Big School

We homeschool part time. What that means is that the children attend "big" school (as ds aptly named it) 2 days per week, and then we school at home the other days. At Big School they are taught Social Studies, Science, Art, and Phys-Ed. At home I teach Language Arts and Math. Big School has the same start and end dates as the public school out of which it's run. Therefore, this Tuesday the children go back to school. Yesterday I spent some time getting their school supplies ready. I enjoyed school as a child and loved this time of year of new stuff. New school clothes, books, pencils, and paper. I liked putting the crisp paper in the untattered binders. Fresh starts. Unfortunately, I wasn’t an organized child. Those tidy binders didn’t last long, but at this time of the year I always had the hope that things would be different.

Being that Big School has just the 2 subjects there isn’t a long list of supplies. Happily, I don’t feel frazzled about going to this store and that store to get a good deal. Those poor parents in Staples and Wal-Mart. Actually, I forgot about it when I sent Adrian to the store yesterday to get lined paper and tape. He called me from his cell phone: “You sure threw me into the fire today didn’t you?!” “Huh?” I dumbly asked. And then it dawned on me that hundred of kids are going back to school. It’s like last minute Christmas shopping in August. Oops.

Sadly, ds is not looking forward to going back to school. There isn’t anything specific he doesn’t like. In fact, when he’s there he has fun. He enjoys his friends. Of course, his favourite subjects are recess, lunch, and gym. When I query him he says that school takes too long. This doesn’t surprise me because that’s what he says about anything he doesn’t like. It’s definitely what I hear at home during our lessons.

Anyone who doesn’t homeschool does not know the many many MANY directions one could take in their approach to teach their children at home. For someone as neurotic as I am it can be overwhelming. I want to make the right decision. What we’re doing right now is the right one for right now. In a few years from now, who knows?