My First day of School

My First Day of School

After the summer vacation my older brothers and sister were starting back to school. I had turned five that March and wanted to start with them. My older brother had started when he was five but his birthday had been in November, my mother had explained. Because my birthday was after the end of the year that I would have to wait till I was six. I was five and a half and I started counting the time till I would be six.

Each morning my brothers and sister were busy getting ready for school. After breakfast they would hurry out to the old walnut tree and wait for the school bus. The bus would come down the gravel road stirring up dust and come to a stop in front of our house. The bus would already be filled with kids with their excited faces pressed against the windows. There was an air of excitement as they boarded the bus and it pulled away. I was sure that their day was going to be more fun than mine.

After arriving home from school my sister would get her homework finished so that she could get to whatever book she might be reading. During her study time she would allow me to study with her and she would teach me how to read. She would share her paper and pencils with me and I would save them for when I would start school.

As my sixth birthday approached I could barely sleep. I was finally going to school. As the dust rose signaling the approaching bus, I join my brothers and sister under the walnut tree with my paper and pencil ready for school. Only then did they realize that I thought that I was starting school on my birthday. As the school bus pulled away without me that morning I was heart broken. I was not going to school till it started again in the fall.

That day my mother decided that I could go to school with my sister the next day. She is eight years older than I, so she was happy to take her little brother. It was an exciting day. I got my turn in her class reading and working arithmetic problems on the blackboard. School was even more exciting than I could have imagined.

My sister was proud of me that day in school. I had surprised her with how much I was learnt to read. After that day she has taken more interest in my education and she made more time for teaching. Even today she gives me encouragement in my education.