We unschool DD (4.5). We have an awesome, flexible schedule and the kid spends all day reading, learning the habits of hundreds of dinosaurs and the formation of the earth, going to gymnastics, etc. 
BUT, we are fairly new to town and don't have a huge daytime network. She only has a handful of friends and adores a big group of kids on our street, who all attend a school that is not an option for us. They constantly beg her to go. She begs to go. She insists that other 4 year olds are not, in fact, too young for school. She's right, by local standards. Even in the summer when she plays all evening, she still craves more playtime and imagines that school is one big party, with thousands of fun kids and a phat playground from which she is excluded.
She WEEPS when I tell her she won't go next year. Heartbreaking, resolve-breaking weeping. Remember the Princess Bride where they hear the cry of the man who is losing his true love? THAT kind of cry.
None of the "lines" I'm feeding her are getting through. I'm considering enrolling her in the one school in the state next Sept that accepts home/unschoolers 1x a week (and is the only school we like -- democratic style) and driving her 2 hours to get there. I feel a little insane for considering it. Nothing in town even has a 1 or 2 day option. I've actually considered starting a school, but that seems a bit over the top.
Anyway, I desperately need some tips for combatting the media onslaught of "school is fab!" as well as getting this kid the non-stop social interaction she craves in a homeschool environment?
TIA from my party girl
BUT, we are fairly new to town and don't have a huge daytime network. She only has a handful of friends and adores a big group of kids on our street, who all attend a school that is not an option for us. They constantly beg her to go. She begs to go. She insists that other 4 year olds are not, in fact, too young for school. She's right, by local standards. Even in the summer when she plays all evening, she still craves more playtime and imagines that school is one big party, with thousands of fun kids and a phat playground from which she is excluded.
She WEEPS when I tell her she won't go next year. Heartbreaking, resolve-breaking weeping. Remember the Princess Bride where they hear the cry of the man who is losing his true love? THAT kind of cry.None of the "lines" I'm feeding her are getting through. I'm considering enrolling her in the one school in the state next Sept that accepts home/unschoolers 1x a week (and is the only school we like -- democratic style) and driving her 2 hours to get there. I feel a little insane for considering it. Nothing in town even has a 1 or 2 day option. I've actually considered starting a school, but that seems a bit over the top.
Anyway, I desperately need some tips for combatting the media onslaught of "school is fab!" as well as getting this kid the non-stop social interaction she craves in a homeschool environment?
TIA from my party girl
Totally annoying. I mean, even the Magic Treehouse kids are always shlepping home from school for no reason relating to the plot of their adventure at all. /rant.
