The Transition to Away-Schooling

Since a few of you have asked, a few thoughts on the first week of

Arnold's having a good time, and seems to be growing up a lot. He's having more conversations with his mother and I--and taking a more active role in kicking them off. Very pleased with what he's learning in school--and thankfully, he has someone far more qualified to teach him cursive than his parents. Since he's in Kindergarten, we're getting a good deal of quality time, which is a definite plus for me (he even seems to be enjoying it)

The Princess is loving this--she's thriving on the social interaction (has even scored a party invite for this weekend). We're less than impressed with the her coursework thus far, but there's more than enough time for them to catch up. (another parent with a kid in her class is saying the same thing, so it's not just me being a snob).

It's hard to get a real bead on what Samwise is up to, as is his norm, he's vague where he needs to be specific and overly specific with the things he could/should pass over when talking about his day. He's enjoying it, tho, and is eager about the work, so that'll work for now.

Frodo's taking all of this rather seriously (like he does everything). I'm not sure he's having fun, but he's being challenged, and is very driven to leave the challenges in the dust. When he gets to the level where they start revealing class rankings, I pity anyone who happens to land above him. He seems to be particularly getting into his Latin work (as is TLomL, who had far too much fun last night reading some sentences in Chapter 1 of his textbook).

WonderMutt spends a good deal of her day pining, but is getting part of the routine down (for example, she knows when it's time to go pick up Arnold from school). She's getting a couple additional mini-walks down to the bus stop, too, and loves that. The downtime, tho, is another story. I really feel sorry for her, and hope she adjusts soon.

The transition from being the Head Coach to Season Ticket Owner when it comes to my kid's education is not going well. I'm fighting impulses to take over daily--if not more often. Thankfully, there are enough roadblocks to that (time/$$ to obtain curriculum, paperwork involved in withdrawing, kid's interest in staying) that I have enough time to talk myself down before taking any action. On the other hand, I'm getting to sleep a few more hours a day--that'll pay off in the long run (and probably even the short run)