Feb. 8, 2009 - Slow Down Sunday.
We skipped church, yes. Instead, we opted for worship time at home with our children.
I fixed waffles and served them in the dining room. This is the first time we've sat down at that table as a family for a meal in two weeks. Chad read the story of Daniel from the Bible. And it was just great to have family time without rushing. The rest of the day was spent lazying about outside in the hammock, on the trampoline, in the sandbox, and so forth. It was warm enough to go barefoot!
It's not even 8 pm, and I'm drowsy in the best, most satisfying way.
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Feb. 4, 2009 - The Slipping Towards Numbness.
The county schools were delayed 2 hours this morning. Yesterday, school countywide was cancelled because of snow. . . which did not affect the streets in our corner of the county. This means that we will have to string along the invasive school calendar into the Summer.
It occurred to me yesterday that if we were officially homeschooling, the day wouldn't have seemed wasted. Not that we wasted it. It just would've been a seamless continuation of learning without the interruption. (Because I am not directly involved in the material taught at school, everything is disjointed and has little to do with home/community except for "homework".) Ideally, we would've learned at home for a few hours yesterday at our own pace, played and interacted differently. More effectively, I believe, if we were homeschooling. More effectively in that it would've have seemed "natural" instead of disjointed and foreign to us.
This morning, it felt natural to wake at 7:30 am. I've observed that if allowed to go to sleep and wake by a healthy rhythm, they will go to sleep by 9 pm and wake at 7:30 am. The school system clock has the youngest to school by 7:42 am. The high school students are barely awake when the youngest are sitting behind tables and desks. I think that is RIDICULOUS. It's an outrage to me. Children, age 5 to 11, wake in the dark all year long and never get the benefit of Daylight Savings Time because they still go to school too early. My own children seem tortured by it. . . my oldest has anxiety about not getting enough sleep. It is cruel.
My husband and I think it has more to do with dual income families needing to have the youngest children, who are not autonomous and are more dependent, to school by 8 am. I know there are other "arguments" for this. . . such as "the little kids get out earlier", but what does that matter when they are doing 30 minutes to an hour of "HOMEWORK" each afternoon?
After waking this morning, I sat down to breastfeed the twins. The oldest boys were on the couch, TV was off, yet they had my laptop and were playing an online game. I sat quietly observing them, watching their faces, listening to their dialogue about this game. They sounded like they were speaking a foreign language. They were so engaged in the game that they took no notice of me staring at them - and subsequently, I realized how pitiful it seemed. There was something utterly disturbing in the way they were disengaged with the real world. There was a numb look about them, still in their PJs (or undies as it seems to be for my oldest), drawn into an unreal world that had nothing much to do with real life.
And I felt pity for them, anger at myself. How had I let this happen? I said nothing at the moment, but I whisked up my digital camera and caught some shots and footage of their behaviour.
When the two of them were tiny guys, they were engaged in life around us. They learned quickly, and homelife was rich. Family members seemed more engaged with one another, and we enjoyed one another's company. Daily, even in the "mundane", we were there together. . . running errands, preparing meals, singing, listening, ministering to others, visiting, taking walks, stopping to explore our smallest interests in bubbles ants grass books places etc., seeing God in His creation. . . all the meaningful delights!
Looking back now, I see this. As they grew , and as we put them in preschool programs and eventually public school, my own life became increasingly about what I call "facilitating chaos". No longer did I have the control or total right of guidance of my children. I became a slave to the outside schedules. . . things half done (no satisfaction) because there was no time - just snippets of time to do what needed to be done in order to get the kids to school. School, school, school. Anxieties swirl around having things sent to school, ready for school, cleaned for school, provided for school, perfect for school. All about public school! If it was affecting me, how was it affecting my children? Had I given birth to these five precious people just to give them over to public school and its demands? It just doesn't feel right at all anymore. This public school invasion into our lives is unnaturally usurping the duties of guidance I feel are mine.
I am an unpaid employee of the public school even though I pay the taxes which provide this "education". What? I'm paying them. . . but they are making me work for them. Of course, under the guise of "We have to PARTNER in this together." I've become a belligerent partner. I don't want to be the Facilitator of Chaos.
I could go on, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that we have been slipping towards numbness. . . Blindly taking the path that we thought everybody took. We do what they tell us. We jump when they say jump. We never question the purpose of the homework sent home. We rush to get our kids to school by 7:45 am even though we know it's not healthy for our children. Etc. We've been slipping towards numbness in this household.
