The First Day of the First Grade

Ellen's first day of school this year was on the Monday after Kat's birth. When we left Pocatello I was heart broken at leaving behind The Academy and all of the friends that both she and I had made there. I put a lot of heart and work into that school and it killed me to have to move away from it.

Luckily I was pointed in the direction of a charter school here in Tooele, well actually Erda. I looked it up online and found that they used the same curriculum as The Academy and had many of the same principles, including the accelerated curriculum, which is what I really need for this little one. I put her name in for the lottery as soon as we knew we were moving to Tooele, but really didn't think we had much of a shot of getting in since the lottery deadline had passed.

Imagine my surprise when on the day we packed up the last of our things from Pocatello I got a got from Excelsior Academy saying that Ellen was being awarded a slot in their first grade! Once we moved here to Utah we went and took a tour of the school and I got some more of my questions answered and we started making plans for her to attend. It really helped to ease some of the pain of the move for me because I felt like I wasn't leaving The Academy completely behind, just morphing it into something a little different.

Ellen was jumping out of her skin to start school. She loves to learn, she just doesn't like getting up early in the morning. We got out all of her uniforms and figured out what would still work and discussed how she would get her lunch at school and off we went.

I think I was more nervous than she was to start at a new school. I asked her on the drive to school if she was scared and she told me, "No, I just want to make new friends." As I dropped her off and headed away I worried because this is a school that she doesn't know well, but I realized that I was more nervous about it than her because I didn't know the school. I am not familiar with all of the inner-workings of this charter school. When I realized that it was more just nerves on my part I was able to calm down and realize that she would have a great day at school....and she did.

When I picked her up that day she was bouncing off the walls to tell me about her day and all that they did. They have many of the same rules that her previous school did, so it wasn't a big adjustment there. She really liked her teacher, Ms. Barnhill, and she especially liked getting lunch at school as well as having two recesses!

I feel very blessed that she was able to get in at Excelsior. Once again, I see the Lord helping us know that we made the right decision to move here. We have a school that fits our daughters needs very well and fills the desires I have for her education. Here's to a great year in the First Grade!

Go Excelsior!!!