ellinghamsandwich

sandra, you are familiar w/ my dilemma in regards to my daughter being in school for her kindergarten years...

for those of you unfamiliar w/ my situation here is a little background:

my daughter is almost 6.5 yo.& has gone to our local waldorf school's kindergarten for a little over a year now. for the most part, we have both enjoyed the community & none of the parents seem to be too far gone in the whole philosophy (not that is wrong or bad...a lot of anthroscopy is actually pretty cool)and actually they all seem more like unschoolers to me!!! they just don't know it.

i'd really like to stop at kindergarten 'graduation' in june & unschool her from thereon. i regret sending her to school but at the time i felt so helpless and hopeless as i was suffering from such depression that i just needed the relief and wanted the healthiest most nurturing environment for her with some nice wholesome-as-possible children to play with and be friends with.

i am considering not re-enrolling megh for first grade. for many reasons...the biggest is of course, that i really want us as a whole to live as an unschooling family. megh is torn because she really loves so much about this school... but i feel she is too young to make that decison for herself. if she were older and could comprehend the choices available to her i'd let her choose to stay or go. i figure i better stop this train before she gets even deeper in being schooled. i want sooo much more for my children... i think she is young enough still to be deschooled by living the unschooled life... i told her she can still have the same friends she's friends with from school as long as its reciprocated & that she will make even more friends of various sorts as we journy thru life...

so. while i value & really appreciate your input to me on my RUN blog, sandra...i do think i'm going to end the schooling for my daughter as of graduation. as long as she goes thru the summer ok w/ this i'll just flow w/ it... if she has a hard time w/ this decision i will re-enroll her or wait for her to be accepted into our local magnet school she's been on a waiting list for (its more of a democratic/free school type). i guess i've made my decision. to trust my heart as my children's mother and also to trust theirs...i will give it a few months and see what unfolds for us...

one great thing in our lives is that we live at a resort. at the pool, mainly, we meet so many different families thruout the summer...some of which used to unschool & some who are more waldorf-y or who are more curriculum/christian homeschoolers. so it really is kind of an unschooly environment here. there are even horses to ride (for a fee of course) here in the summer...

i just thought maybe i'd post my situation for those of you who are in the same boat of some sort...

as i type, some of the lyrics to the songs playing on our CD's remind me of living a free life...living, loving, learning... :O) not necessarily only literally but so symbolically as well...

-lis



"i want you to dance naked...so i can see you...i want you to dance naked...spin around and 'round...spin around and 'round...i want you to dance naked...if you want, i'll join you...spin 'round and you..."
-john mellencamp

"stop this train...i want to get off...and go home again..."
-john mayer