Baby Come Back

We’re on week four of school and the boys still haven’t adjusted back to the daily routine yet.  Yes, daily school work commenced in the summertime, the last week in July.  The boys had reached their typical end of summer fightyelltattle routine which in the past would make me sooooooooo ready for public school to start. Remember that Staples commercial with the dad joyously riding a shopping cart, buying school supplies while “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” was playing? Yeah, that was me. Until last August. When my baby went to kindergarten. Um……..what?

No little boy around? What is this? I have had at least one little hand to hold while speed walking into Target or smudged face smiling at me from the back seat  for……ever it seemed like. Small had gone to preschool, but that was just a half-day… barely time to do anything before picking him up at noon. Now the house, my life, would be empty for EIGHT HOURS?  I know, this should have been a “Ceeeeelebrate Good Times, Come on!” moment, but it wasn’t. I had more time to work at my part-time jobs as church secretary and adjunct instructor for a Jr. college, more time to go to the gym (which I did, and nothing shrank. Boo.), more time for kid-free lunches, shopping with friends… all of the things society says should have made me heave a huge sigh of THANK YOU and cry FREEDOM. It didn’t. I didn’t. I just felt lonely, and that something in what should have been the ideal life, was off. As the weeks progressed, and Large was begging asking to be homeschooled with Medium soon joining in, the thought slowly built. Why should we all be unhappy? Homeschooling is a legal option. Not that it is needed or required, but I do have a teaching certificate. I could do this! We homeschooled January to mid-May, taking the rest of the summer off, until the end of July. It was great. We all loved it. Then I made them start school when everyone else was still out for summer break. Hey! It was too hot around here to do anything else. To the previously public schooled kid, this is WRONG. They’re doing their work, but with much more nagging reminding from me and eye rolling-outside escaping-any excuse not to do school finding from them. Gah!

Schools in our area started last week.  Large is feeling a little pull back towards public school, mainly because as months pass, he’s losing connections with once close friends. I try to keep up with them, but busy lives make it difficult to work out. This too makes me sad, but I’m hoping now that public schools have started, and everyone is on normal routines, finding Friday nights to go to football games together or have friends over will be easier. We’ve also joined a local homeschool co-op, where new connections can be made. Large has forgotten all the reasons why he wanted to be homeschooled, like having no time to hang with his friends at lunch, and just remembers all the good things, like hanging with friends at lunch. (Yes, I see the logic.)  It’s similar to when a teenage relationship ends. After a little while, the memories of the ex’s eyes or great smile overpower the way they chewed with their mouth open and laughed like a donkey. Those things are still true, just not as strong when they aren’t right up in your grill all the time.

Now, if I could just think of a way to remind him what a Jr. High boys’ restroom visit is like….Oh wait. That’s my hallway bathroom already. Think of coating the floor lightly in hairspray, then misting it with pee, adding in a few bobby pins, bb’s, and legos. Voila. I’ll leave you with that image of what last Friday’s cleaning session was like, for me. Did I mention I’m really really glad the kids are homeschooled?