Kindergarten

Well as hard as it for me to believe my little girl starts kindy this fall. It seem like just yesterday she was born, and not soon after that we signed her up for preschool. Time really does fly, like my blog, a blink of time.

We have made the decision to send her to kindergarten at the school that she is currently at for preschool. They have a wonderful small kindergarten class, and the best teacher. It is from 8:30-2:30 every day. I do feel very guilty for sending her all day every day, but I have to commute to Athens to finish up my classes.

Our other choices were public kindy at the neighborhood school one block from our house, or to home school. The public school does not work, we would have to arrange transportation to and from school, and she would need to stay with a sitter on Monday and Wednesday when I go to school. I am just not ready for someone else to be taking her to school. The teachers their are also old, I had one of them for first grade. I just think that she would not be challenged enough. She is currently reading Dick and Jane books, and some other easy readers independently, and she has been doing some basic addition problems for the last few months. The entry skills for public kindy are what she was doing at when she turned four (colors, shapes, number and letter recognition, self responsibility).

I would love to drop everything, and home school her. I think that she could learn so much more at home, with us. I do not know if I would home school through high school, but I think during these early years it would be more stimulating educationally. I do worry though about the socialization factor. She is a very social kid, and I worry that by being home with me would hamper that. I know lots of home schooled children who are very social. Maybe it is the going against the grain that scares me. On a selfish note I really want and need to finish my education. I am so close, I only need 41 hours to graduate. I can finally see the light at the end. If I home school, I would need to take a break.

So, my baby starts real school this fall. I can remember my mom crying my first day, and me telling her it would be okay, that I would see her in a little bit. Bittersweet as that memory is, I can only imagine how she felt by the time I graduated high school. Time passes by to quickly. I wish I could bottle every ounce of five year old giddiness and optimism that bounces through our house each day.