School Begins - Grade 6

 Well. That was a day. School is finally started back up, it's been about 6 months since he was last in school, and he certainly didn't do any work while he was off. He is in immersion, and now hates French. That is partly because none of the friends he plays with are in his class. He does like the teachers he has, and I think he will enjoy the 3 days of gym, mostly outside. He does actually have a few friends in his class, just not the ones he kept in touch with over the summer. He says he had sort of fun. He wants to switch to non-immersion, which I don't think is an option. And says he wishes he had chosen to do the at home online school. That we can't change to until 2 months in I believe. 

Then there is my worry. I believe that in the next week or two we will run into trouble, something will happen, he will get in trouble or a fight or whatever and I will say screw it and pull him out to homeschool. If I am honest, I want to do it now any way. If I follow my intuition, he would not be going to school right now. It is an adjustment though, either way. I have been burying my intuition for years, struggling to do what we are supposed to do instead of what I feel is right. At some point, I need to get back to what I believe. I do have some worries, what if he decides he wants to go back to school? Will it be a problem to put him back in if we have followed a more unschooling rhythm and not done a curriculum. 

I think we need to focus more on his emotional intelligence than anything else. He needs to learn a growth mindset, to see the positive in things and to know that he has to sometimes work for things. I want him to be able to play, have fun, be outside, and enjoy being a kid. There are so many positives to pulling him out and doing things at home. The only negatives are him being able to play with friends, and I think he will be able to do that after school or with a few select friends who are homeschooling as well. Perhaps we can meet a new group of kids. He gets shy but he also needs more confidence and that is something we'll be working on. If this was a normal year, I would look at putting him into some kind of day time lessons, swimming, martial arts, whatever. If he was willing to do something online there are a few classes he might like, even just hour long webinars. We'll get there though. 

I am back at work tomorrow, and not really looking forward to it. I need to work on finding a new job for myself as well, something I don't dread. There are options, they are just harder to find right now. But still possible. I will do this, and he will learn what he needs to learn, and we will move forward.