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On the fence - how to decide?

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505 views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  elanorh  
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#1 ·
Hi all! My ds2, age 4, is scheduled to start kindy in the local public school next fall. It's a good school, I know that. My 2 older children went there so I'm comfortable with it.

I've really been thinking about homeschooling a lot lately. We do Montessori lessons at home in place of preschool and it's gone *very* well - we've been doing this for the last 1.5 years. I really enjoy working with ds2 and he enjoys his lessons as well.

We live out in the country, so there wouldn't be tons opportunities to do things with homeschool groups. I'd worry about his socialization. Also, I *know* that I wouldn't homeschool him all the way through - but how do you decide a point to send them off to school? Wouldn't that be a tough transition for an older kiddo?

Some of this is simple mama selfishness.
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I really, really love teaching him at home. I don't want him gone ALL DAY 5 days a week next year. (Yes, full day kindy is the only option here). I feel like he's going to miss out on a lot of fun things we do at home because we won't have nearly as much time to do art, bake, etc. Instead we'll spend the evenings doing homework, dinner, baths, etc.

Any thoughts? I'd really appreciate them - thanks!
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#3 ·
I've always heard it said, "When in doubt, don't." You're obviously having doubts about sending your child to public school, so don't do it. If homeschooling doesn't work out, you can always put him in school then.

In my opinion, a 4 year old is still very much a baby. Babies need to be with their mamas for as long as possible. Humans are the only species to push their children out of the nest before they are ready. Have fun baking, and reading, and going on nature walks, and exploring the world. He will get socialization when you go to the grocery store, go to the library, when his siblings come home from school. Since you live in the country, maybe you have room to explore. You could always invite your homeschool group to come and explore with you.

Kathi
 
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#4 ·
Follow your heart and you won't have regrets. Don't worry about transitioning to school, it will go fine. My daughter attended school last year for the first time since preschool/K. She picked up the routine easily and didn't have any academic or social issues. She did decide that she really liked homeschooling better though - so we are back on track for homeschooling until college!
 
#5 ·
We made a list of the pros and cons of each option (public, private, home) - discussed, put it away, reviewed it and made additions to it several times over the course of probably 3 months or more ....

Once we'd done that for awhile, we had a much better feel for what the real obstacles were, and what the perceived obstacles were (there were some things that each of us thought the OTHER would think was an obstacle, but that wasn't the case when we actually talked about it).
 
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