New Shoes...and That's Just the Beginning

Merrit needed black trainers (we call 'em sneakers) for his school uniform.
And Ollie needed Wellies -- um -- yesterday!

I have a friend, Darlene, who--when someone asks her, "How long have you been homeschooling?"--likes to say, "From the beginning." In that way, all parents are homeschoolers.

But officially, we homeschooled Merrit through kindergarten, first grade, and for this, his second grade year--at least up till now. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

That kindergarten year we read Pipi Longstockings and The House at Pooh Corner and Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little and so many others, spread out on a picnic blanket upstairs while Ollie slept downstairs in his crib. And when Merrit learned to read all by himself. Wow. What a miracle and privilege to watch my boy learn to read! I was so in awe. Our goal for that year was to teach Merrit to read, and to help him learn to love books. We also took field trips. And made cookies. And worked puzzles. We also participated in Classical Conversations, and Merrit memorized all kinds of facts and formulas to the tune of "Row Row Row Your Boat" and "Yankee Doodle" and so on. That year was just bliss. Really.

First grade was more challenging. Only because Ollie was older, slept less, and schooling, necessarily, had to get more structured. But still we persevered through Classical Conversations' materials, through Science, Latin, History, Geography, Grammar, Spelling, Handwriting, and a big honkin' Saxon Level 1 math book...the whole thing...omgosh, that book was fat. Our goal for that year was to foster a natural curiosity, to help associate learning with fun, and to gain familiarity with basic material across a wide breadth of subjects.

This year--second grade--has been a good year. It was our third year enrolled in Classical Conversations. Ollie went to preschool and Merrit and I worked hard to squeeze our schooling into those three hours a day. He started multiplication tables, world geography, cursive writing, and chapter books. We read more great literature. Old Yeller, Shiloh, My Side of the Mountain, The Borrowers, the first three books in the Narnia series, The Hobbit, and two books in the Little House series.

Since I love homeschooling so much, I have had mixed feelings about putting Merrit into school. But after a lot of discussion, Mike and I think this will be good.

For one thing, what a great opportunity for Merrit! To go to school in another country. To meet English kids. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The school has an opening now--and it probably won't have an opening in the fall since it's typically oversubscribed with a big waiting list. Even though I hadn't thought about putting him into school mid-year, it seems like this might be the best way to go.

And here's what I was not really prepared for: Merrit is really, really excited to go! We had thought we'd get here, adjust, take some time to transition into the idea of going to school, just take it one big change at a time. But Merrit has been asking, and asking, and asking about school. We walk past it on our way to the library and he is so impatient to go.

Honesty: There's a teeny part of me that's thinking, "Wow, is school THAT bad with me?"

But when quizzed, Merrit gives the reasons for wanting to go to school that must be typical for a kid his age. Recess. Lunch. Making friends. What I know about Merrit is that he loves structure and he is such a social little guy. I really think he's going to dig being in a classroom with other kids.

Another reason that now is a great time for Merrit to go to school: Ollie. Maybe this is a shortcoming of mine, or maybe it has more to do with Ollie's active nature, but all I know is that I am in awe of these moms who homeschool five kids. How do they do it? It has been hard for me to give Ollie the kind of time, attention, and stimulation that I would like to while schooling Merrit.

So, yes, it's Ollie's turn. And he is going to drink it up. He's such an observant, adventurous person. Whatever he sees you do, he wants to try. He's fearless. With structured, intentional time with me, I think he'll do great.