We had the conversation dreaded by homeschoolers. Livy's best friend at her dad's house started school this morning. He is going to a public pre-K program until 2:30, 5 days a week. Livy has been spending nearly every moment she is at her dad's house playing with this little boy, and she adores him and his family. She is heartbroken that he is starting school.
We were leaving the park after a great day, and out of the blue, she started crying and telling me how he was going to school and how she wanted to go to. I got the story out of her and tried to empathize with her feelings. I said things like, "Oh sweetie, I know you will miss him so much." "You want to be with your friend all the time, don't you?" "You really wish you could go with him wherever he goes, is that right?" She cried for a while, just being sad, and then asked me if she really could go to school with him.
Well, the short answer that I will give to you is: hell no. There is absolutely no way her father and I would send her to a public school. She is 6, anyway, and would have to go to real school, kindergarten, and not just pre-K. Also, we love how our homeschooling is working out for us. Livy loves it too, usually, and she tells me often that she is so glad she gets to stay home with mom and dad. We are very happy with how what we are doing is going (including her), and even if she wasn't, 6 is too young to decide to go to school. She couldn't possibly understand the problems we have with it, yet. So, I told her, "Daddy and I don't think that school is right for you. We think the way they do things there would be bad for you, and we want you to learn in a way that is good for you. So, you can't go to school."
Then, we started to problem solve. I helped her try to think of ways to see more of her friend, ways to be around more kids, and ways to be a part of classes that she might like. It really will work out well because her dad and I are switching our times next semester. I will have her Mon-Thurs, and she will be with him over the weekend when her friend will be home from school.
I felt like I handled it well, sympathetically and working on solutions. My plan is to gradually talk about things about school that I think are bad or that I think she wouldn't like, as well as talk about the things her friend likes about it and how she could have more of those kinds of things in our homeschooling life. Poor girl, I knew she would have to face this in the future, when friends went off to school. I just hate it happened so early.
