A few weeks ago, Martin participated in a program at his school designed to help kids feel more comfortable when they start Kindergarten.  They learn about the school, where to find the bathrooms, where to hang their jackets, how to ride properly on the school bus.  When I picked him up that first day the teacher explained where all of their things go and asked us to reinforce the concepts at home.  She explained that boots go on the lower shelf, backpack on one hook, snow pants on the other, jacket on top of all of it, lunch bag on the very top shelf.  As she went though this whole list I thought to myself, "Oh geez, what DIFFERENCE does it make where each and every item goes on the hooks."  And that's when it hit me, a lot of the early part of Kindergarten could be called

Chapter One: Understanding Order

not

Kindergarten: Twenty Kids in Chaos! or Kindergarten: Hey! This is just like home!

In a brief flash, I could see what that second option would look like.  A place where students leave all their stuff wherever they want and they kick open bathroom stalls to tell the teacher that they need SOMETHING RIGHT NOW.

On the way home, we ran through the coat hook checklist, talking about the benefits of the placement of each and every item.  And I made another step toward being a partner in my child's education, not just the primary source.  Which is good, because we could all use some order.