Life is good.

We did it! We successfully completed a full week of school at home. This is such a relief for me. I understand that I used to be a certified teacher. I have my Masters in Elementary Education. I have experience in a school, actually working with children. None of that kept me from questioning if being a teach at home mom would go well. Despite all the pretending Lucas and I do, I still lacked the ability to see into the future.

No, successfully completing a week of school did not give me any superhero powers, but it sure did make me feel like I could fly! Each day began with Lucas and me looking forward to what we would discover that day. Each day consisted of lots of fun and learning. Finally, each day ended with the both of us feeling positive about what we had accomplished. