If you’re reading this blog, then you probably know that we have been homeschooling our boys. And if you are reading this blog, then I would want you to know why we are going to put a hold on homeschooling for a while. And so rather than explain myself fifty times, here is a brief explanation of our decision. Mr. President was ready to learn long before school would let him in, and so we started homeschooling and I hoped we would be able to keep going this year and into the future. However, we want to do what’s best for each child and our family. And right now it looks like a regular Kindergarten classroom is what’s best for Mr. President and our family. To make a long story short, now that Go Go is involved in our schooling, the competition and fighting that occurs between them (and me) is interfering with school and is very hard on our relationships. To reinstate peace in our home we’re going to give them and me some space. We’re also hoping that Mr. Pres. will be able to learn some much needed social skills at school like how to work well with others, how to wait your turn, how to respect authority, and that you don’t always get your way. Oh, and how to be quiet and stop talking and… and… and. We have been doing our very best to teach him those things here at home and though I think most kids can learn those things perfectly well at home, Mr. Pres. is not. I’m just going to have to face the facts. I’m exhausted emotionally and it’s taking a toll on our home and family life. He and I struggle so much because we are both firstborns and because I probably haven’t learned those social skills well enough yet either. I’m reminded of that poster “Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.”
“Most of what I really need to know about how to live and what to do, and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school. These are the things I learned:
Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup? The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic cup — they all die. So do we. And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: look.
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and sane living. Think what a better world it would be if we all — the whole world — had cookies and milk about 3 o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap. Or if we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations to always put things back where we found them and cleaned up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.”
~ Robert Fulghum ~
The world would indeed be a more peaceful place if we lived by these principles. And so would our home. I have been trying to teach them in my home and will continue to do so. But for now, this mom needs a break. I’m going to let someone else have a turn at teaching my precocious, extremely intense child for part of the day for the sake of our family relationships. This has not been an easy decision. I’ve fought against it for a while. We had such a great year last year and I wanted so much to be able to keep homeschooling him. Most of you know how strongly I feel about homeschooling and it’s benefits. I hope that we can try it again in a few years. But this does not mean that I will stop teaching him all together. We’ll keep exploring all the things he wants to learn as much as we can outside of school. I have a feeling Mr. Pres will be bored in school in a few years anyway and hopefully he will have gained some maturity and learned how to get along with others better by then. And hopefully his mother will have done the same!
It is actually a torturous experience for them because we then give the house away to someone we know he needs it for Christmas. So this year they are looking forward to making graham cracker gingerbread houses with Grandma that they can actually eat! I’m pretty sure the graham cracker houses will become a tradition. Here’s the finished product for this year.
Before and After the Earthquake 
And Blue Jeans decided to find the stairs in our house for the first time today. He is always blocked out by a gate, but it didn’t take him long to notice the gate was gone today! I got to him just before he fell over backwards into my arms. Whew! 
