The first day of the semester.....makes ya feel like it's kindergarten

Well.. today is the day. Fall semester starts today at UNA and it's the beginning of the "real" classes for me. All of my classes have been real but after all of these years of going to college off and on I have finally made it to the classes that are going to shape my career.

I am excited and nervous about starting my elementary education classes. It's exciting to know that I will be learning new things about how to teach children someday. However the nervous part is that I know that this fall is going to be extremely busy and there will alot of presentations and observations in front of people. I am always nervous to be speaking in front of people. I don't understand why because I can carry a conversation with a brick. I can easily talk to people.

I can't believe that I only have 4 semesters left. When I started back to school last summer it seemed like it would be forever before I would get through. It has really flown by. I am really proud that I am almost to the point of finishing.

I have been reading others blog about their child's first day of kindergarten and that seems like a century ago for myself. I know in just 2 years I will be experiencing sending my son off on his first day. I read about how other mothers cry that first day. I can remember that my mother did not seem to cry. I was more nervous that she seemed. She had a teacher friend who's daughter was in my class and we met them at the front of the office and walked to class together. It made it a little easier. I believe that I made the best decision for Dalton a few years ago by sending him to daycare. I realize that some parents do not choose this route but for me I had to work and he had to stay somewhere. He has learned so much and has been around other children his whole life and I feel that this will make the transition to big school easier.

It's amazing how school has changed in the past 25 years. Yes...I am old enough to say 25 years.
I stayed with my Granny until I started kindergarten. In those days we learned our alphabet, shapes, and all the other beginning tools for school in kindergarten. My cousin Katy teaches kindergarten in the Birmingham area and I was amazed when she told me what she was teaching her students. I could not believe that children are learning to read in kindergarten now. I was in the first grade when I learned to read. I can tell a change in what is taught to children because of what Dalton comes home and tells me.
I have been so amazed. The latest thing that has surprised me the most is that he already knows the Solar System. Yes...I said the Solar System. He is 3 and can tell me all of the planets of the solar system with Pluto included. I told him that Pluto was not a planet anymore and he argued that it was. I just went ahead and explained that it was a minor planet and a major planet. I thought if he knows what they are then he will understand why they are different.

As a mother and a student in elementary education, I could not be more proud of the daycare environment that Dalton is in. I have learned that at his age it is an important time to teach children the basics of learning because their minds are growing and it seems that absorb the information. I feel like when he starts to school he will be prepared to handle the new environment.
I wish that I had some special training to handle my new environment today. I know after the first week or two I will get comfortable with everything. I just hate that feeling of being lost as a goose. I will do my best to keep the blog updated over the next few months but I am making no promises.
Elementary education is a great field of study for those who love being with children. It is not only a career choice but it also changes you as a person. You begin to see life through the eyes of children.
So my day is about to begin and I am feeling like a kid starting to kindergarten. When I finish this semester I am hoping that I have learned some of the ropes to be the teacher in that kindergarten!