CoffeeBean's Corner

Sep. 20, 2008

Big changes.....again

This was Lindsey on Thursday.... And this was her on Friday..... And there she goes..... (Are you shocked???)  Yes.....Lindsey started public school, half-day (afternoons), kindergarten on Thursday.   (School started the day after Labor Day so she missed not quite 3 weeks.) I have learned in this life to never say never.  Not just about this, but many other things.   I may not have said it aloud but I have thought it to myself :  "My child will never again go to public school."   Not that things were terrible when Ben went.  He went to PS for kindergarten and first grade and then I homeschooled him through high school.  Pulling him out was not in reponse to anything about the school at the time, it was all about how I saw the benefits of homeschooling and wanted to try it.  It went well for the most part.  The high school years were rough because of all the changes in our life (2 adoptions and all that went along with them including the active child at the end!) but overall we had a very positive homeschool experience and I enjoyed it. I wrestled within myself these past few months whether or not to homeschool the girls.  I had been so looking forward to it almost since we first brought Lindsey home.  But I began to have my doubts as the time got closer but because I am such a believer in homeschooling, I pushed them aside, and also pushed aside my husband's opinion that maybe it would be better to send Lindsey to school.  I won't go into all the details as to why we made this decision right now.  But now that it has been made, I feel SO good about it.  I feel this is the best thing for every member of this family right now.  Of course I am open to homeschooling her in the future, but we'll see how life goes.  We will take it one year at a time, but because of the reasons we put her in, I have a feeling she will be in school for a number of years if not all the way through.  But who knows what life will bring and what will happen?  There is no sense in making decisions for the years ahead until they get here.  I just plan to be open minded and willing to do whatever we feel is best, whatever God is calling us to do each and every year. Lindsey wanted so bad to go to school.  She desperately wanted to ride the bus.  Those aren't the bottom line reasons we decided to send her, not by any means.  But they were huge factors in the "pros" of sending her column.    Now if the opposite were true, if she did not want to go to school, if she would have dreaded going or anything like that, we wouldn't have sent her.  I'm so sad when I hear of kids who are miserable in school, especially those being bullied or picked on, who have no choice but to stay because their parents won't look for other options, or maybe don't feel that are other options.    I'm not talking about normal "first day jitters" which I will say Lindsey had NONE of - she was raring to go.  When we pulled into the school parking lot the first day (I took her and picked her up the first day, she rode the bus the second) I asked her if she was excited and she said "I'm more than excited!  I'm FANTASTIC!"  She is going to LOVE school.  She already went on a field trip yesterday to an apple orchard (which she called an "apple torchard") and she was thrilled.  Her teacher is super nice, I met her on Wednesday and talked to her on the phone later that day. So now that I'm not homeschooling, homeschoolblogger probably isn't the best place for my "new" blog!  ARGH!   As soon as I figure out what I want to do, I'll be starting a new general blog somewhere else.  I'm thinking of trying Wordpress, something other than Blogger, just for something totally new and different....yet again.  I'm sorry!   This has been crazy.    Thanks to all of you who have followed me here and left comments.  I apologize that I still haven't replied to or acknowledged most of you individually.  I will get caught up one of these days and will write back.  I'll let you know when I have a new home! ...1/2 hour after I wrote this entry.....I have a new blog!  Come visit me at: Eileen's Blog

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Comments

Sep. 27, 2008 - school

Posted by Stretch Mark Mama

Oh, I hear ya about 'never say never.' I have a sneaky suspicion that my girl is going to beg to go to school and would thrive in that environment. Hmmm, always so much to think about!

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Sep. 28, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Holly (from Blogger)

Just as public school is not the best situation for every child, homeschooling is not the best for every child either. I think a good parent is one that knows and understands their child(ren) and also the options that are available to them, whether its a public school, a private school, a montessori school or homeschooling or some other choice all together! I applaud you for considering all your options and also your child's feelings (which unfortunately I don't think all parents do) and doing what you think is best for everyone in your family.

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