Blake's first day of kindergarten was on Sept. 1. He loved it and had a great time. My wife and I had a better time than we expected. It's so hard to just let someone else be responsible for the safety and well-being of our child. It went really smooth though. There were no tears shed from either side; thank God. He came home still very excited, but he was exhausted and cranky. He told us many tales of his great journey and then fell asleep on the couch. All in all a great first day. It's now his third day and he still loves it. I think he's a little smitten with his lady bus driver. Every time we mention her he gets a silly grin on his face. We're just glad that he loves it, that's right loves it, not likes it. That's pretty rare. That reminds me of something he told my wife the evening of the first day; he said mommy did you enjoy all the piece and quiet while I was at school.
I really think school is sometimes tougher on the parents than the kids. I sent my three off to three different schools this year. My oldest is a sophomore so for her it's old hat. My middle child has now had his first two weeks of junior high and my youngest started at a new school since we moved. It's been an interesting few weeks for the boys. My two oldest love school, my youngest- it's 'Okay'.
ReplyDeleteBut I'll tell you, at this point- I LOVE having a day off work when the kids are in school. It's amazing how much I can accomplish.
Judy
I'm so glad that Blake had a great first day. That's terrific!
ReplyDeleteYou are so right. It is hard letting go and trusting someone else to take care of your child.
I must be hard to let others in control of the safety and well being of oyur child, but that is one big reason we homeschool.
ReplyDeleteTo Try and answer your question, (from my blog), first let me say that I hope that I didn't offend you. I appreciate what you asked. It is hard to maintain a schedule, for sure. There are many times that my wife looks around and cringes at the thought of the things undone. But you give a little, you get a little. My wife stays home, so that is a big help. We also teach "incidentally" in conjunction with the three r's. That means that if the child shows an interest in something, pursue it with all you've got. On the socialization subject, if you go to church, like us, the kids socialize there very well. Many church families are homeschoolers and that helps to find them. Kids are very social and will socialize very well with anyone who will give them the attention, good or bad. They need direction from those that love them. If we look back 100 years, we know that parents were in the business of raising future adults, not perpetuating childhood as we do today. If we have a paradigm shift in this direction, we encourage children to mingle with people of all age groups. This achieves character building from those of all ages, children feeding off other children of varius age groups and emulating young adults and adults alike. I know what happens, as a male, when you put a bunch of 15 and 16 year old boys together, I was one and it isn't always pretty. Frankly, the socialization argument seems to be the only one left against homeschooling, all others have failed. I have nothing against those that choose not to homeschool, it is their choice. I simply want to encourage folks to think about it and go where God leads them. I know this is long and I don't mean to offend anyone. Send me a email if you want to talk more. sppowers@iglide.net Check out a book called "The Socialization Trap" by Rick Boyer.
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