School

School has been weighing heavily on our minds lately. We have been homeschooling Levi for this past year. It has had good and bad moments.

Good moments:
Time spent with Levi, watching him learn
Teaching him how to read, and watching him read his own stories
Exploring together
Doing things on our own time table

Bad moments:
The days seem long, hard, and at times, very isolating
A sick pregnant Mama, does not, a good teacher, make.
Figuring out how to juggle schedules, work, kids, and just general time to do "life" related activities.

Levi's favorite thing: playing math games, so he says. :)
least favorite: learning new things (read: things that are hard for him to understand)

So, with that... we've been weighing our options for next year.. Do we continue to homeschool him? Do we try private school? Do we go with public school? Do we do charter school?

Homeschool
Let me just be real for a moment, mkay? While it's been fun to teach him new things, I have not loved homeschooling. It's hard, and it's long (not the time, but just the continuing nature of it), for me, it's isolating, It's hard to find a good balance with homeschooling and me working, I feel like we end up using up every ounce of our day between the two things, and there is just no give in the schedule... this year? school got dropped if we needed to do something else, which felt slightly okay since it was just preschool, but next year Kindergarten? yea... not okay.
I'm also really concerned about balancing a 5.5 2.5 and a 6 month old next fall..... it kind of makes my head spin when I think about it.
But, I LOVE being home with my little learner, I love watching him learn about things he loves, we are currently working on learning to tell time because HE wants to do that.   I read good books about homeschooling, and think yes... that's what I want for my kids, but gosh darn't... it's a hard sell for this extrovert Mama who likes to do things. Which of course, typing that, reminds me of just how selfish our own human desires are.... and that seems so silly and contrite a reason to not homeschool.

Private School
I think both Mike and I feel most content with this option, minus the $6000 pricetag that comes with it. yea. That kind of $$ just isn't even possible. They offer scholarships, but they are minimal, and I highly doubt that even a scholarship would allow us the semi-ability to pay for school. It was a fun idea, but I just don't see how there is any earthly way it will ever happen.

Public School
We fortunately live in a very good school district, with excellent teachers\staff, and all that goes along with that. Most people just kind of stare at us when we say we're thinking about other options, because why on earth would you consider anything else with the district were in. I can't even really tell you why, because I don't know why ourselves, but its' just something we're considering, I suppose.  I HATE the idea of him being gone for 7 hours a day.. he's my baby, my first kid love, and I can't imagine not having him home all the time. The harder part yet, is how this would change what I do... I will not teach lessons 4 nights a week and have my kid gone every day until 7. I'd never see him, and I'm NOT okay with that... but what that means? I don't know. Do I bow out and not teach for a while, do I continue to teach but in a smaller capacity, do I teach but only say 2 nights a week? I just feel like there are lots of hard questions, and not a lot of great answers..

Charter School
This option feels kind of like an interesting middle to public\private.  I read good and bad things about Charter school, I hear good and bad things from parents.  I don't know what to say about it really other than it seems like maybe somewhat of a middle ground.... maybe.


Last year, we felt that the Lord had really called us to homeschool this year, and we felt confident in that decision... I haven't felt any sort of "pull" in any direction this spring, which I suppose makes it a little harder. I could talk on and on and on and..... well, you get the idea, about my thoughts on school, and truly, depending on the day, who I am talking with, and how the kids are behaving, can seriously impact what I am considering in that moment. ;)