My 2-year-old's summer class experience

Yes, my two-year-old Jye Jye is going to school this  June. He will be in the nursery class. I'm so excited about this, expecting that this would be as stressful as his summer class. Just this April, I enrolled him in ABC Learning Center for a summer class in preparation for his regular school. It was very stressful, not only for me, but also for him.

He is still two years old and not yet fluent in speaking. His language development is a bit slow as compared to his fine and gross motor skills. But he knows how to count from 1 to 10. As a first-time mother, this is quite an achievement. He can converse and understand basic English although the primary language we spoke at home is Cebuano, maybe watching English cartoons help. He's fond of imitating what Gumball and Darwin  say.

For the first two weeks, I was not able to accompany him as what nonworking moms do. It's his Mamaya (grandmother) who is with him in school. I'm a copyeditor and my shift runs from 6 AM to 2 PM for two weeks, and the shift changes not until the next two weeks; I will be in the second shift then (2pm - 10pm). When I arrived home, I asked his Mamaya about his performance in school. As expected, he was not doing well. It was his first time to be with a lot of kids. Luckily in their class, there are only 15 of them, and two teachers are handling these preschoolers. He doesn't want his Mamaya to leave him. Everything was new to him, from the school setting, kids, colorful walls, pictures everywhere, to the noisy and shrill voices of other preschoolers.

His first week in school was difficult. He has short attention span as with other kids. He's not participating in classroom exercises and learning activities.  His teacher Estee would draw a star in their wrist for a job well done, but he won't allow anyone to touch him, not even his teacher. Sometimes, their drawings are made into a medal or a hat so that at the end of the class their wearing it in their head with a star on it. My boy is not wearing any. He would only throw or tear it.

I'm glad they have a notebook for their homework. At home, I had problem getting his attention to make his homework. I made a lot of bargains with him, like buying ice cream and cake, toys, bringing him to a toy store, anything just to make him trace the broken lines to form a circle. It was very stressful, and we do it every night!! I wonder what his daddy would do if he's the one attending Jye Jye.

At the end of the first two weeks, he was doing well. A star for my little boy! I wonder how his schoolteachers do that. I can see a lot of improvement in him. He's participating in coloring activities, physical exercises, praying, and he has a little patience now!

I hope Jye Jye's journey to education would be a smooth one. I'm very thankful to God for giving me this wonderful angel. I'd do my very best to be a good mother to him.