What to do? What to do?

I am again revisiting whether or not homeschooling MB for another year or going ahead and placing her in Kindergarten.

My husband is really not keen on homeschooling at this point as he tends to be someone who does take the path of least resistance. The schools where we live are good public schools and seem to be successful with their students (compared to other public schools if you know what I am getting at). My daughter loves to be around others - children, adults, whatever she is an extrovert. I have two other young children at home, and MB tends to demand attention when she is home. These are the pro-public school points.

On the other hand, It is public school and they have a curriculum that generally leaves me banging my head against the desk in frustration whenever I look at it. For example by the end of K a child should be able to count to 30, recognize five basic shapes and tell you their colors. They will also exhibit pre-reading skills of letter sounds an knowing the difference between a letter, a word and a sentence. These are skills MB worked on when she was 3.

Also, she has recently begun to tell me she doesn't want to go to preschool anymore because she is bored. That she is tired of coloring and working on letters and numbers that she already knows. She wants to stay home with me and 'play school.' This is a good preschool and their curriculum is just another version of what she will have next year at school. The only reason I am still pushing her is that it has an excellent program for introducing children to faith and bible studies, and the grandmothers are paying for it and want her to go.

I don't want school to become something that she endures because she has to, like it was for me. And I don't want the reason we send her to school to be so that she can play with others.

The gift that I want to give my children in their lives is a love of learning. I want to teach them how to learn, not just have them learn to parrot back the information that the teacher wants to hear. I want them to never want to stop learning about stuff, whatever it is in life. I want them to be able to read the bible in any version and actually understand what it says. In Proverbs we are called to be wise, this to me isn't just having knowledge but knowing how to find answers and knowing when you don't know. This is not the education they get in public schools, and by the time they get to college today they are so burnt out on school and the parroting behavior is so ingrained that many cannot even form educated opinions of their own.

MB is an active learner with a huge interest in science - physical and life science. I fear that because she basically uses her whole boy when she is learning, that she may end up being labeled hyperactive or even ADD. And I would love to be able to continue working off her love of science to introduce her to other things.

So now I am in a quandary. I know what my heart is telling me - Homeschool - it is what I have wanted to do for several years. MB and I have spoken about it in general terms, and the only issue she had was not being able to ride the yellow bus, but she patted my arm and said, "That's okay we have the green bus." (Our van is green). My husband on the other hand is going to take persuading on this, and if we don't all agree then I am going to have to let her go to school with my prayers for success.

I am currently in contact with a local HS group in my area and will probably attend a park day in the near future. I hope and pray for some resolution soon, but until then I guess I should probably actually send off for a copy of her birth certificate in order to register at school since registration started a month ago.

Peace

Amy