Meet Your Teacher

Yesterday was quite the kindergarten whirlwind! Steve and I attended six hours of orientation for Brooke's new school (this is in addition to the 4 1/2 hours we put in last Thursday). And then in the evening we went back with Brooke for open house!

In case I haven't blogged about it yet, Brooke will be attending International Community School this fall for kindergarten! It is a really neat Christian private school model that we have known about for about five years now (but the school is older than that). It's basically a hybrid of homeschooling and classroom teaching. She will attend school at their campus in Winter Park on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I will homeschool her on Mondays and Wednesdays. Am I crazy? Perhaps. But we really felt like this was the best fit for her. I'm excited to get started with the school year and see how we do. As expected, she is a bit nervous about the unexpected and newness of it all, but I know she will do great! Her teacher, Mrs. Krepfle, is amazing.. very fun-loving, silly and great at making learning entertaining. We have heard about Mrs. Krepfle for a while now. Our friends that have attended ICS have sung her praises, so we were excited to find out she would be Brooke's teacher!

When we arrived at the "Kindergarten Kingdom" last night, Mrs. Krepfle gave Brooke a castle-themed treasure hunt to complete. She had to find certain things in her new room and when she completed all the tasks, her reward was a cup of jewels (aka. multi-colored jello). Here are the highlights!

Brooke finds the school supply box with her name on it! She was confused by the "K" in her name and asked me what it was. At ICS they teach D'Nealian script which is different from the block letters most children learn. It is supposed to ease the transition to cursive writing later on.

Mommy will be learning D'Nealian too! :)

Brooke found her jewels! Yum!

Brooke poses with her teacher, Mrs. Krepfle. Is that a nervous smile, or what?!

We will have our first homeschool day on Monday, August 17th and then Brooke will have her first classroom day on that Tuesday. I was fighting the tears when she tried on her uniform for the first time. I think Tuesday will be a challenge for both of us.