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My husband and I are already speaking as though it is a done deal that Eeyore will be homeschooled. He is a bit more reserved in his enthusiasm than me, but I do catch him talking about next year this and in high school that. It obviously isn’t set in stone that we are going to continue homeschooling, but we both really want it and hope that it works out.

We have started talking about what to do with our two and a half year old daughter, Cindy-Lu Hoo. I really want her to attend pre-school and was whining to Cleatus that she would have to wait an extra year before beginning because she won’t be three until December. Cleatus is confused that I want to send Cindy-Lu to a pre-school. “Why not do pre-school at home?” he asked. And, I have to admit, its a darn good question.

I have some pretty good reasons, I think. Cindy-Lu is a rather willful child (those who know her are laughing and thinking that “willful” is too nice a word) and can be QUITE stubborn. I think it would be really good for her to attend pre-school and learn that she is going to have to listen to other people besides her mama. To learn that she can’t always get her way and that she is not, in fact, the center of the universe. I think the interaction with other kids will be very good for her and I think she will learn a lot about sharing and listening and just how to be a nice kid.

These reasons seem a bit contradictory, though, considering that I don’t believe Eeyore needs the interaction a public school provides and I think that I am the best possible teacher for him. I want him to know that he IS the center of MY universe.

Eeyore went to pre-school and I think it helped him tremendously. He was painfully shy before pre-school, and while he is still very shy, its not nearly as bad as it used to be. I wanted him to attend pre-school to help him learn to function in a group environment and he did. And now I believe that home is the best place for his education. He knows what it means to be part of a team and he will have that opportunity many times in the future through classes at the museum, the library, and just playing in general.

Cindy-Lu needs to learn how to be a part of a team as well and I feel that pre-school is the best place for her to begin learning that.

Also, two to three hours a morning of Cindy-Lu free time would do wonders for my mental health. But, I’m leaving that out when I spout off reasons to my husband.

[tags]kids, parents, homeschooling, education, learning, museum, library, play[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by Robem, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved