At Considerable Cost

All three of my children started school this year.   All three.   Thomas is now a proud kindergartner.   Clare is in second grade.   Emmeline began intermediate school which means a locker and schedule to remember.   My house is nearly silent during the day and it feels very empty and lonely.   I have to stop here and step off any pity train, though.   Every school day, I climb into my car and get to pick up my babies from school.   Then, I get to spend the rest of the evening with them, along with the weekends and holidays.   My house is not always empty.   It's not the same as the seven years we waited for the sounds of children to fill our home.   The idea of returning to homeschooling has been very appealing to me recently.   It's been appealing because I want my children with me all the time.   I honestly miss them.   My head soon takes...

The sweetness as the boy looks up at one big sister and holds hands with the other! Though this post is dated August, it is actually being typed in December.   I didn't want to post at the time because sending my baby off to kindergarten has been an adjustment for me.   He is so happy, though and he LOVES school.   He LOVES his teacher.   He LOVES learning.   And he LOVES his mama when I pick him up at the end of the day!   Some days, he's dressed with his backpack on, waiting for everyone else to get ready because he can't wait to get to school.    It helps with this transition to know how happy he is, and how well-cared for he is by his excellent teacher.   He also gets to see her in mass on Sunday mornings, where she is a Eucharistic minister. He fell asleep in the car line as we waited to pick up Emmeline. As if that wasn't enough, this is also the ye...

In my earlier post about our children going to public school after home schooling exclusively, I shared our  first day experiences in my usual voice.   At the same time, I was working on this post.   This is a more matter-of-fact post that lays out our personal experiences in a very cut-and-dry manner.   That wasn't my mood last week, but now I am ready to re-visit the topic. Our Reasons for Choosing to Home school:   From my classroom experience and research, I understand that American public schools, with the best of intentions, teach too many topics, too early.   It is overwhelming to look at the amount of objectives (those specific skills/tasks you want children to master) at each grade level.   For example, I still firmly believe--and this is shared by experts who know more than me--that the math topic, re-grouping ("borrowing" from old school days), should be introduced in third grade.   In most states, it is always i...

"Is she in there?" "I think so.  Should we knock?" This was part of the conversation from my fellow teachers outside my classroom door the morning I returned to work, two months after the birth of my first child.    My locked classroom door.   I managed to get into the building with no contact with others, cover my window on my door, and lock myself in for a good cry.    I did not take separation from my baby very well.   I called my husband and told him I just couldn't stay.   He called the personnel office and asked about my leave options.   Then, he called Mama.    "I know it's hard, Joey, but you have to let her face this; she just has to do it." Later, when I talked to Mama, she told me how she felt when she took me to my first day of school.   She said leaving me at that poor, old south Louisiana school building was one of the hardest things she ever did. ...