What a Week!

All summer I went back and forth about what to do about school for Ava and Jace this year. Their previous school was literally the perfect fit for us. A private, Christian, brick and mortar school that was accredited and also believed in homeschooling two days a week?  It was amazing. My kids got the socialization of school and objective teachers and I still got to be involved with the schooling. The classes were small (Ava had 15 in her class, Jace had 10), all the families shared the same parenting philosophies, and the kids in the older grades were so sweet about being great role models to the younger kids. Our school believed strongly in classical education with a Christian worldview and really stood behind teaching kids to be both Christian and intellectual. I believe strongly that children should be taught to defend and share their faith intelligently while being well versed in many other subjects.

So moving away from Northbay has been really hard. Nothing similar seems to exist here. The choices were homeschooling or full time public or private school. There are a few co-ops arounds, but those are once a week. It's frustrating to have the perfect blend of traditional school and homeschool and then leave it...nothing quite measures up. Those of you who read who are still at NCA, be very glad!

We talked about homeschooling this year, and we talked about going to school. The kids waffled and never seemed to be on the same page. Up until the week before school was slated to start I stressed about it. There are so many things about my kids' education that I feel really strongly about, and I was worried about doing the wrong thing.

But the thing is...there is no wrong thing. There's only the best thing for right now. The best thing right now could be the worst thing next year. We've had to roll with the punches a lot for the last couple of years, and their schooling is no different.

And so Ava and Jace started school at our neighborhood school on Wednesday, which also happened to be Ava's 7th birthday. There have definitely been some big adjustments we've had to make, and to tell you the truth I miss teaching them at home more than I can even express. But they've really missed having classmates and they both enjoy the structure of school. Both of their teachers are great and very friendly. There are lots of things I'm nervous about with them being in public school as moral innocence has always been a very high priority for me as I raise these kids I've been so lucky to have. But I have to trust that the foundation in faith we're building can withstand outside influence even at this age.

Three days into this experience, I'm still not completely sold. But we're going to stick it out and see how it goes. I'm not sure what the perfect schooling solution for our family is, but if there's anything I've learned over the past couple of years, it's that being flexible is a necessity.

And Bendy is my middle name.

Okay, not really. It's Marie. But that just doesn't have the same ring to it.

So we've completed the first week of school, Ava is one year older, and Coen has slept through the night twice this week, which was inconvenient since I was counting on him to act as our family alarm clock. We had a great birthday with Ava and are celebrating with family tomorrow...it's been a very big week!