Write about: the learning centre.
As mentioned yesterday, today was a big day.
Mine:
It's been clear to us for a while now that Max would not enjoy attending regular school. He would always tell us that there were too many kids when he visited Natalie's kindergarten class last year. He is remarkably stubborn and it's difficult to imagine him doing what a teacher wanted him to do if he had no interest in doing it. He does so, so much better outside than in.
But most of all, he has such a massive enthusiasm for learning that we did not want to see diminished in a typical classroom setting. The thought of him getting lost in a crowded class, being forced to do things that he didn't care about, with minimal individual attention... none of that sat well with us.
Despite all this, the decision to homeschool Max was not exactly a slam dunk. It's going to take a lot of time and effort on our part. Dropping him off at school in the morning and then picking him up in the afternoon would have been easy (assuming he didn't put up a huge fight every morning). Essentially returning to being parents of one child for most of the day is undeniably appealing.
But that wouldn't have been in his best interests. And we really, really want to see him thrive as he learns and grows.
And we knew we'd need help.
The learning centre that Kat worked with in OK Falls was an obvious choice. We'd hoped to get enough kids signed up locally to start a new centre here in Osoyoos but we couldn't quite get the numbers for this year. We're still optimistic that will happen in the next few years.
But for now we'll be taking Max up every Thursday to attend class. With eight students and one teacher (as opposed to twenty-something students and one teacher at the local elementary school). Every other Friday there will be an optional outing/event/special lesson. At each class one parent of the students will be volunteering to help the teacher, so parents will be much more involved than in a traditional setting (which we're pretty sure Max will also appreciate).
Kat took him up for his first morning at learning centre this morning. Next week he'll begin full days (9 to 2:30). We, of course, wanted to get a picture before he left. Kat made the mistake of asking him to smile. I waited out his usual scrunched up, super fake smile, and then he opted to go with an excited pose. I liked that one much better:
I sent a text after class was done, asking how he liked it. Kat reported back that he said it was really, really fun fun fun and that he wanted to go again tomorrow.
I'd call that a win.
