My sweet boy started kindergarten today.  I was mixed with emotion last night and this morning, knowing what a huge step this is for him.  It’s not a huge change because we’ve already been doing Pre-K at home with him for awhile.  I know that he’s ready, but waiver on if his momma is.  It’s a lot more to take on curriculum wise, but he’s ready so even though the timing doesn’t fall in with the typical school calendar, it makes sense for us to dive in.  Starting now will mean that we’ll finish before the holidays hit during the fall/winter and that works great with my business and busy season.  I will admit I mourn a bit that he’s not leaving for school, to hit a classroom with peers and long hallways that smell like glue and construction paper.  He’s my first child that won’t experience that (except for the time he spent in private pre-k, so I guess that counts).  Mourn is the wrong word, maybe I miss the big moment, or the event, of starting big kid school, I think that is it.  The meeting of the teacher, the buying of school supplies, the photo ops, him standing tall with his backpack on the front porch wearing new shoes and a goofy grin.  But then I remember how much he thrives at home, how much he absolutely loves learning here, how much I have loved teaching him so far and I know that this is the best decision for us.  Homeschooling is not easy, it’s not all roses and happy kids, but it is what’s working for us. I look back at those photos and our old life and I genuinely don’t miss it.  I most definitely do NOT miss the schedule that public school required of us!  I think writing this post tonight and seeing those old posts helped me a lot, he may be missing out on a few things, but he’s gaining so many other things as well.  Hey blog, thanks for the therapy!

We struggled with Taryn’s curriculum this year and finally I got to the point that I threw my arms up in the air, waved my white flag and said this is not working for us….and moved on.  And I’m so so so happy we did that.  Even though we spent a lot of money on Sonlight.  I felt bad and stuck with it too long because we did spend the money and because a lot of other families love it and it works for them, but it wasn’t working great for us.  We are selling it at a deep discount if you know anyone who might be interested.  So it was time to move on, adjust, tweak…and we are all so much happier for it.  I think Taryn and I were both happier with school today than we have been in months and I’m thrilled over that.  We made the move over to Timbler Doodle for both Taryn and Jude and so far I’m thrilled with both.  We did customized packages for each of the kids to suit our needs and because we already had some of what was included in the curriculum package.  And I knew we loved those items already.

Both kids are also doing a fitness and nutrition class once per week and Taryn goes to a one day per week enrichment academy that covers art, music, PE, foreign language and character building.  She loves the classes, her teachers and her friends there.  It’s been a very good fit and Jude is looking forward to going in the fall as well.  It’s so nice to have the enrichment program take so much off my plate and free up some time.  I feel like we can really focus on the core subjects and not be spread so thin with time.  My one and only complaint is the recorder for music class.  Oh dear Lord, for the love of all things holy, whhhhhhyyyyyyy?!  Sleeping babies and recorders do.not.mix.  My sanity and recorders do.not.mix.  That’s all I’m going to say!  Ty will however be quick to share with you that the noise coming out of that thing is NOT music.  Ha!  I just remind him we went through the same thing with him.

So yeah, my sweet boy, he’s in kindergarten.  And thriving.  And so smart.  This is good.  I’m excited.  And prayerful that I can be what he needs.