Not sure I even have readers out there anymore, but I am stuck. Sophia started kindergarten last month, and comes home in tears almost every day. Usually because of older kids teasing her, mainly because she doesn't know how to fit in to this huge school full of so many kids from so many backgrounds and who really don't want to play with a kindergartner. She's in a K-1 class at one of our local alternative charter schools, but it's still so hard. There are rough, mean kids in her class. They tease relentlessly. They steal stuff from her backpack. She should stay away, but she is drawn like a moth to the flame, wanting to play with these older kids. But they want no part of a little kid hanging out with them.
She also attends the afterschool program, since as a single mom, I need to be working to support us. So it's a long day for her. At 3pm, the older kids (up to 3rd grade) join the afterschool program and then there are even more big kids for her to be drawn to. Wash, rinse, repeat.
But I am ready to challenge my status quo. Do I really need to work fulltime? Do I have it in me to do what it takes? And what, precisely, does it take? I know so many of my friends have done it, but how? I have no idea where to begin and I am soooo not used to not knowing that. I have a good paying 9-5 job, really good for this area. And this is one of the most expensive places in the US to live, so it's not like I can just start knitting from home for income. I don't know what to do.
If anyone has ideas for me on how to transition into homeschooling, please send along. I really appreciate it!
Hey babe... still reading.
ReplyDeleteI have no answers for you... just lots of love. There are so many variables. There are so many questions.
have you talked to her teachers? Is there any way to help her get along with those kids, or learn to hang with her own tribe? (I am willfully ignoring the concept that in a healthy world, older kids care for younger ones... sigh...)
Are there other schooling options? charter or co-op or something that might give you a better group of kids for her?
I honestly have no idea, short of living on welfare, you could survive without working, living where you live.
Hello there and Light to you. I just found your blog. I was a single mom for 7 years with 4 kiddos and we homeschooled. It was hard but wonderful at the same time. We still homeschool. I did a paper route that I could take the kids with me on. I also did a waldorf style preschool two days a week that brought in money.Maybe you can find a similar minded momma to care for her while you work and homeschool in the early evenings. Homeschooling can be a wonderful lifestyle not just a sit and work on a text book thing. It is possible! You sound like an amazing mom, you CAN do anything! Just remember to trust the universe and your insticts.
ReplyDeleteWarmly, Tracie