now! I can't wait to see them after school today!!