My children do not seem whole anymore. I know I feel broken by it.
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Feb. 1, 2009 - Time Passed.
Since my last post, we've added twins to our family. My "homeschooled" preschooler started public school kindergarten in August 2008. I was put on bedrest for 13 weeks in the Spring 2008 during my twin pregnancy, and thus, "homeschool" preschool went by the wayside. Nonetheless, Spike entered kindergarten reading at least at a 3rd grade level. . . but then I am being told his DRA (Directed Reading Assessment) scores do not reflect his reading skill level because he does not always answer comprehension adequately. (He's still at that developmental level where his verbal skills can't always keep up with his thinking. And it frustrates him.)
Spike has enjoyed school this year. But we know he's not being challenged. He's reading Magic Treehouse books, Mr. Popper's Penguins and the like at home. "Baggie Books" are being sent home, but they are short picture books. The main goal with these is to practice comprehension: who was the main character? what was the story about? what happened in the beginning? middle? end?
Yes, comprehension is important. We're trying to get him to practice verbalizing what he's thinking. But when he's allowed to read for pure enjoyment, he is delighted.
Our 2nd grader got another "good" teacher this year, and I think she is a nice lady. She's definitely NOT as open as the previous teachers our eldest has had. She's very distant and does not like parents volunteering in her classroom. (I can understand this. Our kids go to a school in a very competitive part of town. Parents are concerned with what's going on in the school and volunteer in gobs. . . BUT these same parents are already pushing their kids to excel and beat out the other kids at a very early age. They are already prepping the kids for Duke, and there is a lot of smooching up to teachers and noseying into the business of other students and their performances. More than one teacher I know has reported a parent volunteer going through files. . . other students' files.)
After having twins and surviving this last year, I feel like I could handle homeschooling. I've had to learn to juggle many things this past year, and homeschooling doesn't scare me anymore in that way. . . Oh, my house is a wreck. I do mean a wreck. But I realize I'm not cracking up or going insane about it. We will get to it. I feel that it is important BUT LIFE, living life with my family and being/doing is more important. The past year has taught me lots, and I'm still growing. . . but I just feel confident that I can hack it better now that I have the perspective of a hard year behind me. I could go on about this.
I feel like I've lost a true understanding of where my oldest boys are academically, behaviourally and socially. I'm tired of the public school system dictating our family life and schedules. . . even limiting what my children seem to be interested in (how can you pursue these things with a public school schedule). I feel that my children's health has even suffered from public school in numerous ways. And I'm interested in spending more time with my children. . .
I could go on and on. This is a start. AGAIN.
Now I'm waiting for my husband to get onboard completely. He's only partially onboard.
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Sep. 14, 2007 - Hunting for a Homeschool Group.
Last night, I went on my first foray into finding a homeschool group that we might fit into IF we decide to continue on this homeschooling path. A friend, interested in homeschooling also, invited me to a group that a friend of her's belongs to.
I do not think we are a fit for that group.
The meeting started at 6:45 pm and would go until at least 9:00 pm. That meant I needed to take my youngest, 10 1/2 month old Little Rabbit, with me because she still nurses at bedtime. . . and Chad had to take the two boys to a soccer practice during that time. I gave my friend's friend a heads'up before I brought Little Rabbit, and there was NO objections from her.
But once I arrived at the meeting, the lady in charge seemed to be a little perturbed by it. She didn't receive me with warmth at all. She hardly smiled. I noticed there were older homeschooling moms there, some teenagers, and no younger moms. (By no means am I "young" - I'm 34, but there didn't seem to be any mothers that were still having babies and rearing preschoolers.) Of course, I'm sure the whole, "I locked myself out of my van just before I came here," debacle didn't give her a favourable view of me. . . along with the fact I had baby in tow.
At the beginning of the meeting, she even told the teenagers that they needed to sit away from one another with their parents. Then she said, from now on, there will be no children at the meetings. At that, I felt uncomfortable. I ended up getting up and going outside with Little Rabbit so she wouldn't be disruptive. I understand why she wouldn't want kids there.
Chad came and picked Little Rabbit up and gave me some spare keys, and I was able to return to the meeting without her. I tried to be inconspicuous when I went back in and sat down. The lady in charge started going over some "break-out" classes they were going to start, but it seemed they were all geared towards older kids. She said she was a big "unit study" person, and she was building the classes available around that sort of method. One class was a science class - and I thought, "Oh goody! My kids love science!" - but then she quelled my enthusiasm when she said,
"We'll try an experiment using the microscope. I'll bring one in. And we'll obtain sample water from the toilets, rivers, sink, etc. and have the children hypothe- hypothe-, oh whatever. . . we'll have them GUESS which sample will be the dirtiest. But that'll only be for students in the second grade and older. Besides the younger ones don't even know hypothesis, and you don't want them playing with the microscope.
