Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Nursery - first thoughts
April went for her first session of Montessori nursery today - a shorter-than-usual 1 hour session. Here are my initial thoughts on the whole thing.
- She seemed to have fun although this is almost certainly because they spent virtually the whole time outside playing in the garden and on the climbing frame (apparently, according to the directress, she went down the slide over and over and over .....
- She settled quickly and didn't cry or anything when I left which made me feel a WHOLE lot better. I have not, to this day, forgotten Rosie screaming MUUUUUMMMMMY!!!!!! at the top of her lungs when she first got left at nursery - it absolutely ripped me apart.
- I felt weird walking round Sainsbury's afterwards without her and even weirder when we got home to drop the shopping off. I VERY nearly burst into tears at the sight of her blankie lying on the floor (what an idiot I am!)
- I was VERY irritated by the "having to drop off and pick up at a certain time" malarkey. As a family we are not great at time keeping. I was also VERY, VERY bothered by her request to have a school tshirt because "uvver kids 'ave got 'em". "ok" I thought "here we go - got to have the same as other kids to fit in". Already. After 1 HOUR!
- Even after just one hour I noticed 2 things after we picked her up. One was that she was gasping for a drink - I asked her if she had a drink there (they supply water and we're not allowed to take her own juice) to which she mumbled something incoherent (so I guess not!) Secondly that the minute she got home (despite being outside at nursery) she wanted to be straight out in the garden. It was almost like "aaaah! my own garden!"
So, she seems ok (although when I said about going on Friday she was markedly less enthusiastic then when I said she was going today). I still know that nursery is "ok" because it's only a couple of short sessions a week and still gives her plenty of time to play at home - I seriously cannot see her coping well in big school when she would have to be there all day every day. I intensely dislike the whole "borg-like" thing ... you will be assimilated (it's exactly that sort of thing that would make her lose her bright spark and I will not allow that)...... I hated her immediate "desire" to wear the same tshirt as the other kids (one of my biggest things is that my kids grow up capable of independent thought and don't follow the herd). I AM looking forward to having a free afternoon but that's it.
So, I'm using this time to go ahead and plan her home ed BUT keeping a close eye on the situation. I'm not making firm decisions either way yet but this is a good time to get properly organised for the start of her compulsory education next year.
I should home ed her, I know that. I see other people doing it with many more kids than me and they do it brilliantly. Some of the parents are older than me (with younger kids too!) and still do it brilliantly. Some of the parents have kids with special needs and still do it brilliantly. Some of the parents also run their own businesses and still do it brilliantly. I'm just a bit wet and a tad selfish (and lazy!) for even considering school really ... I should get over it and plan the start of her home ed with enthusiasm ... look forward to it instead of blighting these days worrying about whether she'll go to school or not.
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