Kwame goes to school...

Kwame and his kindergarten teacher.

It was hard to decide what to do regarding school for Kwame. Several of the other kids that have come home from the same adoption center in Ghana have wanted to go to school very soon after coming home, especially if they see their siblings going to school. This is what happened with Kwame.

TR and I stayed home with him the first week and we did different things together over that week and just spent time together without the other kiddos (they were at school). One of the things we did was take him to his school. The principal took him on a tour and then I had asked the special ed and reading specialist to do a few quick curriculum based assessments with him so we could get an idea of where he is at academically. In doing so, we learned his strength is math and that for reading, he could read some sight words but did not have skills to sound out unfamiliar words. We decided to have him start in kindergarten. Even though I feel I could have caught him up academically to be in first, he gets nervous and overwhelmed easily socially and so I felt that the skills the kindergarten teacher works on with the class in this area would be very helpful for Kwame.

After that week, Kwame wanted to go to school as I expected would happen. I still was home with him for two more weeks before I had planned to go back to work.

So during that second week he was home, I started transitioning Kwame to school. On the first day, we went and met the class. I explained that Kwame is new to America from Africa and that he was excited to have friends and to learn about life in America. The kids were great and very welcoming to him. We stayed a few minutes to participate in circle time and then left.

It just so happened that on the second day, the class was going on a field trip to a local farm and park. It was the perfect opportunity for Kwame to get to meet his classmates and get to know them a little better. We met the class at the farm together and following the farm tour, Kwame wanted to go to the park for lunch and play so we did that also. It worked out perfectly as he met some kids that he took an immediate liking too and had a great time playing with them.




Over the next few days, Kwame went to school part of the day. That following week, we tried a full day and while he did okay one day, the next day, he got very overwhelmed after lunch. He was tired and he wanted me to come and get him.

I started doubting my decision to have him start school so quickly after coming home. His wonderful teacher and I decided to have him transition more slowly and only stay half a day for a bit.

Over the next three weeks, we have slowly extended Kwame's day and it has worked out beautifully. He loved having me come and get him after lunch the first week we did this, but then he started feeling more comfortable in school and wanted to do centers (which was what the class was about to do when I came to get him). The second week, we had him stay for centers and then the third week we extended the day one more hour. To help out with the transition, on different days, TR or I would go and volunteer in the class in the afternoon or would stay longer with him. Some days Kwame wanted to stay a little longer and on other days, he was exhausted. One day, when I got there, he was so tired that I waved my hand in front of his face and he didn't even look at it! Poor boy! Now mind you once he got in the car, he did perk right back up but he did take a little nap that afternoon!

The week before our winter break, Kwame made it two entire days and left only an hour early the other days.

Since winter break, he has been attending full days. He is doing a really good job. He has started testing us all a little, but is responding well to redirection. At school, some of the things that he gets to take a time out to reflect on are pretending to play the drums on a child's head with pencils, crawling across his desk and tripping a classmate. It happens most in the afternoon when he is a little more tired and the class is at a time when their activities are a little less structured (centers).

Kwame is really loving school. He is very diligent and conscientious about completing his homework. He has already made a lot of progress in reading. I think that part of his excitement and success has been due to us slowing extending his day. He does receive services from the English as a Second Language Teacher as well as from the Reading Specialist. He will start in a friendship group with a few other children from his class and the social worker.

I do think that my decision to put him in kindergarten instead of first grade was a good one so far. The first grade class is larger and there is one teacher while his class now has a teacher and assistant. We are also very blessed in that his teacher had Cater last year and was excited to get Kwame in her class. She really has helped make his transition smooth and has set up an environment in which the kids are excited to have Kwame in class and have been helpful to him. She also helps the class when things happen as a result of Kwame's limited time here and because of his past experiences.

One example of this is when he started horsing around with another boy. The boy got a little scared because Kwame was a little more physical than he was used to. Kwame did not understand and kept being more physical and was laughing. As a result, the kids started saying that Kwame was mean and that he hurt the other child (really the child was just a little scared). The teacher did a wonderful job talking to Kwame and helping him understand that he scared his friend and has to be more gentle and also spoke to the class about how Kwame was not mean and is used to playing a little differently and that he is still our good friend. It is the little things like this that make a huge difference in whether or not his transition and school experience are positive. While another teacher could be a little frustrated when things like this happen, instead, his teacher and I recognize that this is normal and keep in constant contact with each other. Sometimes we laugh about the things he does and says because he is pretty dang funny, even when he is testing the waters- which he has been doing a little of lately!




Hindsight is 20/20 but if I had to do it over again, I would have probably waited a week or two longer to start him. With that said though, it don't know how he would have been that week or two not going to school. I am so glad we have slowly transitioned him into the school. The academic demands and social demands are just a lot for an adopted child and by lunchtime, he was just exhausted. TR and I were fortunate that the school and our employers worked with us to make this happen.

I think that slowly transitioning him has made a huge difference in Kwame's attitude about school. Now he loves school and each night asks if tomorrow is a school day. One day he could not go because he had walking pneumonia. He was really disappointed and told me the doctor was joking and that he was not sick!

As much as Kwame is learning, his classmates are learning too. They have learned a little more about Africa and adoption. I have had classmates parents come up to me and tell me how their child talks about Kwame at home. Another classmate apparently prays for him nightly. I love that and feel so fortunate that Kwame is in such a wonderful school with a fabulous teacher and sweet classmates. I enjoy watching him so excited about going to school and learning.