I TOTALLY DISAGREE WITH HER. Even if she is a 14 year veteran of homeschooling.
(I think my children would totally get it and have the best time with such an activity. Our children's curiousity would see them there. We've been amazed at what they can learn. . . And a microscope? A real one? They would love that, and that would spur them to know more.)
And then the lady in charge says she'd like to do an art class. ART! Yes, I love art, and I think children are naturals at artwork because they don't have all those pretenses about what is "perfect art" and so forth. The lady in charge was even an art major in college! So that was great. But then, she quelled that enthusiasm when another visitor asked if that group would be open to younger children. . . The reply, "I don't know. I haven't thought that far in advance."
So that means to me, probably not.
I don't want to criticize them because all it is - is that I haven't found where we belong yet. I'm hoping to check into a Classical group soon. I wrote the director of that, and it looks a little more promising as it is open to Pre-K 4 students.
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Sep. 4, 2007 - First "official" day!
Spike had his first official day of "homeschool preschool" today. We spent only 25 minutes at it: short vowel /a/, recognizing A, and making sure he indeed could identify 1-10 and put them in order. That's all!
He was a little reluctant at first to sit with me, but by the end, he was a-okay.
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Aug. 29, 2007 - Getting Up with the Moon. Setting Up.
I just had to post the photo of the Green Corn Moon (at its fullest) with the eclipse from Tuesday morning. Yes, I was up then. I've been getting up early every morning this week to get some quiet time and jumpstart without the kids underfoot.
My oldest has returned to public school. **sigh** He seems happy in his class, and his teacher seems to be nice. But I don't really know her that well. That always made me sad. . . the fact that my child spends so much time each day with someone that I really don't know so much. I see her at the school here and there, have limited time (her time is limited) to talk to her about my child, and all of that. Makes me really sad.
I'll try to be positive for the sake of my 6 year old Crash. So I am. We are able to walk to school each morning, and that's very nice. Not having to jump in the car and rush off. Instead, we're able to trot up to the school, observe the morning together, and get a little exercise. And another positive note is that I definitely have decided to afterschool him in history, science and art. The teacher, at the Open House this past weekend, told us that she knew "Social Studies" would get shortchanged. And that means that Science and Art will too.
After reading The Well-Trained Mind and getting familiar with the Classical method, I am feeling comfy enough with that to give it a go. For the afterschooling, I'm supplementing with the Ancients material from The Story of the World. We're just going to go at it slowly instead of with full intensity. Another part of my reasoning for afterschooling him is so IF we do decide to homeschool him next year, he won't be so far behind in the progression.
Well, Spike is rarin' to go with his homeschooling. I am going to start next week. I'll talk about what I'm doing with him later. I will say that I'm going to go ahead and let him join in on our history lessons if he wants to do so.
Also, I found the perfect (but slightly beat up) round table for our little homeschooling room. I only paid $7 for it!!
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Aug. 22, 2007 - French Toast Day.
I purposely woke at 5:30 am. I usually try to sleep as late as the kids (or school schedules) will let me since Little Rabbit was born last October. I have been craving some quietude as of late, and aside from leaving the house in the rare moments, it seems, when EVERYONE is at home, I didn't have many options. Once Chad comes home in the evenings, I dislike ditching him with the kids while I go exercise or gather my wits out of the house in a public locale that requires driving (i.e. bookstore? library? grocery store? places that beg for me to spend moolah?). Their bedtime comes so soon, and family time is so very precious. I prefer being with the kids even if it means my sanity comes close to the edge.
I think I've solved the problem. If I wake before all the others in the AM, I have quiet. I have an opportunity to exercise, spend some time with God, take a bath with no one next to the tub, and actually get a decent breakfast going WITHOUT feeling so overwhelmed by the immediate needs of the people in my household.
I say this to myself: Face it, I need to plan some breathers for myself. The Lord will take care of me in these times, but every so often, waking early and being alone means I am more organized and more of a joy to be around than when I feel frazzled from too many days! weeks! months! of going, going, going without some time to regroup.
