Kindergarten

Kindergarten -- what exactly does that mean? The word kindergarten means "children's garden" in German. The very first kindergarten opened on June 28, 1840 by Friedrich Frobel in Germany. The first kindergarten in the US opened in 1856 by Margaret Meyer Schurz in Waterton, Wisconsin. Kindergarten was created to help young children make the transition from home to more formal schooling. Kids learn to communicate, play, and interact. For some, kindergarten helps them adjust to being apart from their parents. Kindergarten varies from country to country ...

CANADA -- there are 2 forms of kindergarten, junior and senior.
CHINA -- children begin kindergarten when they are 2 years old.
FRANCE -- not compulsory, but nearly 100% of children attend.
GERMANY -- kindergarten is not actually part of the school system.
HONG KONG -- children begin their education as early as 8 months.
MEXICO -- kindergarten goes for 3 years before elementary school.
UK -- kindergarten is called nursery schools or playgroups.

What do you remember about kindergarten? I'm 44, so kindergarten was a long time ago. I remember being dropped off my first day and feeling butterflies in my stomach. The only other thing I remember is making my handprint out of clay. I remember the room, how the teacher rolled the clay out and used a big coffee can to cut it into a circle. I also remember her pushing my hand down into the clay to get the imprint. I don't remember anything else. Oddly, I have one memory of preschool and that was having to lay down on the floor with a blanket for quiet time. We had to move mid-year and I never got my blanket back -- how sad.

Both of my girls went to kindergarten at a private school. It was a great school and we have many fond memories. By the time our boys came, we were homeschooling, so their kindergarten was different. They're good kids and are turning out just fine, so I'm not worried about that. It's just interesting to me how much you remember. Like I said, kindergarten was a long time ago for me and I really don't remember much about it. I'm wondering if my kids will remember more than me, especially the boys since we've homeschooled them and a lot of their memories have been documented in photos and saved in binders. I don't have any of my kindergarten work, just my handprint and my kindergarten picture.

Which brings me to the picture! Awhile back, there were some photo challenges to post things like senior pics, wedding pics and newspaper clippings. I thought it would be fun to have another -- kindergarten pictures! I challenge you to post your kindergarten picture on your blog. As you can see, I had no front teeth. And again, what was it with my mom and the plaid? Not only is this a plaid jumper, but it was a tweed plaid -- ugh.

So -- are you brave enough to post your kindergarten picture?