New School Year

A new school year has begun. The three older kids started in late August but Masamo did not start preschool until about mid September. I waited to post on this until everyone had started and had a good idea on how the school year was progressing.


Emily had a challenged ahead of her even before starting her junior year of high school. Just five days before the first day of school she finally had her car, a 1991 VW Corrado whom she affectionately calls “Enrique”, licensed and road ready! The challenge was in learning to drive Enrique as he is a stick shift and not an automatic! I am proud to say that Emily rose to the test and passed with flying colors! I took her out for an afternoon lesson on Sunday and that Thursday she drove herself to the first day of school!!!

Emily about to drive herself to her first day of 11th grade!


Emily has found her junior year of high school to be challenging. The school district went to a quarter/semester system from the trimester system that they had in the past. This increased the number of classes Emily has per day (from 5 to 7). I don’t understand all the logistics but it has to do with money that the district can save because of our levy having failed 9 times in a row. Nevertheless, Emily’s most challenging class is AP European history. She says she loves the subject but the work load is very heavy. That on top of her other classes and she’s doing homework and studying constantly, it’s exhausting to watch!

Emily on the first day of school.

Ella started her fifth grade year at the junior high building (again, another result of the failing levy). She has two main teachers but also switches for other classes. I was really hoping she would try band this year (first year it’s offered at the school) but she opted not to pursue it. What she wanted instead was to take an art class (offered for one quarter) instead of a year of band. This speaks to Ella’s love of art. She has not been able to take art in school since second grade and was thrilled to have it as an option for school!

Ella at 6:25 am about to get on the bus for her first day of 5th grade!


David is now in second grade and has found his teacher this year not so easily charmed by his cuteness. She and David had to work out a few things before they understood one another and it took a few weeks and a number of notes back and forth from school and home to resolve their differences. Despite the rocky start David has found his stride and is doing beautifully academically and behaviorally at school.

David on his first day of 2nd grade!

Masamo started afternoon preschool at the same local church preschool that David attended. I feel very comfortable sending him there due to our familiarity with the program. I did contact the school and Masamo and I went in a week or so beforehand to give him idea of what his classroom looked like and he also got to meet one of his teachers!


On Masamo’s first day of preschool he was so excited to be going to “his school”. I stayed the first day as it was an introduction (with parents) to the class and was only half a day long. He kept checking in and looking at me during this time but seemed to get along wonderfully with the other kids and teachers and was volunteering answers to questions. Although Masamo is the only dark skinned child in his class he is said to be popular. One of his friends, Parker, calls him “Miss Elmo” because he has a hard time pronouncing Masamo’s name. At first this seemed to bother Masamo but now he likes it and thinks it’s funny.


Masamo on his first day of preschool!

 However, a month into school, Masamo has started getting upset when I leave him at preschool. I take him on Mondays, my parents on Wednesday and Jason on Friday (as I work on Wednesdays and Fridays). His disturbing behavior only happens when I take him to school. The past two Mondays he has screamed and cried when I dropped him at the door. I won’t go into a lot of detail but will say that it has really upset me to see him so distressed at my leaving him. We talked and talked and talked at various times about it, read a book about going to school and even role played me taking him to preschool but nothing seems to have helped. I might be overreacting but I pray that he understands that I’m leaving him in a safe environment and WILL be back to get him at the end of the school day. Please pray with me that God provides the peace he needs to deal with this situation and the understanding that he is safe.