If you have stumbled upon this post, I am betting you have spent some time the last few weeks – err, months – deciding what to do with your child for this school year.
Do you send them back to school in whatever capacity your district has chosen? Do you keep them at home and do all remote learning? Or do you make the leap and attempt homeschooling yourself?
If you are anything like me, you have spent weeks prayerfully considering each and every option, coming to a decision, second guessing yourself, coming up with another decision, learning new information, changing your decision… Well, you get the point.
Personally, the decision my husband and I landed on is not what I would have ever envisioned five years ago when I dreamed of my son’s kindergarten year. The plan I had was for him to go to kindergarten at the school where I taught. I would know his teacher. I would know the rules. He’d hang out in my classroom after school and do his homework. I had a plan.
But, then God moved us to Montana. And pretty much every plan I had ever made went out the window.
Our Decision
I am extremely happy with the decision we have made. While it may not be a decision that is right for all families, it is right for us, in this season of life.
It is also another case of the classic “I would never…” comment actually happening. Seriously, if you want something to happen just say “I would never…” and it will probably happen.
Matt’s famous phrase pre-COVID was “We’re done with preschool. Now it’s time for free-school.” We were both educated in public schools and never really thought of using any other option for our children, whether private school or homeschool.
After much searching pre and post COVID, Liam will be attending a school here in town that uses a schedule called the university model. He will attend school two days a week where he will get all his core subjects plus PE, music, art, Spanish and Bible. Then the other three days he will be homeschooled.
Win-Win
For us, this is a win-win. He wants so badly to go to kindergarten. He has talked about it for two years now. And I trust the precautions that the school is taking amidst the COVID life we now live.
And I so badly want to teach him. I have the gift of teaching and I want so badly to keep teaching him.
Goodbye Summer – Hello “Real World”
Life is about to ‘get real’. I will be back to nannying the little boy I watched last year. That means that I will be chasing two one year olds all day long. My prayer is that I can get them to nap at the same time!!
Liam will now be home with me three days a week so we will be working on school and hopefully still getting together with friends throughout the week.
And I now work part-time at a church in town. I began this job about two weeks before COVID shut everything down (including not nannying the little boy). So this will be the first time, really, that I will be working the part-time job and watching three children.
And, don’t forget VIPKID in the mornings and evenings! But, man, I still love that job.
What Will We Be Doing?
I love a good schedule so you better believe I’ll come up with one sometime soon! It’ll take some trial and error but I have no doubt we’ll definitely get into our rhythm.
I will be doing a super easy ‘curriculum’ with the young boys called ABC Jesus Loves Me. I did this with Liam for two years. And then I’m sure I’ll just be feeding them all day. Those boys can eat!
With Liam, I will be doing a curriculum called The Good and the Beautiful for Language Arts and Math. This is what he will be doing in school. On the three days he’s at home we will also have an art day, music day and cooking day!
I am super excited to do these with him. I will also be using Core Knowledge, which I have taught and loved for many, many years. Along with the science and social studies he’ll be doing at school, we will also do some of the Core Knowledge science and social studies topics at home as well as other Core Knowledge poems, songs and stories.
What does your school year look like this year?
