Preschool: The First Day in Review

Today was the first day of preschool for our 4yo - sort of, at least - as I said, it's not the "true" preschool but a sort of "half preschool" - it's a 45 minute "athletic" version. Very neat.

The result? Mixed.

Since I could wait outside and he could see me, we avoided drop-off hysterics (though he told me that he cried anyway, though I didn't see it). However, from what I could see, he was only marginally involved or not involved at all - he would just stand off to the side watching the group do things.

This is not new - it's been going on for about three years. Our son loves being involved with adults and older kids, but with his peers he is completely disinterested. It's come up as an issue with at least two Sunday School teachers.

How to deal with it? I don't know. It will either get better with time, or it won't. If we do change our minds and decide to homeschool, having cross-age classes and get-togethers will be one of the big pluses.

So....

The next four months will be our testing ground. Here is my plan:

I will be:

(1) Taking DS to preschool (pre-preschool for 1 month and real preschool for 2-3 months) and observing the issues I mentioned earlier - do we see good results in him, do we see good results in our family, are we dealing with constant illness, how does it fit all of us.

(2) I will be reading and doing my homework on the homeschool side of things as well - I have reserved a bunch of homeschool books at the library and am going to go on a reading spree.

(3) I will be making this issue (school v. homeschool) a matter of constant prayer.

Hopefully, then, by the New Year I should be able to make a final decision that I can have peace with, and stop eternally flip-flopping back and forth.

In other news, the stomach flu caught DH last night, so he is recovering and we are waiting with baited breath to see if he was the one and only victim, or only the first. Hopefully it's the former rather than the latter!

Happy Monday, all!