December 21, 2003

We started the day with 9 am Mass. Reagan got to leave with the children to recreate the nativity. He was a shepherd. Many a year was I an angel, before getting to be the angel Gabriel and then Mary herself. Reagan got nervous at the last minute and decided to sit out. I'll never understand why he does that. It wasn't a performance, it was a learning exercise for the kids. But he's a perfectionist. Can't IMAGINE where he gets it.

Thanks, Lori, for the Shout Out on my last post. You are absolutely right! There are a hundred little things I would miss if my son was gone all day to any school. Half of the reasons that I chose to homeschool Reagan were completely selfish. I wanted to be the one to see when he understood something for the first time. I still wanted to be the center of his world, and I saw him entering a time in life where education would take center stage. Homeschooling was a way to have enough time to make his family his crowd, and to give him a chance to know our values and ideals before being bombarded by the worlds views.

I would miss snuggling up in our jammies and reading a book in the morning. I would miss chucking the days lesson plans and heading for a park to look at flowers in their natural habitat. I would miss his excitement and his questions.

I know that Christian schools aren't perfect. My husband had 13 years of Catholic School, and still managed to get into plenty of trouble. My step-daughter is at a private Christian school in California and there have been instances of violence on her campus.

I recently heard a great suggestion for a way to take a break without completely taking a break. Another mom suggested to me that I ask Reagan what he would really like to learn about. Then take a week and learn lots about that subject. Since we don't normally do unit studies, it might be fun to develop different lesson plans to go specifically with whatever he's interested in.