Well if this isn’t just the weirdest year ever for your oldest child to be entering kindergarten! Talk about quite the introduction to the whole school thing. Yet, here we are! Caleb has 3 years of preschool under his belt and ready to take on kinder… with a mask!
Our school district started in August with everyone doing remote learning for the first two weeks. Issuing my 5 year old a chrome book feels pretty interesting but hey, this is the world we are living in! Even though the year was starting unusually, we still wanted to celebrate him big and make it exciting! We started a tradition last year of having a back to school brinner {breakfast for dinner!} to chat about the upcoming school year and pray over all the things. (I owe this idea all to Andrea at Momfessionals Blog!) Last year, JoJo joined us and this year my mom was in town so she was able to be apart of the special dinner as well.
The whole dining room is decorated with back to school decor (including school folder place settings for everyone). The menu is all breakfast: cinnamon rolls, sausage balls, quiche, fruit kabobs, & juice. All things Caleb loves!
What’s a special dinner without a few little gifts? And of course grandparents never show up empty handed. He got two books about starting school, a kindergarten workbook, and his own pencil bag with supplies for home (all ready for remote!).
I always set up his backpack in the corner since that is always so exciting to a kiddo! The backpack & lunchbox he chose this year was ALL Pokémon. So looks like those strange creatures will be joining him in kindergarten this year.
It was so special to be able to have both JoJo and Nanan there for his special brinner!
Another perk – getting to eat off the special plate! We had this same plate growing up and it’s so fun to be able to continue the tradition with our kiddos. It’s always exciting when the red plate comes out!
A benefit of having your school right in your backyard is walking over and giving your grandmas a tour! After dinner, we walked the school & Caleb was able to point out where his classroom and all the things are located.
Our family is so excited for our biggest guy! This kid loves to learn and be around people so we know that he will do great things.
We set up his remote learning station for him so he would be all ready to go Monday morning! Our verse for him this year is Joshua 1:9 because our prayer is that he would be strong and courageous. We know that God is going to do big things in his life this year!
A first day of virtual school means no shoes required! I am very thankful of the way his school and teacher handled remote learning for these kindies. It was all very minimal and fun and he even went into the school twice.
Here he is, being dropped off at orientation! He was able to go in with two other kiddos for an hour. This is kindergarten in 2020 y’all – masks and symptom screening!
The next time was for his assessment where he went in for 30 minutes with just him & his teacher! The parents were able to come in for the last 5 minutes so we could actually see where our kiddo is going to be for the next 9 months. I’m happy to report that it just looks like a regular classroom – there’s no plexiglass! (The kids are spaced out at their seats but it doesn’t seem odd.)
He rocked the whole zoom thing but this kid much prefers some face to face interaction!
I also certainly never thought I would be sending my kindergartener to his first day of school in pants and a jacket expecting a snow storm. But it’s 2020, y’all. Where craziness and the unexpected just keep on showing up. It was also Green Day which is this kid’s favorite color and he happened to have green pants that fit (when many others did not).
And there goes a piece of my heart just walking right into school!!
Since he started preschool at 2 years old, I’ve always asked him the same variation of questions so that way we could compare year to year!
What is your favorite color? Green
What is your favorite food? Pizza
Who is your best friend? Brooks & Maddie & Dylan & Hava
What is your favorite thing to play with? Luke
What is your favorite animal? Lion – the king!
What is your favorite movie? Wall-E
What is your favorite book? Why? (That is actually the name of the book – ha!)
What do you want to be when you grow up? A chef!
For the most part, this kid has kept similar answers for years! The whole chef thing is newer since he does love to watch him some Diners, Drive-In’s, & Dives with his dad. Here are past years answers to compare (& see how little he was!)…
So there he goes, off to conquer the land of kindergarten! I do want to acknowledge the fact that this decision was hard this year. Our plan was to always send him to this school but throw in a pandemic and things obviously got a little wonky. We prayed hard for what was best for our little guy and we feel like this is it! No matter if it makes me feel sad that I don’t get to walk him all the way in or that his kindergarten year includes masks, I know that God is in control. And where I can’t enter, God is always with him. He is holding him close and walking with him through this whole year. Thankful for a God that that loves our little guy even more than we do.
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9
Trying to Keep Up With My Jones' 
2 thoughts on “All About Caleb: Off to Kindergarten!”