Oh, What a Year!

It's been almost a full year since I last posted on this blog. I have thought about it and wanted to so many times, but never really knew where to begin or what to say. Or where to find the time. If you had asked me last year at this time if I thought I would be where I am now, I don't think I could have ever guessed that the year would have unfolded as it did.


So my last post was about Curly Girl starting full-day Kindergarten. She was so excited about going to Kindergarten! She pretty much ran onto the bus without looking back on the first day. We weren't entirely surprised. This mommy was having a really hard time with it though. I couldn't put my finger on exactly what it was, but I was so much more emotional about it than I ever thought I would be. Looking back now, I blame a large part of it on the hormones which were all over the place because of breastfeeding an infant. And sleep definitely lacking in our two bedroom condo which housed three kids...

As the school days went on, Curly Girl was liking Kindergarten for the most part, but she was having a really tough time in the afternoons and evenings after school. She would get home from school and not want to do anything except for lounge around. She didn't want to play with the neighborhood kids. Actually, she didn't want to play at all. All she wanted to do was workbook pages that I had for her at home. The little girl had been in school all day long, but came home and wanted to do more (challenging) brain work but not move her body to play. It was sad to watch and be a part of. This was not my energetic, spunky little girl. Kindergarten, or shall I say full-day schooling at the age of 5, was changing her as a person. [Sadly, there is no half-day option in our town.] She just was not ready for it. As a mom, I felt horrible. How could I have failed to realize that she wasn't ready for the full day? Oh, that's right, I had an infant and 3 year old too, that's why. I had been looking forward to a bit of a break in sending her to school, but instead I was about to get the opposite...

This went on for three or four weeks. Things were getting progressively worse. Everyone said the beginning would be tough, but things were not getting better at all in the afternoons or evenings. It was a real struggle for me in the three hours between Curly Girl getting off the bus and Darling Daddy getting home from work. And the weekends were no better. All during this time I felt as though God was speaking to me through random people in many different places. The lady at the grocery store who was unloading her groceries in the car next to me one night, the neighbor kids who rode their bikes over to me and started talking to me mid-day one day, seeing and talking to friends who were homeschooling their children... I felt as though I was being called to home school Curly Girl.

Wait, what?!?! Home school?!?! No way. That was never part of the plan. Never part of MY plan. This was supposed to be my easy year. Send my oldest off to school so I could only have two kids to take care of for the better part of the day. And plus, I was a teacher by degree. I taught in a public school. The plan was to send my kids to public school and then teach in a public school again one day when they were all in school. That was always my plan. Why would I feel as though God was calling me to home school?

Well, here we are a year later and I now know why. He wanted to grow us and teach all of us some life lessons. He wanted me to depend on Him and trust in Him more than I ever have in my life. This past year was hard. Really hard. But it was also a year in which I learned so much about myself as mom, person and teacher, as well as learning a lot about my children. We all needed this year together at home. Curly Girl needed to grow physically and emotionally to be able to handle a full 7 hour day away at school. She needed to be able to get through the day without a nap and still be a decent human being by 6:00 pm. Ginger Boy needed to learn how to play games and share and have fun with his big sister around, both teaching and tormenting him. And the Littlest Ginger needed to have her mini mommy around to give her lots of attention and love :)

So yes, I spent this past year homeschooling my oldest child for her Kindergarten year. And we had a really great year! [Side note: Did you know that Kindergarten is not legally required in the state of Massachusetts? Well, it's not. You don't need to send your kid to Kindergarten and you don't need to provide any kind of curriculum to the town for teaching them at home. That made that decision easier!] Curly Girl is now reading like crazy. She loves to add and subtract. She will listen to books on CD for hours. She creates anything and everything with random art supplies and recycling materials. She got another year to just have fun and be a kid. And she still learned a lot. If I were to go back and do this year again, I'd do it the same way. We certainly had our ups and downs, but we came out of it with some great sibling relationships (for the most part) and some great new routines, structure and discipline in our household.

You're probably wondering what this next year will bring? Well, it will bring change once again. As much as we all loved homeschooling at many times, and as well as it went at times, it was also very challenging. Bet you couldn't have guessed that?! The teacher in me felt like I was failing so often. Failing Curly Girl, failing the other two kids. I just wasn't able to give homeschooling the full attention that I wanted and needed to give to it because as our Littlest Ginger has grown, she has became a very challenging toddler. [I have such admiration and respect for all of you homeschooling moms out there who do it with many young children. Hats off to you!] So, in about 3 weeks, Curly Girl will start First Grade at our local public school and Ginger Boy will start attending the preschool at our church 3 mornings per week.

In some ways, I am looking forward to this coming year, but in some ways, I'm also a bit sad. We had some really special moments together during our days at home this year. But we also had some days where I wanted to lock myself in the bathroom and just cry. Come September, for 12 hours a week I will only have one child. It's going to be quite strange after this busy past year! I'm looking forward to being able to run errands with only one child! Maybe I'll even be able to go running sometimes and only have to push a single stroller! I won't have to break up fights between Curly Girl and Ginger Boy! Maybe I can read a book to myself during nap time and not be reading chapter books to Curly Girl! Just a few mom dreams ;)

With that being said, we're not closing the door on homeschooling either. We're taking it one year at a time. We don't know what this next year will bring, only God does. We will have to be seeking and following His will and direction for our family. I'm thankful for my year of learning. I'm thankful for all of the friends who came alongside me to help me and guide me in the ways and methods of homeschooling. I had no idea what I was doing a lot of the time! I would have struggled so much more without the help and guidance of so many friends. So, thank you. 

And now, I have this coming school year to be challenged by this little character. It should surely be an adventure! Stay tuned...