I've always hated to say, "I need some 'me' time." It just sounds so, so, well, so self-centered. I think I spend a bit of my time waiting for my husband to say, "Go take a break!" But instead, he's the kind of guy who sees a break in the calendar and says, "Hey, I think I'll go ride my mountain bike this afternoon."
So I'm getting to the point that I have to grab these breathers for myself. But I'm definitely not a hog about it. I'd prefer to always be with my family, but I am having to start being more realistic. A person needs to be alone some time.
I'm not the kind of woman who enjoys Ladies Night Out, and I don't have gal pals that I get together with each month. If I have time alone, I want to use it exercising or relaxing with someone who makes me comfortable with being me (this could be my husband, a book, a movie, a much-loved sister, or my mother). As for daily refreshment, this morning thing just seems to be the ticket. I've tried to stay up late as a "break", but it just makes me dread the morning. Waking up early is better than staying up late, if you ask me.
We even had french toast this morning. I guess I'm going to start calling these sort of days "French Toast Days". . . I hope to have more of these. Maybe tomorrow will be a fancy omelette sort of day.
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Aug. 21, 2007 - Reading, reading, reading.
Just returned from a beach vacation where I consumed The Well-Trained Mind. Just trying to hit all the education books that keep popping up in my "research" of homeschooling. Finished Dumbing Us Down also. That one left me in a paranoid, infuriated state. Am now reading the pro-reading book Honey for a Child's Heart.
Of course, I have plenty of other books on my list. I am trying to get my husband to read some of these, but he's a little reluctant. He doesn't do as much reading as I do.
Academically, I have decided to follow the Classical methods for the time being with Spike. I'm not sure exactly where he is in reading. . . he read a beginning reader to us last night. But I suspect that many of the words were his "sight words" (not sure what is in his "sight vocabulary") So I will be doing phonics with him, moving him along at the pace that suits him. After I feel he is getting a good grasp on the reading, I will introduce some handwriting, probably in the Zaner-Bloser vein.
There will be math. Some science, art and music for fun. And as always in our family, he will be getting doses of history as we all go about learning together. Just yesterday, we were at the local National Park (for fun) exploring the Revolutionary War for the umpteenth time.
Physically, I'll be working with him on personal hygiene habits as well as having him take swim lessons and play in the Y soccer league.
Emotionally, he will continue to be loved unconditionally and trained/disciplined by us, his parent! At home, he will most definitely receive acceptance.
Spiritually, we'll continue to introduce him to Jesus, through prayer/Bible Study/church worship/ministry/service/etc. , as we have since he was born. It is my hope that Spike (and all of my children) find that they are each significant to their Lord and Saviour. . . and that they develop personal relationships with Jesus.
I'll be praying fervently for direction and conviction for our next steps.
I still have yet to put into place exactly why I need to be homeschooling my children - my reasons and philosophies, if you will. I have "gut" feelings as well as concrete reasons, but it all seems rather jumbled and a little unclear. Some days I feel "gung ho", and other days, I wake and think This is crazy. I can't teach my own kids!
Just today, my oldest told me he wished to be homeschooled. I asked him why. He responded that he missed me during the day while he was gone to school.
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Aug. 10, 2007 - Officially on a New Path.
I know for many of my fellow homeschool bloggers, this is small beans. For us, it's a whole new adventure, and we're a little anxious. We feel led to do this, but still, we are having to trust and forget the doubts that creep into our minds.
I officially called the preschool director at our church today to let her know that we were withdrawing Spike from the program. I had to leave a message, and I did not go into detail why. If she has questions, she can call me. I thanked her again for meeting with my husband and me last week.
It feels so official now. We're not just talking. We're now DOING something about it.
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Aug. 9, 2007 - We're in the Dog Days of Summer.
It's been a busy Summer for us since that last day of kindergarten. As soon as we picked Crash, my 6 year old son, up from the car rider line at the Primary School, we were off to the pediatrician to get Little Rabbit's ear checked for infection. (Little Rabbit = my 9 month old daughter) She had an ear infection that day, and we returned to the doctor's again today to check on her ear again. Yes, another ear infection. When it comes to suspecting ear infections, I'm tipped off by her latch-y-ness and multiple night wakings. Last night was one such night of broken sleep.
So it's been a busy Summer. I did manage to get my house under control in time for my Sister #4's bridal shower here this past weekend. I feel guilt over having to spend so much time catching up on the house instead of focusing on my children. I always say that it's okay to have a messy house (except no one can come over because I can tend towards perfectionism), but I learned this Summer, a family has to keep some semblance of order to feel safe and relaxed. At least my family is this way.
