The twins are entering the realm of Kindergarten this year, but it won’t be at the same elementary school as our oldest, Davis.
My husband and I had been looking forward to the day that all three kids would be in school together and imagining the interactions they would have when seeing each other in the hallway. Davis was looking forward to having his brothers at the same school too.
However, it’s not going to be the case for our family. With the twins’ hearing loss diagnosis and the addition of their speech disorder, Apraxia, the recommendation from our IEP team was to place them at the elementary school that had the resources for DHH (Deaf and Hard of Hearing). It’s the best thing that could happen for the boys so there was no hesitation with moving forward with the recommendations.
This does make it slightly more difficult as we navigate drop off and pick up, but it will be manageable. I want to make sure I make the right decisions as opportunities come to volunteer at the schools and programs for the kids. My busy mind jumps right to the question of what happens when things are going on at the same time? How do we decide who goes where? We had a little taste of what happens this year when Davis’ field day was the same day as the twins field day and graduation. We ended up going to the twins’ events since this was really the only one the early childhood center had.
I’m already worrying about how to split my time when it comes to volunteering at the schools. I love walking into the school for a few hours to help out in the classroom or other events going on. I want to make sure I give my time as evenly as I can when I am able to help at each school. I am used to preparing for best and worst case scenarios at work so I automatically find myself doing this at home too. Best case scenario, all opportunities and events are on different days and times, or worst case scenario, they end up being on the same day and time every time. Well, I know I have to deal with it and as of now, I’ve decided to make a conscious effort to not overthink and worry. I will handle it when it comes up. If we need to split, we will do that. I know we can always ask family to come support the kids too and we will divide and conquer!
When it comes to transportation, my husband, the stay-at-home parent, really wants to be able to drop and pick up the kids even though we have the bus option. His reasoning is that they will be on that bus for longer than it takes for him to go pick them up, which is true. Davis would be on the bus for an hour even though we live less than five minutes away, and for the twins, there would be special busing since they are not going to our home school, so we aren’t sure how long that would take them to get home with the school being 10-15 minutes away (dependent on traffic). Luckily, school start times differ due to busing schedules so my husband will have time to drop the twins off at their school and get over to Davis’ school with a few minutes to spare. Yes, it may become stressful for him when traffic or weather makes it more difficult, but this is what is best for our family, and if we need to revisit transportation, we will figure it out.
This will be brand new to us having all kids in school the full day, but we will figure it out. Morning routines will change, but we will figure it out. We may need to lean on our support system for help, but we will figure it out.
If things get double booked, we will figure it out. We always do, and I need to remember this. Yes, it would be easier if they were at the same school, but I cannot complain. They are going to the school that will have the best resources and environment for all the boys to grow and thrive.
