to school or not to school?

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I have this dream of finding a perfect abandoned school house, buying it, and renovating it into a charming home for our family. Aren't these lovely? (All found on flickr. Image credit given under each photo.)

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We've been a homeschooling family on and off for years. Mostly on. This year, our oldest is attending a local Waldorf Methods school. We love it. Their philosophies and the things they do are a lot like what we do at home. I'm not big on pushing academics hard core. I'm all about teaching to the whole child and doing a lot of things with hands on experience rather than using text books. Last summer we decided that the Waldorf school would be a good fit for our family, since I was working in the mornings. The only problem was that they didn't have room for Zeke. It's a small school and they only have one class per grade. There was room for Brooklyn, but I've still been homeschooling Zeke this year. It has not been easy. Or necessarily very good. I'm tired when I come home from work (I get up at 3am) and don't give his schooling my best.

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The school offers two years of kindergarten, so Mercy could go this Fall. We've been thinking it would be great if all three school kids attended this next year, leaving just Judah home with me. Mercy is registered and Zeke is now first on the waiting list for his grade. Having some in school and some at home for school is not working very well for us, so we've been saying that if Zeke doesn't get in, we'll keep them all home again next year.

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I miss having them at home. This week Joe is in Colorado with his mom, as she's recovering after breaking her neck a few weeks ago. (She is getting better but has to take it easy for a while. It's a miracle she's not a quadriplegic and we thank God that she's going to be ok!) Since I work in the mornings while he's home, I took the week off too, so I could be here when the kids wake up, give them breakfast, take Brooklyn to school and do all the other morning mommy things that I've been missing.

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I'm loving it. I wish Joe were here too, and I do enjoy my job... but there's nothing like being at home. Yesterday was a non-school day for Brooklyn and today she's sick, so we're just home. And it feels right. I like not rushing off in the morning to take her, or having to wake Judah up from his afternoon nap to go pick her up. (Her school is about 20 minutes away.) We're not relying on my income as much anymore and I'm working to replace my income with my Jenuine Ruby business. So maybe it would be great to keep them all home again.

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There are challenges and blessings with both scenarios. Having three kids in school could give me more opportunity to make things and work on my biz. It would also probably make it easier to be more involved in their classrooms.

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But if they're all home, we can make things together. And have more freedom for day trips and special outings and learning together.

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Both options are good. We just need wisdom to know which one is right for our family right now. So for now I'll be praying about it and making the most of the rest of this school year.

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And I'll keep dreaming about living in a little old school house.

Labels: family, school