Today, we've been off swimming at the Y - no outdoor pool for us on such a hot day. The physical activity really pays off late in the afternoon. Instead of being crazy-delirious-jittery tired, my children seemed relaxed-tired. Much better!
I've started The Well-Trained Mind, and it appeals to my own ideas of learning. Will it work for my child(ren)? I need to understand their learning styles more than I do before I make any hard and fast decisions. I DO NOT see them being much of "workbookers". I think we would all be bored that way. I like the idea of plenty of hands-on experience, but I also like the self-disciplined thinking direction that the Classical method exhibits. I think Unit Study would most definitely burn us out because we are the sort who can dig into something until it turns us off completely. . . we don't know when to stop.
So much to think about, so little time. And that's just it. I keep trying to sit and think about how we are to organize our time, and there's not even time for that! 
We'll get there. . .
On homemaking notes, I've been trying the Don't Panic: Dinner's in the Freezer cookbook. We'll be trying the Cranberry Chicken for supper tonight. With very little effort and a bit of watching the butcher department's sales, I have been able to freeze three different meat entrees (total of 13 meals for us) at $4.00 or less for the main dish. Much healthier and cheaper than eating out, I'll say. I've employed the crockpot for tonight's dinner too because who really feels like standing in the kitchen on such a hot day?!
I've noticed an increase of Autumn-themed catalogs in the mail as of late. I love Autumn. But I'm still not ready to think about it. When I looked at an LL Bean catalog that came a couple of days ago, the front cover had a man and woman sitting on a dock with their picnic. . . Fall all around, their clothes looking all neat and perfectly suited for the weather. But I could not feel the Autumn. . . not even in my imagination. It's that HOT here. Somewhere, I know Autumn is in a corner of my brain. My body could (if it weren't so HOT) remember what it was to feel those first brisk mornings. My eyes could recall the particular slant of the sun's rays on an Autumn afternoon. My ears could remember the sound of leaves going all crunchy. And my mouth could recollect, quite fondly I might add, the tastes of Fall: apples, candy corn, roasted corn ears at the fair, pumpkin pies, and cinnamon spices.
It's so HOT.
Did you know the "Dog Days" are supposed to end on the 11th or 17th of this month? Living in North Carolina, it's just not so. The days will remain mostly warm well into October.
So I shall continue to enjoy the delights of Summer despite the heat!
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Aug. 7, 2007 - New Here.
What am I doing here?!
Last week, my husband and I met with the preschool director at our church concerning our 4 year old's class placement issue for this school year.
I don't want to sound negative about preschool, but I have had pangs of guilt for over three years that had to do with putting my children in preschool. I didn't really think preschool was necessary before I had kids. And I didn't really think it was necessary until my oldest was about 2 years, and it was then I started worrying that the arrival of his little sibling would prevent me from giving him the attention he needed in order to grow up to be a well-adjusted human being. Ha. (Writing that now seems so naive.) So we put him in a Christian two-day/half-day program so he could "socialize" with kids his own age and someone else could teach him how to behave in a group setting. I honestly don't know if it was the right thing, but the experience set us on a course of "preschool dependency" (I'll define that another day) until it culminated with our oldest spending 5 mornings a week in a preschool setting before entering kindergarten.
I never felt good about the decision to send him 5 days a week, but it didn't stop me from enrolling his younger brother in two years of half-day private preschool programming. . . and then the combined experiences seemed to have caught me by the heel. I'd been running from my instincts, my intuition (?!?) since 2002. . . But now I think it was God laying it on my heart.
I don't think preschool is evil, but I don't think it's necessarily the best place for my pre-k aged son. . . we'll call him Spike here. Last fall, when he was almost 4, he was enrolled in our church's WEE School. His birthdate is in early November, and he was oddly placed in a class of ALL boys. . . at least three of the boys didn't turn 4. . . well as of this entry, they aren't even 4 yet. So my child was the oldest in this class of ALL boys. It was an experiment created by the director. It turned out to be a failed experiment before the month of October was up last year! Nonetheless, the director continued on, pretending that her experiment was wonderful despite the major behavioural upheavals that prevented the teacher(s) from teaching to the compliant and ready boys in the class. At one point, the director threatened to fire the teacher as she pulled her rug of support from under the teacher's feet. Why? A mom of a behaviourally-challenged boy in the class went over the teacher's head to the director to complain: "She puts my child in time-out too much." Never bothering to ask the teacher about the child's behaviour, reasons for the discipline method, etc.
