This morning as I am getting Alex up and dressed to go to school he tells me that he would rather go to the mall than go to school. The catches me off gaurd. Last year he loved school. He would get up in the morning and want to leave the minute he was dressed no matter how early it was. This year has been the exact opposite. I practically have to drag him out of the house two days a week. Once he gets to school he seems happy to be there, but when I go to pick him up there is almost always a problem. He had trouble listening, had one or more accidents that day, and the list can go on and on, and he has only been in school for three weeks. I don’t know if I can handle a full year of this.
So this has got me thinking. Should I be homeschooling him from the start. Jason and I have always talked about homeschooling the kids at some point. I used to work in the NJ public school system and have not been thrilled with the way most of the schools are run. I have run in to way too many teachers who are either brand new and are still figuring out how to do their job, or teachers who are now tenured and can’t lose their job, but are still awful teachers who shouldn’t be teaching. Now I am sure that there are plenty of great teachers out there who love their job and the children that they teach. I just havn’t run in to any. I also worry about the negative influence of the rest of the world who do not share the same values that my husband and I do, especially in the early years.
That being said, being a teacher myself, I know how important the preschool and kindergarten years are. Especially when you are talking about social development. I have always felt that it is very important for preschool and kindergarten children to learn how to interact and play with children their own age. It is also important that they learn how to listen to somebody other than mom and dad. With all that in mind Jason and I decided that we would send the children to a private preschool and possibly a private kindergarten and then start homeschooling in first grade. I am not sure why but I have never felt quite up to being my children’s preschool teacher. I can handle elementary school and middle school but for some reason I have always felt that I was not equipped to teach everthing that comes along with the preschool years. They are such important years that I think I was afarid that I would screw the kids up.
Lately though I think God has been working on me about this. I have begun to realize that maybe I could do this, and that I might just need to do this. He has been addressing a lot of my concerns. My first and biggest has been about the interaction with same age children. Well it never occured to me that being in the nursery during my bible study and Mom’s Time Out could provide this. I attend a weekly bible study and a twice montly moms group through a local church. They are both during the day and have child care. So both the kids are with other children their same age during those two hours that I am busy. That is also providing an answer for my second concern, learing to listen to adults other than mom and dad. Neither Jason or I are in the room at the nursery during these times. There are other adults who are in charge. Now this is not a perfect solution to my concerns. Both of these programs only run for about 9 weeks in the fall and spring. They are not as consistant as being in school.
My second biggest concern has been my ability to provide the proper learning enviornment for my children. Well the last few weeks I have been learning that it may be easier than I origionally though. Yesterday is the perfect example. While Lizzie was napping yesterday I spent those two hours with Alex. We painted with water, practiced writing his name, learned about the colors green and red, talked about the number 0, and he even helped me make banana bread. All that in two short hours. If I can do that every day than I think I could just manage this.
I know this post is all over the place, I am still trying to figure out where I stand on the very important subject of educating my wonderful children.
Heather