I think I am in full-blown, disbelieving panic mode.
Not too long ago I sat cradling my first born, wondering about her future. It seemed so far away... It was untouchable... And while I thought about it often, it wasn't on my To Do list* just yet.
Ashleigh's To Do list is a dangerous thing: it feels no sentiment, it de-clutters, unnerves and rearranges with the swift sort and the tick of a pen.
As many of you may know, our first thoughts about schooling was that I would hope to home-school Jorja. Not to try and protect her from bad influences in her early years, but to offer her a personalised approach to learning and growing up. Okay, and to try and protect her from bad influences.
When Ethan was born, I wondered how I ever thought I'd be able to tackle home-schooling -
My kids are boisterous social butterflies with a convincing love for their home and their Mom yet crave outside interaction (and intervention) more and more with every passing year.
Fast forward 4 years and we're literally less than a day away from Jorja starting Pre-school at The Vine School. We've enrolled Jorja in a school that reflects God's Word and compliments our desire for our kids to develop in a Christ-honouring way, and be in an environment that prepares them to "...lead joyful and fruitful lives as they serve their families, communities and the wider world."
Jorja has voiced great excitement about the new venture and has gone so far as to brief Ethan on not crying for too long after we drop her off and instruct me to simply let her out at the gate because she'll know where to go.
(Cue teary eyes and heart palpitations)
On a much smaller scale, I could look at the last 4 years as the 'home-school' period, where things weren't always pleasant but they were comfortable, familiar and simple. And I could view this new chapter as the time when I let Jorja out into the big, wide world of the unknown things - peers, practices and a professional code of conduct.
As much as we intend to (with confident corporate commitment) be a part of our children's schooling, we have to quickly come to the realisation that we cannot control them - I use that term very, very loosely. For example: As much as I'd like to make sure that after lunch, Jorja closes her water bottle properly and stores it upright in her bag, all I can do is wait to see how wet her bag is when she gets home...and watch how many wet-bag-experiences she'll have before she realises what needs to be done. Of course, this may also be a non-issue altogether!
I'm beginning to see a little more of what parenting is about.
Tomorrow is the start of a new chapter for our entire family - and I didn't realise how much preparing I needed to do too!
Do I regret shelving the homeschooling idea on a larger scale? No. Instead I'm grateful that we've found a school that is close to our hearts for many reasons.
If one day PJ's work takes us to some remote location - ooh, like Bora Bora - I suppose I could look into it...
Not too long ago I sat cradling my first born, wondering about her future. It seemed so far away... It was untouchable... And while I thought about it often, it wasn't on my To Do list* just yet.
Ashleigh's To Do list is a dangerous thing: it feels no sentiment, it de-clutters, unnerves and rearranges with the swift sort and the tick of a pen.
As many of you may know, our first thoughts about schooling was that I would hope to home-school Jorja. Not to try and protect her from bad influences in her early years, but to offer her a personalised approach to learning and growing up. Okay, and to try and protect her from bad influences.
When Ethan was born, I wondered how I ever thought I'd be able to tackle home-schooling -
My kids are boisterous social butterflies with a convincing love for their home and their Mom yet crave outside interaction (and intervention) more and more with every passing year.
Fast forward 4 years and we're literally less than a day away from Jorja starting Pre-school at The Vine School. We've enrolled Jorja in a school that reflects God's Word and compliments our desire for our kids to develop in a Christ-honouring way, and be in an environment that prepares them to "...lead joyful and fruitful lives as they serve their families, communities and the wider world."
Jorja has voiced great excitement about the new venture and has gone so far as to brief Ethan on not crying for too long after we drop her off and instruct me to simply let her out at the gate because she'll know where to go.
(Cue teary eyes and heart palpitations)
On a much smaller scale, I could look at the last 4 years as the 'home-school' period, where things weren't always pleasant but they were comfortable, familiar and simple. And I could view this new chapter as the time when I let Jorja out into the big, wide world of the unknown things - peers, practices and a professional code of conduct.
As much as we intend to (with confident corporate commitment) be a part of our children's schooling, we have to quickly come to the realisation that we cannot control them - I use that term very, very loosely. For example: As much as I'd like to make sure that after lunch, Jorja closes her water bottle properly and stores it upright in her bag, all I can do is wait to see how wet her bag is when she gets home...and watch how many wet-bag-experiences she'll have before she realises what needs to be done. Of course, this may also be a non-issue altogether!
I'm beginning to see a little more of what parenting is about.
Tomorrow is the start of a new chapter for our entire family - and I didn't realise how much preparing I needed to do too!
Do I regret shelving the homeschooling idea on a larger scale? No. Instead I'm grateful that we've found a school that is close to our hearts for many reasons.
If one day PJ's work takes us to some remote location - ooh, like Bora Bora - I suppose I could look into it...
and so the next chapter of your lives begins...
ReplyDelete