Kindergarten screening take 2

Well there I was this morning sitting on a very uncomfortable chair while Carolyn participated in Kindergarten screening. It seems like only last year I was doing the same thing with Matthew--oh wait, it was a year ago. Yes, it was that time of the year again. The district had the annual Kindergarten screen and today was the day I had signed Carolyn up. The loving husband agreed to stay home and watch Andrew so I didn't have to spend all my time and energy running after him. I'm sure if the loving hubs knew that all I had to do was sit in a folding chair and wait for an hour then he might have decided not to skip his morning meetings to help out. For those who have not gone through it the process is pretty simple. The school has several different stations set up and the child goes through and attempts a certain task. Parents wait outside of the area away from their child. It is amazing how much things have changed since I was in Kindergarten. My memories are of showing up and meeting the teacher and then a few days later starting school. There was no "pre-test" or screen as they call it. Carolyn had to demonstrate skills in counting, saying (not singing) the alphabet, rhyming, tracing/copying a symbol or letter, write her name, recreating a stack of blocks that had been knocked down, cutting paper, and a bunch of other stuff that I have forgotten. She scored a 69 out of 100 possible. There were several areas in which Carolyn struggled and did not do well at all such as cutting and anything to do with holding a pencil and writing. The stations that she had to know colors, shapes, or position words (under, next to..) she rocked on. She missed two letters on the alphabet but I think that her "m" and "n" probably sounded the same and when she was counting she messed up on numbers 9-12. I also think it was probably due to enunciation since she can count pretty well up to 20. After Carolyn got done with her screen I met briefly with someone from the school to discuss the results. Due to her score and age Carolyn would be eligible for the Jr. Kindergarten program. For those who are going what??? the Jr. Kindergarten is very similar to a regular Kindergarten but the course work is not so intense and emphasis is placed more on social skills and maturity than academics. Most of the kids are on the young side of 5 and would benefit from an extra year of classwork. This is also for those students who would struggle with some of the required academic skills or maybe just aren't quite ready for the demands of Kindergarten. Kids who go the Jr. K route then proceed to Kindergarten the next year. In Carolyn's case she turns 5 in June so she would be a very young 5 at the start of the school year. She also struggles with her social skills and at times does not act her age. She also receives OT, PT, Speech and ABA therapy so she would get an extra year of these services being provided without having to be pulled out of class. Matthew also receives these services through the school so they bus him twice a week in the afternoon for the speech and PT. I take him and Carolyn for the ABA and Matthew misses one recess to do OT. I don't know if Carolyn will be a morning student or and afternoon student. I'll find that out later this year. Either way there will be some part of the day when I only have one kid at home--yeah!!! Sitting there in the chair and looking at all the other parents and children was a strange experience. I have done this before so it was not as if I didn't know what to expect but there is something about having a child start school that really ages a person. I go from mom of a pre-schooler to mom of a kindergartner--totally different. Next year I move up to the mom of a grade schooler level. I guess I'm glad Andrew is still too little for school. I can still call him toddler for a few more months. Time marches on and our children grow up. Wouldn't it be nice if they all stayed little and the biggest worry was whether or not they could pass the using scissors part of a Kindergarten screen?