Reflections on the first day back at school

All I can do, is write from my heart today.

After a mostly joyous, sometimes tempestuous, and nearly constantly exhausting eight weeks of school holidays, today my children returned to school. The oldest is now in Class 5, the second is starting Class One- a significant milestone in the Steiner Education approach and the third joins his brother and sister at the same campus for the first time, in the second year of kindergarten the school offers (the littlest is still tucked firmly under my wing at home).

Ready for the new year of school

There are days when time loses it's regular pacing and quickens against the social fabric of our family life. Today was one such day. Time is never a constant- in fact, it is a construct, and far less linear than we currently believe.

The summer was full of the sweet humming notes  of slow mornings, swims in the river, sweaty days in which we could do nothing but lay around, stories, tree climbing, trampolining and gardening. This morning, those notes fell into place, into a symphony that sounded out through sleepy yawns of a morning far earlier than what we have become used to; making beds and plaiting hair and checking over bags one more time until it reached a crescendo as I took each of my little ones to their classrooms one by one. With a bittersweet heart- for I miss them so, but also I see the way the school nourishes them so deeply, I observe silently for those little signs that show me this path is ours.

A window in kindergarten

The way one of them runs off to play as soon as he sees a friend, so ready to be among his people again. Whispering and giggles of pranks to come. And his teacher, drawing a map of India on the board with his amazing talent for chalk drawing, a new packet of pencils on his desk, and new school books arranged with so much care in the circle of desks awaiting his classmates.

And the way one of them, through all her bluster and bravado, wavers for just a moment at the door of her room and reaches for my skirt, how she pauses at the gateway for just the tiniest of minutes, until she jumps into the room and greets friends and her teacher and asks all the questions that she has had building up in her and then she is gone too, off on her journey. I see her a little while later from afar, her teacher bringing the children together in a circle, and then walking off together, singing. She has found her people too.

And then the third, falls on the stairs on the way to his classroom. I take him in and rub calendula ointment onto the graze on his leg. It's a moment of pause I am grateful for, because this second year of kindy- it feels like big school for the first time. And then he is away too, I turn my back for a minute getting something out of his bag and he is off and into the classroom and helping to cut up the fruit.

Suddenly, it's just me and the littlest again. We head to the hall for a parent morning tea, and I am soon overwhelmed by the crowd. For so many weeks, it has mainly been me and my four little people, this transition is just like the one my children are going under right at this moment. I hold them from afar, and trust the glorious teachers they have found in their lives. I move from the crowd and look out from the deck: from the curved roofs of the classrooms, to the lush conifers and rainforest trees on the campus, down to the river, then over to my beloved home, and right up the mountain to the misty peak. And I breathe: this land, this place, it is constant. Despite the quickening in my family rhythm, this land is always here, holding me, a reminder to stay present and to be open hearted.

***

Intentions for supporting my children's education this year:

For my oldest,

I intend to help you find the places within and without the curriculum that makes your heart  sing and your mind awake and support you to find the resources, information and avenues to explore these things in a way meaningful to you. I intend to guide you into practices of time and self management that will assist you to become more engaged and self disciplined in your life. I also intend to create a practice of reflecting on what you are learning, and helping to celebrate your talents and achievements and work with you on corrections.

For my second,

I intend to support you use your school journey to become a source of self esteem, confidence and pragmatism to balance your open heart. I will support you as the centre of your support system to find creative, engaging ways to explore your neurodivergence and for it to become a living, positive thing in your life. I will be there to facilitate for your creativity and your heart felt need to care for others, and have that reflected back in action.

For my third,

I intend to revel in your joy and new discoveries, and know that big play is your life work at the moment, and help you find the Big Play in your life. I will be true to my hearrt knowing of when to let go and when to pull you in, to get you out in the sunshine, feed you good food, ensure you rest well and be the loving arms at the end of the day.

For my fourth,

I intend to cherish every moment, for it all goes by so quickly. Thank you for the long nap we shared today, my gosh I had been waiting for it.

***

Come the afternoon, my little ones elated and tired off the bus, a special afternoon tea eaten, stories shared, pictures drawn, lunch boxes washed up, a headache soothed with a lavender cloth... My children and I walked across a paddock to collect a bunya nut we had spied fallen from the tree. Walking home, hearing my children's voices still buzzing from their day, the cows watching us as we walked down the driveway, my two year old pushing the bunya nut in her doll pram, and rain about to lightly fall across the valley, again I stopped to pause. This time, to give thanks: for a day well lived, for our wonderful school, for our beautiful farm home, but mostly, for each other.


If you have little ones that school out-of-home, how did your first day go? What feelings does it bring up in you, and them? I would love to hear your stories in the comments.