Mid-Semester Preschool Update

So, after the first week, I felt like things could only get better, but they continued to feel mostly the same. I still had one kid who couldn't leave his mom without crying the whole time. His mom was helpful and was willing to stay and try to stay in the background and that was working well, but I also felt like we needed to practice having her leave for a short period every day, so he could learn the concept of 'Mom comes back.' I guess he's never been left before outside of his parents or grandparents.  The kids were learning the routine a bit more, but also I simplified my schedule and expectations to meet 2-3 year olds, instead of 5 year olds. Every day I felt like I would come up with a new plan on how to better meet the needs of the kids and then every day I'd still have hard moments where more tweaking was needed.  A big help came just from simply taping a blue line on the carpet by the door for the kids to line up on before going out to recess. Since some of them had been to play at my house before preschool and with it being Freddy's own home, at the beginning there was a lot "During Preschool we don't...(run outside without Ms. Brittney, or climb over the gate, or get into the storage room, or empty out all the buckets, etc.."  Having them line up and wait for me really eased the stress of having 3 year olds decide it was a good idea to hit golf balls they found in a bin in the garage with a baseball bat they pulled out of somewhere at their friends as they waited for me to open the garage door to the playground.

I also got better throughout the month of simplifying the themes to go throughout the entire week, which cut down on prep a bit. I still have days where I chide myself for thinking this was a good idea. The saving grace factor in all the stress and anguish were the really cute/fun moments that happen at least once during each day where all the kids are with me and we'relearning and having fun and I LOVE that. Also, seeing how much Freddy loves it, almost makes it worth it just by that reason itself. He sometimes will grab onto my arm while I'm reading a book to everyone and just kiss it and grin up at me like he's in heaven. He LOVES to recount his whole preschool day to the kids when we pick them up for school or to Chris if he comes home for lunch or at the end of the day.

By the second month, my youngest student who couldn't leave his mom decided to take a break from preschool and I was able to fill his spot (thanks entirely to another mom of one of the other kids) within 1 day.  Things are going well now and I can imagine a time when it no longer stresses me out, but its not as simple as I thought it was going to be and I'm wondering how having a baby half-way through the year is going to change things.