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Benjamin and Jack love to sit at their little kid table and “do their homework” aka scribble, color and maybe attempt writing their names in between sneaking warrior stripes on each other’s faces. They see their older half-brother working on his homework when he’s with us, and of course, they think they have homework too. I didn’t put either of them in preschool this year, even though I very well could of. There’s a preschool out there for every budget and learning style, but my heart isn’t on board with preschool yet for my boys.
I have this old-school vision, or maybe fantasy, where I want them to just be wild and free as long as possible. I want to keep the adventures rolling and avoud the schedule. I realize there are some downsides to not being a part of the class and establishing friendships and learning structure, but something in me wants to pursue a life free of the educational system for just a bit longer.
There are years and years ahead of learning, structure, classrooms, sitting still and real-world skills that they will have to learn. I plan on encouraging all that and making sure these rascals are equipped for the real world at some point, but just not yet. Not at 2 and 3.5.
Now, some kids thrive and love their preschool. They love the songs, structure, learning, sharing and being a part of the group. If that were my boys, I’d probably be the teacher’s assistant. I realized, after testing them with some small camps and classes, they are more exhausted than excited. They aren’t quite mature enough to enjoy and feel gratified in the environment, so they wander off, get into trouble or check out.
The benefits we have in our community are there are a lot of other activities we can go to where they play, socialize and interact, yet it’s not school. We have church, the YMCA and other play groups that encourage them to be friends with other children, share, be kind and other social norms that are essential to them just becoming decent people.
Sometimes I just feel a bit weird admitting we don’t do preschool because it is out of the norm now for their age group, but I think that it’s important that we have courage to sometimes fall out of place with what seems to be “normal” to pursue what our heart tells us is best for our kids. Only we as their mother’s have that special intuition. Finding the time and space to listen to that intuition can be difficult, but it’s also our job. It’s our job to know our children so well, that nothing can influence us in a direction other than what our heart says is right.
2 Comments
I didn’t do preschool.
and I used to TEACH it! -)
the neat part about being in charge is that you get to be in charge! go with your gut.
oxox
Yes that’s totally true! That’s my main point, is that we as mom’s know what’s best for our kids, and sometimes it’s just hard to go against the grain 🙂 thanks for reading!