As a parent there are THOUSANDS of decisions that need to be made starting on the day your baby is born. Actually, from the moment you find out you are pregnant. Should I drink soda while pregnant? How much caffeine is too much? Prescription or over-the-counter prenatal vitamins? What color should we paint the nursery? What should we NAME our baby? On and on and on. Obviously some are more important than others, and some have more long term consequences than others. But the bottom line is that you, as parents, need to evaluate each decision and weigh the options for your individual child and family. Each family is different, and each child within that family is different. What might be right for my first child might not be right for my third...etc. Anyway, that being said, one of the biggest decisions that Miles and I have faced so far in our parenting journey is school for the boys. Miles V is 3 1/2 years old, and he is very smart. Of course I think so :). But truly, he loves learning, he absorbs things like a sponge, and is constantly asking questions about his world. That is one of the things I adore about him. About 6 months ago Miles and I started praying and talking about options for Miles V for school. Of course our main options were public school, private school, or home school. Most pre-schools in town start pre-K at age 4. We also did a lot of reading about putting boys in particular into school too early, vs too late, etc. I've always felt that I didn't want to homeschool exclusively. I had a horrible expeirence with a homeschooled roommate in college (NOT you, Char!!!) ;) and I also know my personal limits as far as teaching goes. While I know that I could home school if I set my mind to it, I just didn't think that full-time homeschool was for me. Miles and I have since found the perfect school for our boys. Oak Grove Academy is an accredited private school in Albuquerque which is a combination of homeschool and classroom time. Starting in pre-K (next year for Miles), the kiddos will be in the classroom for full days on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while we 'co-teach' at home on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Miles and I attended the informational meeting about Oak Grove this spring and we fell in love. We love their classical, university style of teaching, and we were super impressed with both the curriculum and what we got to see by sitting in on some classes.
Anyway, this brings me to this year. Since Miles won't be four until January, he wasn't eligible to attend Oak Grove this year. We still felt like he was ready to start pre-school this year. So we did some research and enrolled him into a Tuesday/Thursday program at a local church. We LOVE the program that he is in. There are two teachers per classroom, each classroom is about 15 kiddos, and it is the ideal place for Miles right now. He started school on Tuesday and was not ready to come home when I went to pick him up.
As I mom, I have to say I have struggled with this decision. Most of my struggle was based off the extreme guilt that I felt for 'turning him over' to someone else 8 hours a week. After all, he has been with Miles or I at home all but 4 hours a week since he was born. OF course, occasional trips to Grandma and Grandpa's houses don't surround me with guilt as I am confident the boys are in good hands... but I struggled with turning him over to strangers for sure. As we dropped him off on Tuesday and spent a very unusual morning at home, the guilt was large and present. But God has given me a peace about it, and I really enjoyed my time today with just Max and Mason. I think the 'break' from Miles as big brother will be good for Maxwell. It did break my heart dropping Miles off on Tuesday, and having to tear screaming Max away from his brother's classroom. It is incredible what great buddies those boys have become, and their relationship to each other has exceeded all my wildest expectations. I am so so so thankful that God gave us these boys!
And so, I leave you with a few of my favorite pictures from his first day!
First school lunch
Little brother wanted some of the action :)
I adore this little boy!
No comments:
Post a Comment