Getting Used to Our New School Schedule

Today marks Faith's 8th day of school and we are all adjusting to a new schedule. Faith has made huge strides this past summer in sleeping better and having more energy so we decided to have her go to school from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. 5 days a week. This is a change as last year she did not go Tuesday and Thursday afternoons due to how tired and worn out she would get.

Faith's first day of 4th grade

School starts at 8:30 a.m. but we asked if it would be okay for us to get her there at 9:00 instead. This allows us to more time to get her first feeding into her before she even gets to school. Her aides noticed last year that when we brought her to school without any food in her tummy, she was pretty sluggish and tired upon arrival. Sometimes, after getting her to school she wouldn't start getting her feeding until after 9:00 a.m. which meant, that because she gets a feeding every 3 hours, her last feeding of the day didn't end until 10:00 p.m.

Another advantage to the new school schedule is she has more time to wake up and not have to rush to get out the door. Our mornings are much more relaxed and stress-free than they used to be. It also gives us a chance to change her diaper right before she gets to school. Last year, they had to wait until after her feeding to get her changed and there were times her diaper would be so wet it would soak through onto her chair. This of course was pretty embarrassing for her and she didn't even want to go back to school the next day after having one of these unfortunate episodes.

Me and Faith right before taking her inside for her first day of school

There are a few things we are attributing to Faith sleeping better and having more energy to get through the day. One is the ABM we have been doing with her and another is her chiropractic care and the adjustments she has been receiving all summer long.  Because of both of these new types of treatment, we are noticing her behavior has improved as well.

In the past, when getting ready for school and not wanting to go, she would scream and cry (at the top of her lungs) for at least half an hour sometimes. It took both me and Rob and all of our energy just to get her dressed, put in her chair and out the door.

She still has some mornings where she's not too thrilled about having to get her feeding done before going to school (it's probably because she doesn't get to spend as much time with one of her favorite people - the school nurse who sets up her feedings). Her crying episodes are now usually less than 10 minutes long (sometimes even only a few minutes) before she is able to settle down. And even better is the fact that she no longer screams at the top of her longs - which I'm sure the neighbors are glad about!

Daddy rolls Faith into her new classroom

Besides a new morning schedule, we're also getting used to a new evening schedule. After Faith comes home from school, she is due for a feeding. When I come home from work, I get supper going, we watch Wheel of Fortune and then it is off to her bath. She starts her last feeding between 7:30-8:00 which is a huge improvement from starting at 9:00 p.m.

She's usually in her bed at 9:00 and after reading a bedtime story, she tries to fall asleep. Sometimes this takes a while for her. We often hear her in her room laughing or talking to herself or kicking her legs around. This can last up to 30 minutes before she finally falls asleep. She usually wakes up only once at night and Rob will go in and turn her on her side but again, a huge improvement from waking up several times during the night.

Faith at her desk

We put a lot of prayer into her school schedule for the year and it seems it is working very well for us. It's definitely been a nice and somewhat surprising stress-free transition from summer to school!