UPK Graduation

Among several highlights this week was the Stepping Up ceremony at Little Friends, Elisa's preschool.  I'd already seen several other kids from our playgroup sporting caps and gowns for their preschool graduations, and now it was our turn.  Even the use of the word "graduation" seemed kind of misleading. It seemed too official. Nacho wondered aloud if we were going to have to go through this hoopla every year for the foreseeable future. But no. In fact, I think there's something unique and worthwhile about this ceremony. It was really about the transition we've been in for the past few months. Next fall, we will have a child in Kindergarten in the public school system.  Our yearly schedule will rise and fall with its holidays and time off, and Elisa will start to have her own daily routine without us.  I can't even imagine that now, and yet we're only 8 weeks (and one vacation) away from it.  So the time was right to celebrate the end of preschool and UPK and look forward to what's coming next...     

For months, we've been caught up in the Kinder Craze that seems an unavoidable pitfall of this city's placement process.  First there was G&T testing, then our zoned elementary school registration, followed by charter school tours and lottery applications, and finally the waiting game to see how it would all shake out.  But by mid-June we had jumped the last hurdle--the Dual Language program testing at P.S. 150--and we waited for the last piece of the puzzle.  She didn't get a spot. Not even a letter saying no. Nothing. In the end there was no big decision to make.  So we will take the windfall that fell in our lap--the acceptance at the only charter school we got into.  Elisa will attend Academy of the City Charter School in Woodside next fall and I'm very hopeful that it will be the right fit.  With 45 minutes a day each of recess and nap/quiet time, I feel like she will have a softer landing into this brave, new world.  Most of all, I think they will encourage her to love school and learning.  She will have a handful of friends attending as well, which sweetens the deal to be sure. But truly, I don't think she's ready for the one-size-fits-all agenda of a traditional Ged Ed Kindergarten, and she obviously didn't pass the muster for the academic rat race of the specialized programs. And to be honest, that was at times hard to reconcile.  I know Elisa is bright and social and linguistically capable. I wanted her to be offered the moon if she wanted it.  But in the end, what happened was that we got something we weren't even aware existed 6 months ago--a Kindergarten that seems to allow kids to play and develop in due time.  And for Elisa, I think she'll need this coming year to get her bearings, and I want her to have the space and time to gain the skills she'll need for the rest of her scholastic life. Because what's the rush?  When I look back over this process, I realize that as crazy and frustrating as it was as a parent to go through, I'm mostly glad that she's remained totally oblivious to it all because it really has so little bearing on her future. These kids are 4 years old, going on 5--not 18.  We have so many more years of trying to guide her through school and homework, applications and tests.  This is only the beginning of her journey.  I'm ready to move on, and so is she.