And because this mom was responsible for "bringing so many families into the WEE School" (the director's words), the teacher's observations and accounts of the child's behaviour were ignored. And so were my child's needs. My child's (and at least three other boys') potential and capabilities were left behind in the wake of one brat's permitted misbehaviour. And to think, I paid $140 a month for such service!
My child learned nothing in preschool. . . except the increased use of vulgar language during the early months of school last year as well as an increased penchant for rebellious behaviour. He talked more about who had to sit in the grumpy chair than what he was learning spiritually or academically.
So I went to the director when registration time rolled around at the beginning of this 2007 year. I wanted to tell her it was important that he be in the class that would challenge him most (as he was beginning to read after being exposed to our kindergarten child's homework and practice). Well, she assured me that he'd be in a particular class with a very experienced teacher, etc. So I felt safe again and signed him up.
By the end of July, I found out he's been placed in a "newly invented" class, he's the oldest child in his class, he will not be learning the same things as the more challenging pre-K class (that includes his friend only 5 days older than him), he's been placed in the class due to class size limits (and the "newly invented" cut-off date for birthdate just happened to be conveniently October 31st). The director, after creating this class mid-registration period, used fancy words like, "The creation of this younger pre-K class will allow us to teach to two distinct developmental age groups," but nevermind my child's capabilities are advanced and the knowledge he's acquired without much help from us would have more than passed the NC kindergarten-readiness assessments! The creation of the class smacks more of "we can make more money this way" than "we really think this is a good thing for these students". (By the way, both the pre-k 5 class, consisting of children born April 2002-October 2002, and the pre-k 4 class, consisting of children born November 2002-December 2002, have students who will all be entering kindergarten at the same time. Well, the December date was supposed to be the cut-off anyways. . . but it's not.
So we went to see the director to politely inquire if we could move him up to the older pre-K class with the teacher I was told he would have. And we wanted to have a look at the curriculum and know exactly what the differences were between the pre-k 5 and pre-k 4 class. And we wanted to know who else was in his class.
"I will tell you right now, I WILL NOT MOVE HIM to the older class," said the stiffened-up director when my husband and I finally (and very politely) got down to brass tacks with her.
Then she read us the class list: first name, last name until she got to the child with behavioural problems. Then she quickly read his first name, leaving his last name off. I said, "Child's first name then his last name?"
Affirmative.
Then I proffered, "But he doesn't make the cut off date you said that students must be in order to be enrolled in the pre-K program?"
The reply was lengthy, teary and had to do with how this child's parents were at the "end of their rope" and she had placed him in that class in hopes it would help him. "And besides," she said, "he's had two months to mature." (I didn't see her in near tears when I told her how the behavioural problems had caused my child and at least three others to be neglected last year.)
Uh, excuse me. I had the child in my VBS class just one month ago, and he came running up behind me to push my backside while I was telling the Bible story AND he grabbed me by the face. Generally disrespectful. The director attempted to make me feel very sorry for the child and his parents as well as trying to make me feel guilty for having a child who didn't have these kinds of challenges. (Why is it that if you have a child who loves to learn, excels, and behaves respectfully, etc. that you are supposed to be almost apologetic and never ever admit that the child might be advanced,etc.?)
She kept saying that she doesn't allow talking about someone else's child, even betwixt teachers from one year to the next. But she kept saying his name even after I told her I would respect that policy and refrain from using names.
This child is NOT the problem. The teachers are not the problem. Even the snottiest of parents aren't the problem
The problem is that my child is not important enough to the program. The curriculum does not meet his needs (very boring, very below-him level of Abeka workbooks), and he was placed in a class based on age cut-off dates instead of his capabilities. She had no clue what his capabilities were as there was no formal assessment done and she didn't offer up his "file" when I asked if parents could look at their child's file and assessments. . .
So here we are.
And I guess I do know why I am here. Because I do know my child better than the preschool, and I can provide him with a better education for the next year. And to top it off, I love being with him.
I love being with all three of my kids, but I just haven't gone so far yet in saying that I will homeschool them all. There's many reasons for this: I have bad morning sickness when I'm pregnant (and would love to have more children), this is our first foray into this homeschooling thing, and my husband is nervous about it too. I have apprehensions and feel led to dip my toe into this homeschooling pool with caution.
I am certain that I plan on keeping my third child (only 9 months) and any other children of mine out of preschool if I can help it. Time with them is so fleeting.
I want to build a strong family unit that glorifies God. And I want to honor the potential He endowed each of the children He has entrusted me with. . .
