Now that we’re home, we are enjoying our final days of summer before school begins. This year, along with getting Ace ready for fourth grade, we’re also beginning a new adventure–homeschooling Lucky for Kindergarten.
It all caught us by surprise, but we are preparing ourselves and plan to tackle the challenge head on! It’s a bit of a story… In order to get accepted into Harvard, where Ace attends, the students are tested and have to score a certain amount of points, even if they are a sibling. So, Lucky tested, and did really well, but was placed on a waiting list. We were hopeful he would get in, since being on the waiting list is fairly common. Unfortunately, there was yet another budget cut at the end of the year and an entire Kindergarten unit was cut, eliminating 18 spots and placing him even further down on the list and basically making it highly unlikely to get in for the 2013-14 school year.
So, my options were either sending him to another elementary school or homeschooling. Having them at two different schools was virtually impossible. I have a hard enough time (and a long enough commute) taking Ace back and forth from different activities and school functions, as it is. Especially, since DH travels so much throughout the school year. I thought about just pulling Ace and sending them both to another school, but the programs at Harvard are almost untouchable and I felt that if I transferred him, I would be cheating him in the long run. His FCAT scores and grades for this coming year will determine if he gets into the IB program again for middle school and I didn’t want to compromise that.
Ultimately, (told you it was a long story), we decided homeschooling Lucky was the best option, at least for this year. We’ll see what happens by June. Maybe, I’ll love homeschooling and decide I want to do it long term or maybe I’ll decide that public school is the better option. Only time will tell. Personally, I’m elated to have him home for another year, but I’m being very careful to make all of my decisions based on what is best for him in the long run, not myself. As a mom, it’s so easy to develop unhealthy attachments, isn’t it? There is such a fine line between keeping them close to protect them and not allowing them to gain independence and experience life. It’s hard letting them venture off into life when we know how unfair it can be.
We’re also getting ready for our Night Before School party. Lucky is super excited to be officially participating this year and even though he’s not attending school, I want to make sure that his first day of Kindergarten is as special as it should be! I’m making sure to do all of the traditions I started with Ace for both of them this year.
We went to the outlets and got both of them new school shoes, and we raided Target for school supplies and new backpacks. On Friday, we’ll head to the supermarket and the library to pick up all the things we need for our party and we’ll spend Saturday getting it all ready.
I’m also trying to figure out the best place to create a school room. Our guest room isn’t used that often, so I might arrange his desk and everything in there. Or maybe in my new office. We’ll see.
Of course, this all called for an extra large planner, which I picked up on sale at Barnes & Noble the minute we got back into town. I’ve been googling the keys off of my computer trying to figure out which curriculum to use, or if applying for virtual public school is still considered homeschooling… Lists are my saving grace, and my desk is now covered in them. I’m just trying to patiently figure it all out before the first day of school…
In the meantime, I would LOVE some suggestions and tips from all of you who are seasoned homeschoolers! I am in completely uncharted territory here and need all the help I can get! So, HELP!
