I am also extremely nervous about this. My kids are switching from the very, very small private school to an average size public elementary within a huge bureacratic school system. We are doing it partially for financial reasons, but also because we felt they were aging out of their other school and needed more peers.
So one of the things I initially saw as a positive (a larger, more diverse group of kids) is also what's making me nervous (What if my goofy DS9 gets picked on?). Making the situation worse is that my other son may very well get into a local charter - but we may not know until after the start of the year. So he will have to switch and leave his brother - Yikes! They will go from being together in a mixed aged classroom to being in different schools. And our much-loved babysitter is leaving the country.
I calm myself by looking at the big picture - they are in good health, they live in a safe neighborhood, they are loved and cared for...if a stressful transition is the worst thng they face as children they will be exceptionally lucky. I think a parent's role is to raise children who are capable of dealing with challenges, even the bad ones. There is a lot of focus here on FINDING positive challenges for our children, but they need to deal with all kinds of challenges. If it's a disaster, we will make changes and move on. But we'll all learn from it no matter what. But I feel it in my stomach when I think about it.
