And so it begins

I haven’t really told the whole world this yet, mostly because I’m not ready for all the judgement and opinions the world will immediately form about me and my little family once I do. Some of you will have excitement and some of you will think I’ve lost my mind. Some will say my kids are missing out and some will think they’re getting so much more. Maybe it’s all of that.

Tomorrow morning, we open our very first day of homeschool. The curriculum was purchased. The books organized. The manipulatives stored in cute bins that double as seating. His sister bought him some Avenger and Star Wars themed folders. He invited her to join him as he “learns to read this year!”. I made charts for each day, so that he can see what we’re doing and what’s coming up.

We were supposed to start today, but Gideon threw up on Sunday night and I got mastitis and impetigo and a giant fever to let me know I was going to die soon. Then I started main lining antibiotics with a tiny amount of the good tylenol to keep me from crying every time my left arm touches my side. The week blew up and I got the lesson right away. This is going to be a journey requiring patience and flexibility. There will be tears and bad days and it’s all going to be okay after some time and possibly some drugs.

We decided to homeschool for a whole bunch of reasons, not the least of which having to do with fostering our children’s strengths and treading lightly where they are weak. We love the idea of letting them be specialists from the get go, while making sure they know about all of the generalities one needs to comprehend good jokes, literary references in interesting conversations, music that has changed the world and visual art that you’ll never forget. We want them to be lopsided – not well-rounded. We hope they have a big bulge in their area of interest because we think all of us have the greatest potential for growth in the areas where we are strong. We know that’s a tall order in a classroom full of kids with different potentials and one teacher tasked with bringing them all along the education train.

We rode that train. We had very different experiences. We had different teachers – some who did very well, some that did a good job, some that weren’t trying and some who were straight up evil. The ones on either end of that spectrum have given us some good stories to tell at parties. Our choice to educate at home isn’t a reaction to any of those stories. It’s not a judgement of your choice to do something different either. It’s just our choice. For this child. This year. Things will change. Our education choices will too. We’re all learning as we go and I plan to share with you the successes and failures we face to help you get a good idea of what this thing is.

This train leaves at 9 tomorrow morning (what?! Not 8? she’s already a slacking slacker of homeschool pajama slack!)(what?! she got on this train 5 years ago! she’s already taught him how to sing his ABCs and count to 100 or beyond and potty trained him and discussed lemon sharks and blue whales at ridiculous length. she’s just continuing the process!). It’s finally here and I’m nervous but happy and ready.