The kids had their last day in their regular classes today. It was filled with Valentine's, candy, and a little sadness. For me it was a bitter sweet moment. Honestly, I'm tired of being in a holding pattern...waiting to get on with another chapter in our lives. I'm sick of thinking about what issues may arise. It's time to get down to business and start dealing with the real issues.
I almost cried when I looked through their math books. No wonder Aiden has taken to repeating the same word or phrase 300 times. He is bored to death! The kid adds or subtracts double and triple digits in his head, and the math book has problems like 5+2=?. His teacher told me that she completely understood our decision, and she really wished there was more that she could do with Aiden, but the curriculum was already dictated. Zoe told me she has taken to counting ceiling or floor tiles when she can't read her book. This is the state of public education in Missouri for highly gifted kids. You can imagine how ready we are to move on!
I did get to have my first experience (of MANY I'm sure) with people against homeschooling. There was a mother at Aiden's party who noticed that we were cleaning out his desk. She asked us if we were moving. Honestly, I wasn't sure what to say. Keep in mind I had already seen the giant tramp stamp of 2 handguns on her back. I decided after a long pause to be honest and replied, "no, actually we're starting homeschool." Her daughter's eyes lit up at that prospect, and she said "I want to do school at home." Her mother started in on a tirade about how there was no way her daughter was going to miss out on the MOST important things in life like PROM! Now I don't know about you all, but I remember my proms. Let me just tell you that the thought of my children (don't read the rest of this Mom and Dad) doing what I did at prom scares me to death!! I was so proud of myself for not only saying absolutely nothing, but pretending like I didn't even hear her. There was no reason to argue or even give her facts. We were never going to agree. And anyways, who knows....maybe they will go to high school and prom. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
So with backpacks filled with supplies, a trunk full of artwork, and hearts filled with hope and fear we left our last day of school. Now the real work begins. We can't wait for the joy and challenges that life will bring us!
No comments:
Post a Comment