Please slow down!

It really hit me hard today that Miss E is really not a baby anymore. When she came out of her room fully dressed in clothes that she picked out & dressed herself in(headband included), it stopped me in my tracks. She said "I did it"! so enthusiastically with her arms raised in the air. I gave her a big hug and told her how proud I was of her while wiping tears from my eyes. My baby really isn't a baby anymore.

 We have been doing "unofficial" homeschooling for a few weeks now. She is like a sponge at this age so I want her to soak in anything I can teach her. We do letters, numbers, shapes, colors, etc. She knows how to spell her name and we are working on learning how to sign it as well. She does it pretty well most of the time (as well as her 2 yr old motor skills will allow). We also do some kind of craft or art project daily. We both really enjoy this time and she really enjoys learning new things. When she is 3 is when we will start "official" home school. 

I think it's funny how some people perceive home schooling. I get the "looks" and the "oh I would never do that, I wouldn't want my kid to be socially awkward" comments. The same crap that we heard when we said that I would be a SAHM and not put her in daycare. I used to get really defensive to these ridiculous comments, now I just laugh. Miss E has never stepped foot into a daycare and she is nowhere near "socially awkward". She's a happy, normal, 2 year old. We decided to home school her after looking at the public schools around us and looking at the pre k programs and just not being happy with them. The student to teacher ratios are terrible and quite frankly, I'm not comfortable dropping her off somewhere where I don't know anything about the other kids and how they are raised. You can say that I'm keeping her in a bubble and she needs to be around other kids and blah blah blah, but I am perfectly okay with keeping her in a bubble to an extent. By doing home schooling, I'm able to teach her one on one and really make sure she is learning. For some reason people thinks that home school=holed up at home all day. I'm not sure why this is the case. Have you ever tried to sit at home all day with a 2 year old? It's just not possible! We get out and about just about every day. That's another good thing about home schooling her, she's not couped up in a class room all day. Once we are done for the day, we are free to enjoy our day. We can go out and do things, like go to the park, go shopping, and have play dates. That's right, we have these things called play dates. You know, social interaction with peers around her age(catch my sarcastic tone). She loves going on play dates and I love them because I know who she is interacting with and I get to know the parents as well. I've actually made some good friends. She also gets to interact with kids of all ages, not just other 2 year old kids. So with all of these factors, the better question to me is, why would I NOT home school? At least during the these crucial learning years.

I guess my point is, don't look down on us that choose to home school our children. It's not something I blindly decided to do. It took a lot of research, time, discussion & prayer to come to our decision. I'm doing the best I can do for my child.