Homeschool - The First Day

This morning Connor was standing in the kitchen at 7am, fully dressed, red notebook under his arm, beaming at me.

"I'm ready for my first day of Homeschool Kindergarten Mommy!"

He is more than ready to learn. He wants to do so much, and some of it before he's really ready. He had his "Bob Books" out this morning and was reading from a couple of those. He was doing well and was feeling pretty good about it until the little boy I babysit started reading it out loud to me too. (both boys are the same age)

Connor snapped the book shut and refused to read any more - the little boy gloated and said that it was easy. Connor didn't say anything but I could tell his feelings were hurt.

Later this afternoon we were doing a fall craft, one that involved coloring leaves and cutting them out. Each of the boys decorated their leaves the way they wanted, and then came time for cutting. Connor navigated the curves of his leaf with ease, cutting around the outline. The little boy couldn't hold the scissors properly, so I showed him again (we did some scissor work last week) how to hold the scissors, and he went to it. He ended up cutting his leaf into strips and tiny bits, saying that he wanted to cut it up and he didn't like leaves.

Connor looked over and gave him another paper with a leaf on it. "If you color this one, I can help you cut it out. You can take it home and show your Mom."

He looked at the leaf for a long time before accepting it, then looked at Connor. "OK. My mom likes leafs. I'll let you read to your mom next time, Connor"

It was the closest thing to an apology I've ever heard from this boy, and Connor accepted it with a sincere smile.

Any doubts I had about Homeschooling this morning disappeared with my boy's quiet, confident smile.