First Day of Kindergarten

When we decided to move to Utah, I was really worried about how Korben would transition from his school in Vancouver to the schools here. I was so pleased to find that he acclimated perfectly to his pre-school this spring and was actually receiving more speech therapy than he had been in Vancouver. I never did get a post of his pre-school days published, so I thought I'd share a cute picture from his preschool graduation:

Last week Korben was tested and blew the teachers away with his ability to read. They were also impressed with his speech abilities and his communication skills. Knowing all the hard work it has taken for Korben to improve so much in the last 2 years, I was about as proud (and a little teary) as a mom can get. When you have a child that has struggled with so much, hearing that he is a little smarty pants is a dream come true. They were very encouraging and are confident that he should be mainstreamed in the next year or so. YAY!!

Yesterday was Korben's first day of Kindergarten. He is attending Freedom Elementary in Highland, where he is able to be part of a "Small Classroom Kindergarten". He will follow the regular kindergarten curriculum but he will have much more one on one attention than he would get in a standard kindergarten class. Initially, I was a little apprehensive that at barely 5 he was going to have to start Kindergarten - but I guess when your child has been attending school since he was 3, the "holding him back till next year" doesn't get to apply. I often want to make life easier for Korben because I worry that pushing him too hard will frustrate him. Making the decisions to push Korben are always a little tough, but so worth it in the end. Yesterday was no exception as I got to capture Korben posing for his first day:

He was excited, I was excited, and there were no tears from either party. When he was three and I had to send him on a bus to school...there were tears. At five...I know he can handle it. :D