Well, to quote myself : So it is that the best laid plans always change...
On Hug's first day of school Lovely *insisted* that he was starting school that day also. Oooookay... Ummm... about that! T noted that he'd never seen him so sure about anything (which is saying something!) so I decided to go with it. Yup, I had just cancelled his place at Hug's old preschool (one of the deciding factors had been that I hadn't seen any interest in 'starting school' whatsoever, until this precise morning that is).
But strangely everything fell into place. There is a small preschool close to us that runs a Steiner (Waldorf) program with a very small number of children. I made a few calls and went to have a look & Lovely was in his element immediately. It's very gentle and intimate and he actually told me to kiss him and go! Such a surprise. A lovely surprise actually. Even though I had decided that we would be at home together this year, & had kind of set my heart on it, I was so inspired by his determination & totally wanted to follow his energy. He obviously wants to assert some independence and I'm very proud of him.
So, the newest plan for his week is:
+ 1 day at home with Hug and I doing Hug's homeschool program
+ 2 days at his little Steiner preschool
+ 2 days at Home with Mama doing Montessori
+ 2 'Loveheart' days That's what we call the weekend when we are one big family again.
So, he started this week & I totally paced and wrung my hands for the entire 4 hours I was at home alone on the first day (T works from home but even he had a meeting) & it was totally w.e.i.r.d. But he was as happy as a bean when I collected him & on his second day I went ballistic on the house and starting completely rearranging *everything*.
Wow! The things you can do when there are no children in the house! It's amazing! Basically, T has been working at a desk in our bedroom for the past 3 and a half years (It *is* a nice table I kept reminding him ;) and desperately wanted a studio space. Our room was lovely & bright and big & the boys room was smaller and a darker which was okay as they also had a nice sunlit playroom. But we decided to forgo our big room in order to take the playroom over as a joint studio space for the 2 of us. Our old room is now the boys joint bedroom and playroom & I must say it is already wonderful. I'm loving it! Our new room is still quite sparse and simple and I'm loving it too. The new studio space still needs lots of love but will be great. The boys were BURSTING with excitement when they came home and discovered the switch-a-roo.
Not only did I have big plans for the rooms but I also was on the lookout for a special space to make into a specific Montessori area. Our house isn't huge and it had to be somewhere that could be closed up. I've always had activities out in the general area in the past but now that I want to be more structured with it I felt the need to make it less accessible when we aren't using it but still very accessible when we are. I must have strutted about the house for ages before finally deciding upon the cabinet in our living area. It *was* holding all of our linen, photo-albums, an assortment of storage and the infamous junk-drawer (do you have one?) but I decided on it never the less. Out it all came & shall I say that there is *lots* of sorting to be done around here! But I did it! Photos to come...
{ image: A bee pollinating our watermelon patch. Those babies are going sooooo good!}
You are great to be so flexible! Glad it all worked out and he's happy...
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