A Little Distance = A Lot of Appreciation

The other day, my friend, also a homeschooling mother of 3, commented that her 4 year old was thoroughly enjoying spending two mornings a week at preschool.

I responded that I am enjoying LilBro's two mornings a week at preschool. The other mornings, it's just a little harder to homeschool the older two kids with LilBro looking for attention or getting into things. Most of the time, he's fine. But some days, he needs more attention/supervision than others. And so, it's wonderful to be able to relax and homeschool those mornings when I know that LilBro is safely in the care of the joyful and creative Miss Laura.

It helps a lot that LilBro loves preschool. And I mean loves preschool. He bounds out of bed on Tuesday and Friday mornings. He gets dressed without whining. He happily jumps out of the car and up the steps into his classroom. Most days, I have to remind him to give me a kiss or hug good-bye.

The surprisingly joyful part of preschool for me is how much more I am enjoying LilBro when we are together. I love hearing his take on the other preschoolers. I want to know all about who brought in what item for "show and share." I sit down and play playdough with him. He brings me a stack of books to read, and then actually sits still for me to read them. We sing silly songs and make up silly stories.

We are doing all the things I did with his brother and sister when they were preschoolers... and which I'd forgotten (or he'd missed out on, always trying to be more like the "big kids.")

It's actually quite amazing what we are getting from these 7 hours each week: I get some peace and quiet one morning, the kids get a focused teacher the other, LilBro gets to be a preschooler in all sorts of fun and creative ways, we get to miss each other a little, and he gets a Mom who appreciates him just that much more when we come together again.

All that from a pre-K 3 program. Not a bad return on our investment.