Contemplating School

Today we happened to play at the playground where Monkey1 will attend preschool in the fall. She's familiar with this playground, and while she is eager enough to play there rather than get in the car, any mention that this will be her playground when she goes to school is returned with shouts or tears that she doesn't want to go to school, she wants to stay home with Mom and Monkey2.

It has been a long summer since she was accepted into the preK program April 1st. (April Fool's Day -- don't school administrators know any better?) I'm dreading the start of school. I'm quite certain that I shall leave a howling Monkey in the classroom while hauling another howling Monkey away with me. The younger one will want to stay and the older one will want to leave. Will this last days, or weeks, or months?

There are a couple pumpkins growing in one corner of the playground, and she asked me about them later -- who planted them and who will pick them? I told her that probably the teachers and students had planted them, and that the teachers and students will probably pick them... and every day at school she'll be able to see them grow bigger and bigger and turn more and more orange. This seemed interesting to her.

I've been lacking specifics to tell her about school. I don't want to promise she'll do finger painting and then have it never happen. (I know -- No finger painting is highly unlikely, but it's not something that she's interested in. She doesn't like the idea of getting messy. Although, when paints are available, of course she ends up using her fingers once she's done with the brush.) Her two best friends will be in different classrooms. She doesn't like the name of her class group, some furry animal, because she wants to be a Princess. Princess Furry Animal doesn't fly. I've been checking out a book or two about school in our weekly pile of summer library books, and some have been better received than others.

All the while, folks have been saying to me "She'll get used to. Everyone does. Everyone goes to school."

This rings extremely hollow to me. For one thing, "everyone" is hardly an incentive for me to try things, never mind motivate me to get all of us out of the house in a timely fashion four mornings a week. Bear in mind too that I've been hanging out with a lot of homeschoolers for the past two years. No, everyone does not do school.

We'll try it. Of that I'm sure. I've been writing the tuition checks, so of course Monkey1 will try school, kicking and screaming or not. How long we'll try I don't know. But we'll try. Hopefully she'll surprise me, though I think I'll cry if she says, "Go away Mommy, school is for kids."