UnEnrolling From Public School

So, I did it! I withdrew my child from public school today. I withdrew her from a Montessori speciality school that we can’t get back into. It was a risky move. I can’t send her back if this doesn’t work out. I explained the process to tLG and asked her if she was CERTAIN she wanted to homeschool. Her answers ranged from 1000% sure to 50,000% sure with no hesitation in between. I even took a video and recorded her answer just in case she decides to change her mind tomorrow. It’s called CYA, people! Kids can be indecisive little boogers.

I had sent the school office and her teacher a heads-up email and requested that they get everything ready so it was a pretty seamless process to withdraw her. They had a complete copy of her records and her school supplies all packaged up and ready to go. I had to fill out a form and, after a few hugs, I was good to go. tLG had requested not to go into the school today so she hung out at a friend’s house while I did the deed. She did give me instructions to say goodbye to her teacher and the principal via photo.

As I walked out of the school with my little package of paperwork and supplies I couldn’t quite decide if I wanted to have a mini dance party and squeal out of the parking lot or if I wanted to puke and hope that no one saw me. I’m on quite the emotional roller coaster these days.

There’s only one solution when you don’t know what else to do. Ice cream.

So, I picked up my girl and her friend and we headed for ice cream. For lunch. On a school day. Because that’s how we roll. We celebrated our official transfer to homeschool at the local Baskin Robbins. There is quite a bit of appropriateness to that. For us. It was kinda perfect!

While there are still a ton of you who are encouraging us (THANK YOU!!), there are still a few comments here and there that make me question this whole thing. I suppose everything we do as parents gets questioned at one point or another. I’ve always claimed that I’m simply trying to make it the best I know how. Please know that this was not an easy decision. The easiest thing for me to do would be to leave my kid in free childcare for 7 hours a day and keep all of my Stanford mom friends. That would be the easy and fun thing to do! I’m choosing what’s in the best interest of my child. It’s not easy and sometimes not fun either. I’ve said it a million times before, especially to new moms, that you are your child’s only advocate in this world. It’s a job I take very seriously. This adventure is just another way in which I’m advocating for my kiddo.

Y’all, she’s noticeably happier and that’s a big thumbs up that we are headed in the right direction.