Ah, the six and half year change. It was apparent that something was up with my little girl a few months ago; complaints of boredom, lots of scowling, crying herself to sleep most nights. I'm not sure how to pinpoint what made the turn around happen but a few factors seemed to have come into play at the same time; teeth lost, flu like illnesses came and went, a lot of wheat was eliminated from her diet and she made her first special little friend. Oh yeah, and if she ever said she was bored I would make her sort out the change jar.
After the Christmas holidays I saw emerge a happier, though slightly 'edgier', eloquent little girl that's really into exploring her creative side. She's always been kind of crafty but now it's different. Every second sentence began with; "I have this great idea for a project" and then she would disappear with scissors and glue in hand and would crank out something ingenious.
But then after that she'll say she's bored. I couldn't believe it but the change sorting lost its novelty.
My usual come back to "I'm bored" has always been "only boring people are bored" but I think the intention behind these words usually flies over their shortly stacked little heads. These days the utterance had a different flavouring to it so I felt it time to explore some way out there options. This was when the thought of passing over some aspects of her education over to someone else first popped into my head. And I have to admit I got pretty excited with the prospect of freeing up some time to tackle some of the projects I have tucked up my poofy pirate shirt sleeves.
I asked the Universe for a compromise between homeschooling and putting her into a full time situation. Universe delivered in the form of rave-heavy, amazing Waldorf-inspired early childhood educator that is offering for the first time, a grade one class that we'd be able to attend just twice a week. Though it's a long drive for us, and me being the mother of all homebodies and Edie having never been up before nine in the morning (though at Christmas this year Kale did yank her out of bed at the God forsaken hour of 8:30) we'd thought we'd try it out to see and... it was so worth it!
I arranged loving childcare for Kale so that I can stay in town the whole time on Mondays allowing me the opportunity to put my nose on the grind stone on my projects which was pure bliss. And when it was time for me to scoop her up on that first day she immediately asked me "I get to come back tomorrow, right?" . I said absolutely. And at the end of the second day the teacher reported that she's fitting in like she's been part of the class for years.
The current status is I'm feeling content that both our needs are seeming to be met in a new, surprising way. I was thinking crazy thoughts there for a while like moving into town so we can have her in the Waldorf school but that didn't feel right after a few realtor tours. And even right after I confirmed our spot in the twice a week class I got a bit of a panic attack about turning a page in our heavily home centred lifestyle. But so far so good and we'll take it week by week for now.
A great indicator that we're on the right track for now is I've been listening to her humming twinkle twinkle little star all morning long while she's working on a "Happy Neighbours Pot Luck" sign for our dinner guests tonight. That's a good sign me thinks!
