What a week! The first week back to school is one of the most exciting (and exhausting) weeks of the year. Every classroom is a beehive of activity old friends excitedly reunite, new friends are welcomed, elders mentor new classmates, routines are made, team building activities abound…and some tears are shed – by parents as well as little ones….check out this New York Times article on pre-school drop off. The only quiet classroom was Middle School, but that was only because they left bright and early Tuesday morning for a their 3-day Odyssey trip to the White Mountains in New Hampshire.
Your child is most likely exhausted as it takes more effort than we think to get back into a routine, engage their brains in new activities and work on controlling their bodies and impulses in a way they didn’t need to all summer.
Last week I had the chance to see so many smiling faces and to meet and start to get to know our new community members. It is so exciting to see how our community is being enriched with every new family. One of my favorite sights was watching a small group of newly risen first year children greet each other with hugs and laughter at drop-off and then wait patiently for two of their classmates who are new to Quest to get out of their car so they could walk into school together. Pure Joy.
Enjoy the pictures below, which illustrate just some of the many activities the children engaged in their first week of school.