*disclaimer before you start reading and get all riled up at
me. I have NO problem with people
who choose to homeschool. Some of my dearest friends homeschool. Some of those friends now have college
age kids and if my children end up anything like their grown children I will be
one happy mom.
I’ve never wanted to homeschool. I don’t look good in denim skirts and, frankly, white Keds
just get dirty too quickly.
There was a time that I was adamant that I would NEVER
homeschool. While other little
girls played imaginary games where their stuffed animals were pupils and they
were teachers I was never that girl. I preferred to spend hours in Barbie land. Teaching just wasn’t in me.
After I had kids I had a little change of heart where I told
the Lord that if it was NECESSARY, life and death, and he laid it on my heart I
would consider homeschooling. I
warned Him that there would probably be some Gideon-like antics on my part to
be sure that I was hearing correctly.
I even got a fleece ready.
Its not just that I don’t feel called to be a teacher,
its also that I feel school and being in the world and being salt and light is
important. Every family has to
make the decisions that they feel are best for themselves and for us we felt
like school was it. And every time
I saw an article posted to Facebook about how much smarter homeschooled kids are,
or comments from the moms who just loooovvvveee all that togetherness & pj
time and they have with their kids and all the “amazing” projects they do, or a
clip on Pinterest about how schooling at home is the way that it SHOULD be done
(i.e. we are doing it right and the rest of you are doing it wrong) my resolve
to NOT homeschool got stronger.
Then along came Jake. I felt strongly that with his social issues he needed to be
in the classroom with other kids.
There are a myriad of social interactions every day at school and all of
them are important for him to learn to navigate the circus of life. Deep sigh of relief.
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| Jake and Mrs. Edens - 1st grade teacher extraordinaire |
Then came Ainsley, our social butterfly. On Jake’s first day of kindergarten I
had to drag her out of the room.
By the time I got her brother settled she had already made herself
familiar with the costume center and was dressed in fairy wings. At the end of each day when we talk
about our favorite part of the day 99% of the time Ainsley’s answer is “the
whole part where I was at school”, or some variation of that. When she got the stomach bug back in
January the first thing she said after she threw up was “oh no, what if I can’t
go to school on Monday.” This girl
seriously loves school. And school
seriously loves her back. Again,
whew! Dodged the homeschool bullet
for another kid.
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| Ainsley with Mrs. Zwart and Mrs. Williams - I love these two ladies! |
Then came Reid.
Darn that kid. He has
screwed everything up. He still
naps 2 hours a day and sleeps 11 hours a night. He plays hard and sleeps harder. I’ve waited all year for him to grow out of his need for
naps but it hasn’t happened. That
combined with his delay in developing some of his emotional maturity had made
me a nervous wreck about kindergarten.
I didn’t want to hold him back if it wasn’t necessary but I just wasn’t
sure! And he was so excited about
starting real school like Jake and Ains.
And one day it hit me – we have this next year in Kansas to be more
flexible then we have ever been before. Plus, Ryan will be around more than he has ever been
before. Reid & Ryan are my two
peas in a pod. I hated the idea of having Reid in school all day while Ryan was
home. So everything has changed – but in a way I am super excited
about. I am going to keep Reid and
Jane Dare home next year and do preschool & kindergarten at home. Obviously I have no idea what I am
doing however, I don’t feel a lot of pressure. My reasoning is that if it goes great and Reid matures and
learns a lot he can start 1st grade when we get back to Pinehurst
Elementary. If it doesn’t go so
well and he doesn’t reach the standards I will set then when we get back he
will start Kindergarten. Either
way it’s a win. If we succeed I
will have a fun year at home with him and send him to school confident that he
is ready. If I don’t succeed I
still will have a fun year with him and get to send him to Kindergarten with
the same teachers that Jake and Ainsley had – two of my favorite teachers on
this planet. Win-win.
So, the next step is planning mode. I need suggestions to
help us have a successful year of kindergarten at home. Ready? Go!
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| Reid-o-Torpedo |
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