First Day of School Tips

Kid is more of the guarded type, takes her awhile to warm up.  Worried she's not gonna do well in the 1 teacher/30 student ratio.   
 
ps9 said:
Kid is more of the guarded type, takes her awhile to warm up.  Worried she's not gonna do well in the 1 teacher/30 student ratio.   
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That is a valid concern... esp at the younger age.

One of ours had a hard time and was hating school for the first few months.
 
At least no more $1200/month check for preschool.  And hello $600/month check for CDC. 
Hoping for the Early Birds schedule.  But Later Gators doesn't seem that bad, dropping off will be less chaotic. 

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Just remember that a lot of the emails or documentation parents receive are from the school site or the district. While helpful, it doesn't necessarily reflect the teacher's classroom needs, etc.

Don't hesitate to check out the teacher's web page or email them if you have questions. Remember, teachers are people too and have first day jitters. They want your child to be comfortable and successful as well.
 
Just paid the school $33,000 for the first semester and school will start in 1-1/2 week. The days of buying school supplies are gone. Cherish your moments while you still can.
 
So standard schedule school starts next week for most districts.

Our issue is that our kids will be going to 2 different schools and the start/end times are only 5 minutes apart.

How do parents who have this situation schedule drop offs and pickups? Usually, one of us drops off and the other picks up but now we have to split this where we both drop off until the kids are familiar with the schedule. We will probably end up dropping the older one off earlier although the younger has an earlier start time.

And we were planning on just dropping the older one off on the first day since we wanted to spend more time with the younger one on their first day, but the older once felt that was unfair.

Gah.
 
Ours are in year round school so our year started a few weeks ago.  They'll already be having a 3 week break in about a month. 

Although all our kids go to the same school, pickup is different by 25 minutes most days so it's still a minor pain having to wait for the latter ones.  It's a little better on Wednesdays when it is early release when the difference is only 2 minutes but then it gets more crowded.  Fortunately, the start times are about the same.

Like you said, our neighbor that has both a high school and elementary school kids goes out about 30 minutes earlier to drop of the high school kid, comes back, and then takes the other kids.  Unless both parents can drop off at different locations, I guess that's the only way unless one of the schools is close enough for the kids to walk to school by themselves.  But I wouldn't feel comfortable with that unless the school is right across the house.  Or, you're rich enough to have a nanny/driver for your kids, which I'm sure there are some here.  ;)  Unfortunately, that is not my situation.

In a handful of years, we will be in the high school/middle school drop-off/pickup dilemma.  Not looking forward to that.

irvinehomeowner said:
So standard schedule school starts next week for most districts.

Our issue is that our kids will be going to 2 different schools and the start/end times are only 5 minutes apart.

How do parents who have this situation schedule drop offs and pickups? Usually, one of us drops off and the other picks up but now we have to split this where we both drop off until the kids are familiar with the schedule. We will probably end up dropping the older one off earlier although the younger has an earlier start time.

And we were planning on just dropping the older one off on the first day since we wanted to spend more time with the younger one on their first day, but the older once felt that was unfair.

Gah.
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One other thing is that since our school goes from K to 8, at least we won't have to worry about different schools until the older ones go to high school.  Unless we move.  I had initial worries about the older kids mixed with the younger ones but they seem to separate them well enough.  So far, no incidents so I like this arrangement.
 
There are school buses for out of "immediate" area kids... but I think there may be a fee.

For Quail Hill, the only way to get to Rancho San Joaquin (or Uni High) other than car ride is via a school bus.
 
I rode on a school bus sometimes during middle school and always during high school.  I know what went on in those buses.  There's no way I would let my girls get on one without multiple chaperones on it.  :p
 
I had that issue all the time. Kids are six years apart, so not fun dealing with two schools. The pick ups were ten minutes apart- be in the first few cars for the first pick up, and then for the next one, be late ;-) If you picked up older one first, you can pull your car into the drive through pick up while they go get the younger one- and if it's the older one waiting, they love every extra minute they can with friends.

I am dealing with two school districts this year and not looking forward to the elementary/ high school drama starting Wednesday. Pick up is ten minute apart, and the drive is 20 mins apart. But the good thing is, older one waits.

We had a rough summer - everything was poorly planned, poorly executed. Fire fighting mode almost all the time, no fires contained. Everyone had their own set of issues..

Advice to people with young kids: Take that damn vacation. You are never too busy.
 
irvinehomeshopper said:
Time conflict no problem. Let me introduce an innovative solution that few of you knew about or even remotely comprehend. Have the older kid WALK to school.
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It is the safest city in the galaxy right?
 
irvinehomeshopper said:
Time conflict no problem. Let me introduce an innovative solution that few of you knew about or even remotely comprehend. Have the older kid WALK to school.
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Next year.

I'm still helicoptering.
 
I'll be in this situation next year. I'll be applying for a bus pass for the older one. The bus stop is super close to the house. If there aren't enough bus passes to go around then at pick-up time, I'll probably take advantage of the free after-school program on campus just as a place to hang out while I buy myself a few extra minutes. For drop-offs, I don't know. Mr. SoCal and I would probably split up and do one each... not looking forward to that possibility. He is very nice and says he could do both but one is the complete opposite direction from his route to work so I couldn't let him do that. After thinking about it, I do not want to carpool with other parents. Too complicated with different sets of expectations. Like, what if your kid gets sick one morning but it's your day to drive. Do you still take the other kid? Parents don't like to be left hanging at the last minute. Things like that. It's all I can do to worry about getting my own there on time.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
For Quail Hill, the only way to get to Rancho San Joaquin (or Uni High) other than car ride is via a school bus.
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Are you saying you moved to Quail Hill?
 
irvinehomeshopper said:
Time conflict no problem. Let me introduce an innovative solution that few of you knew about or even remotely comprehend. Have the older kid WALK to school.
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Love this.

I'm sick & tired of doing the daily pick-ups with nightmare traffic. I am encouraging my kids to walk home this year. But something happened that I didn't expect. Kids have become so damn spoiled these days, they expect a car ride everywhere. Even they can't comprehend walking home. I don't get it. When I was their age, I used to beg my parents to let me walk home. I wanted to be with my friends and I guess, not feel so "babied". Finally, my parents relented and I was happy. Now, I have to convince my kids they should want to walk home? This feels so messed up.  :-\
 
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