How's that workin' out for ya?

When we were first married, one of the earliest things Chris and I agreed upon was the decision to send any future children we would have to public school. It stands out because it was a nice little patch of common ground to stand on during those early, stubborn years. As time passed and we had real children to replace our hypothetical ones, we revisited that viewpoint a few times and found our opinion remained the same; it even informed other choices. In fact, when we decided two years ago that we needed more space with Ella on the way, we chose the house we are currently living in largely because of the awesome elementary school nearby.

It seems that as stay-at-home moms (though I'm more of a hybrid at home/working mom, this still applies to me I should think), we tend to believe we have to spend every waking moment with our children and that anything which takes them away from us brings a certain amount of mommy-guilt. I know I had to battle this, for sure. But as I thought about it, I always came back to the conclusion that it is good for my children to be left in the care of others for a time and to learn that I will always come back for them. It's also good for me to have some alone time, to take a deep, cleansing breath, and to be renewed for when I am reunited with them.

It's not for everyone, and I'm okay with that, but this public school thing is certainly working for us right now. I get to augment the teaching that is already happening, and that is so comfortable for me. Just last night, while looking at the little DVD screen in the van, Jackson said, "O-P-E-N. Does that spell 'open'?" I almost fell over. My boy READ a word! And then we went on to talk about what it means. Just three weeks ago, he could not care less about looking at letters and sounding them out, no matter my efforts to encourage him to do so, and here he is after a couple of weeks into kindergarten and he's trying to read on his own. That makes me so happy.

Now, the bus TO the school? Well, that's a whole 'nother issue entirely and a story for another day.

♦