Homeschool Preschool Update

Alright, then.

For the past two months Samuel has been attending enrolled in a local Christian preschool.  They meet twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 8:45 until 11:45.  I chose an outside-of -the-home preschool for many reasons, but the major ones were that I felt that Samuel wasn't getting all the fun opportunities his peers were since boring old mama was at home with the baby, and also that that same boring old mama needed a boring old break from a toddler every once in a while.  Three hours of fun for the boy and three hours of 'kind of a break' for me seemed like a good idea.  If you want to read the whole angsty 'am I doing the right thing' post, you can find it HERE.

Fast forward two months.  Samuel has missed several days of preschool.  He's been sick, I've been sick, he's been sick again, my Bible study group meets at the same time on Tuesdays, we've gotten called in to pick him up early, etc. etc.  Considering the amount we paid to enroll him, this just cannot continue.  And since we have no ability to discern when or if someone is going to get ill, and I'm dedicated to my group until the end of March at the earliest, it simply isn't a good idea for us to continue.

Now, Samuel seemed to like it.  There was one awful day where he screamed and didn't want me to leave, but for the most part he has seemed happy with the decision to attend.  But we haven't reached the 'super excited to go to preschool' level.  It's an early start, and getting everyone up and fed and what have you, and then out in the cold to walk to preschool is tough enough.  Then the hand washing, signing in, carrying the heavy baby up the stairs, back down, pushing the stroller home and then going back in a few hours to pick him up is, I'm going to say it, draining.  Is it a break for me?  Well, sort of.  I don't have Samuel at home for a few hours, but I still have the baby here and I'm required to work to get my three hours 'free time' so how much is actually a break I don't know.

*****

The past two months of preschool have taught me some stuff though.  First of all, Samuel likes to do things outside of the house, and thrives on social interaction.  Secondly, having seen and heard about what they do at preschool, I am completely convinced that the 'curriculum' is something I can replicate at home.  Thirdly, when I say I 'need a break', I mean an actual break.  Where both children are somewhere that is not with me.  I'm not sure how this is going to happen but it brings me to number four, which is that I clearly need to utilize outside sources of assistance and entertainment rather than relying solely on myself to provide all of these things for myself and my children.

So, in short, this preschool experiment was not a total wash.  It cost us money, yes, but it taught me some lessons.  I'm pretty convinced it taught me more than Samuel, actually!

The issues I mentioned way back in that angsty post haven't gone away, but I do feel as though a hiatus from them has helped me to clarify the problems and come up with possible solutions to them.  I have a preschool curriculum selected to start in September now, and in the meantime I have a free curriculum that I've found online to help me focus my days more.  I've unearthed a local homeschooling group and I'm hopeful that they will provide us with outings.  In that vein I've also committed to doing more field trip type activities with Samuel.  David is more than happy to take both children when he's home from work if I want to go outside and do something by myself, and I'm taking him up on that offer more now and going running with my running group, or knitting with some friends at the local yarn store.

This summer we intend to enroll Samuel in a 3 year old soccer team, simply for the joy of it, but I think that for now, our experiement with outside education is done.  And I'm happy with how it went, and with how its turned out.  Samuel is happy to be home, and I can't wait to get started on this new curriculum.