By 8:45 every morning I would have to be dressed and have 4 kids dressed and fed and out the door. It wouldn't matter if Julian slept until 8:30 or if he were up at 6am; he'd have to be ready to go too. We'd walk the short distance to the school, drop off Anna and Holly and then head back home.
At 11:15 we'd have to be out the door again to pick up Holly at 11:30. Then we'd have to wait in the schoolyard--wind, sun, snow or rain not withstanding--until Anna would be dismissed for lunch at 11:45.
Anna would have to be returned to the school by 1pm and then Holly, Jasmine and Julian would have until 3:15 to play at home until we had to go back to get Anna at 3:30.
Yup, that's 4 times/day back and forth to the school dragging along and 2 1/2 year old and a baby. If that were my life I would want to kill myself by now, and the school year has only just begun! And it's not even snowing yet! And imagine poor Jasmine and Julian and how many times I'd have to fight with Jasmine to get her out the door and how much crying Julian would do! Their lives would be so miserable!
You know the expression "Make hay while the sun shines"?
We find other things to do when the sun shines. And it doesn't involve 4 round-trips to the local school.
On Friday the weather was phenomenal. The sun shone all day and the temperature was in the mid-20s. It wasn't even noon yet when the girls donned their swimsuits and began to fill the little pool with water. The splashed and ran and shrieked with delight for three hours, breaking only to eat.
And where were all the other children in the neighbourhood? Why, sitting in school, of course!
So the next time someone asks me why I chose not to send my kids to school, I will remember how much fun they had on a warm day in October and I will answer "Because I want them to live a life that is full of freedom and joy." Could there be a better reason?
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