The Scarlett Letter

As most of you may know by now, I am no longer an accidental stay at home mom.  I got a new job!  You might say it was accidentally on purpose.  This new job took me and my family across the country from Charlotte, NC to Omaha, NE.  Yes, you read that right.  Omaha.  Nebraska.  No, I'd never been there before. No, I didn't know anyone there.  But a great opportunity presented itself to me, and my husband and I decided that it was too good to pass up.  I've been in Omaha 2 months now, and the natives here say it's been the mildest winter EVER.  It's still pretty cold to me, and I've seen more snow in the past 2 months than in the past 5 years in NC, but overall I like it. 

My girls started school here a few weeks ago.  The school is a half mile from our house and is only 3 years old.  There are no trailers, no overcrowded classes, and the principal took us on a tour the first day so he could get to know the girls. I changed schools and moved a few times as a kid and I could relate to my childrens' apprehension. 

I remember when we moved from TN to SC when I was in high school, and I started in my new school on the first day of 11th grade.  My English teacher told us to write a 5 paragraph essay using a thesis statement on the Scarlett Letter.  I had never written a 5 paragraph essay, or read the Scarlett Letter.  I also had no clue what a thesis statement was.  In about 5 minutes I had gone from feeling pretty smart to feeling pretty dumb.

When I took my daughter, Sarah, to her first day of Kindergarden here, the teacher gave her a sheet with addition and subtraction problems.  Sarah had never done math before, and she could only read a few words.  I was really worried and had a flash back to my essay on the Scarlett Letter.  But Sarah picked up her pencil and a number strip, and after a 2 minute explaination from the teacher, Sarah was writing down the answers. Whew.  Another crisis narrowly averted.  And really? Addition and subtraction in Kindergarden?? It's different out here in the midwest, but so far, so good.