: Sunday : Reflection :

Ah yes, the faint pitter patter of rain on a dim Sunday morning. There is something so calming and cozying about such a sound as Autumn progresses and Winter slowly begins to creep up on us. I gaze out the window at tall black figures with patches of deep blue behind them. What a beautiful scene. I sit here, thinking I must write something at some point or I might as well give up..which I am not going to do, so the former sounded like a better choice than the latter. Right now seems to be a perfect time to write, despite the constant interruptions from my little early birds.

I know I said I would update everyone a few weeks ago, but sometimes life entangles us in too many other affairs. Either way, there have been some changes in our life. The main one to speak of is what we have chosen now for Jared's educational path for Kindergarten and probably here on out. 6 weeks ago, we finally pulled Jared out of the new Waldorf -Inspired Charter school he was attending. He was just not ok with being left there and he identified having an issue with having a male teacher. Perhaps he was intimidated by him, though he was, by nature, very calm and patient with the children. He was more comfortable in the presence of the female teacher at the new school and with his female teachers at his preschool. So, I was tired of forcing him to go to a school where he was not comfortable being left. He did enjoy once I was gone, but it was a big scene every morning. It was tearing me up emotionally. It just didn't feel right, even though I love and believe in the program and quite like the teacher.

As a result, we chose to homeschool him this year with Oak Meadow, a Waldorf homeschool Curriculum. I have been very impressed with curriculum itself, though it was a bit expensive initially. As soon as Jared was home for a week, I could see that homeschool is the right choice for our family right now. He absolutely loves to learn, especially when it is not worksheet and "assignment"-oriented. We take a very basic, hands-on, subtle approach.

 


Years ago, I homeschooled our oldest son, Luke. I stumbled upon this form of educating your child when we were having countless behavioral problems with Luke when he entered Kindergarten. We tried him at one school and the Kindergarten teacher treated him as though he was a burden to the whole of the class (I have to say, he was a bit of a distraction). So we tried placing him at the other local elementary school and he went through 2 teachers before we decided that this was not going to work for him. Though it was a rocky road, even at home, he showed me a whole different lifestyle that I probably otherwise would have never pursued. You see, Lukey was the product of a very sad situation, one that he had to endure as a baby and as he got older. Daniel did what he could to protect his son from the icky environment provided by the accidental biological mother...neglect, lack of connection, negative vibes, domestic violence at the time, her constant enraged arguing.....you get the picture. It is a very elaborate story that I choose not to get into because it is depressing and I would much rather emphasize on the positives in life. So, long story short, Daniel and I united when Lukey was about 2 1/2, she would leave Luke at her mother's or with us all the time, and she would seldom call at that point, which was spectacular for Luke and his environment, but still sad that a mother has no will to be with her young child. So, the damage was already done in Luke, from the womb, from his environment, hereditarily-speaking perhaps......  Anyway, he has improved in many ways over the years and though we had an icky court fiasco last year with the illogical birth mother and she won, Luke is still doing alright. He could be doing better, but Daniel often reminds me that he could be far worse had we not given him a solid foundation for most of his young life as a child. Homeschool was a wonderful (and torturous at times) experience, especially with many of the challenges that Luke presented me with. He taught me so much about children, people, other ways of thinking, myself. Either way, our family is no stranger to the homeschool lifestyle.

Homeschool gets my creative juices flowing and my sense of connection with Jared and the learning process in general. It slows me down and nourishes me, right along with Jared. Such a funny phenomena. I love being such a close part of his journey in life.

Furthermore, Daniel is 4 weeks from completing school, which will give us all such peace. He will then be able to relax a bit, spend more time with the kids, get things done he has been wanting to do for over a year....studying for his licensing exam, searching for jobs.... We are really excited about it. This year has certainly been one of the toughest we have ever known. I already feel the stress slowly lifting from Daniel and I, even though we are not where we need to be quite yet.

There are so many more things I could reflect upon, but I need to gather my thoughts and scoop myself out of this chair for other endeavors at the moment. Have a wonderful week and think about the changing of the seasons every day, the beauty of nature and of things you love in your life.

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