A couple of weeks ago the local kids all headed back to school. And I’m thrilled for y’all that have done all of your prepwork, bought the clothes, the supplies, and are resting peacefully at home without your children. Really. But for me, I’m amazed that I have no twinge of “should I be following suit?” I have no doubts about them being home. Sure, I have doubts about what grade my oldest should be in, doubts about my curriculum choices (or lack thereof), doubts about my sanity, but never doubts about whether they should be headed out of the house with the multitude of others. This was driven home again this spring with my in-laws. I had mentioned to my mother-in-law that I had been thinking about “putting my oldest back through second grade”. In my head this meant, that I wasn’t sure if he should move onto third grade curriculum just yet and officially sign the registration forms with “second grade”. My sweet mother-in-law took this to mean that I was putting him back into public schools, but not wanting to offend me, she said nothing, just worried in silence about her grandson. Until I brought up curriculum again. And the air was cleared. But not before I about fell out of my chair thinking that she had thought we would do that. And I reassured her, that was such a shocking thought to me. I would not be doing that. No matter how many doubts I have or panics that arise, I am completely assured in this one thing – they’ll be home with me.
Also driven home by the rude, inept, and ridiculous scenes I had (twice) at my local public school office in the process of registration.
Driven home by the semi-constant discussion with our neighbor kids that were gearing up for school, and my 6 year old leaned into me and quietly said, “I’m really glad I get to be home with you.”
Driven home by my 2 year old that yells at the movie Journey To The Center Of The Earth “That not water, guys, that LAVA!”
Driven home each morning as the school bus passes.
And so, on the first day of school when everyone else was donning their new school clothes, we put on our play clothes, posed for “class pictures”, packed a picnic lunch, called fellow homeschoolers, and headed off for a “not back to school” adventure day. We went to the Children’s Museum of Discovery (didn’t take the camera and kicking myself like crazy) where we have a year pass, but have avoided like the plague while the public schoolers were there in force during the summer time. And then we went to the fountains to play the afternoon away. I wanted to make the most of yet another day that I had been given to be with my kiddos. A day where they explored space, the human body, magnets, light, circuits, iguanas, patience, waiting in line, listening, obeying, physical education, playing with others, meeting new people, and taking turns.
All awesome pics below were taken by Maury!
Our first day of school for this year was a success, to say the least. How was yours?
