Kindergarten

My Emaline has a September birthday. We love when her birthday is! It's almost always gorgeous weather outside, it kicks off one of our favorite seasons: Autumn, and planning a party is easy! The downside? We have to decide whether or not she will be attending kindergarten in the fall. The cut off date in our district is that a students must be 5 September 30, just 2 weeks after Emaline's birthday. From the beginning I have been apprehensive about sending her for numerous reasons. My husband on the other hand has been keen on sending her. We have locked horns on this issue and it has been a tense debate for months! Well, we made a decision, and Emaline is not going to kindergarten this fall, but will wait another year. It was kind of agonizing and my usually calm and level headed husband also felt as if this decision was huge and would impact so very much. Here are the reasons we opted to wait:

1.) The girl STILL cannot hear. In October 2012 she got tubes to help with this, but about 6 moths ago they stopped being useful and we noticed a decline in her hearing. It is very frustrating for her, and for us. Even though I know she has a legit reason not to listen to me it still grinds on my nerves and I question how much is her hearing and how much is defiance. We just can't in good conscious send her to school with this much hearing loss. Over the summer we will be doing what we need to do to help restore her hearing. That could mean another tube surgery, more chiropractic care, more cranial sacral therapy, etc. I'd like to avoid putting her under the knife again, but if it comes to that I am game!

2.) She is a people pleaser. She gets it honest, as I am the same way. She desires to make others happy and I see a little performer in her as she aims to make others happy over herself. When we thought about her being so young and trying so hard to please her teachers and perform for them it really got me. I want more for her.

3.) She has so much energy and the idea of her sitting still for the 20-30 minute stretches that she needs to in Kindergarten would be really challenging, if not impossible for her. Another year to grow and mature and it won't be as big of an issue. Just last week I took my girls and one of Emaline's friends to the zoo. Her friend is seven months older than her, but I saw the difference (both in age and personality) during our lunch time. We were sitting outside eating and Emaline could not sit still and eat her pb&j for the life of her. Her friend sat there and ate all of her lunch while Emaline stood up no less than 20 times in as many minutes. Her teachers know this about her and tell us that she's completely developmentally appropriate, but nonetheless it will be disruptive in kindergarten.

4.) I want her home another year. This has emotional weight, but it still matters. If time is our most precious resource, than why not capitalize on that and keep her home. Long therm this makes more sense as well. She will be 18 instead of 17 when she graduates and goes off to college. That is one extra year under our roof with us and I think that's priceless. Not to mention she will be the first one in her class to drive, etc. and that gives me a bit more peace of mind.

It was a tough call, but we feel good about it. Next year she will attend a pm class for 5 year olds at her current preschool, All Saints. We know her teachers for next year and we are confident that this will be a great decision for her. Now on to the next schooling decision: public school vs. private Christian school.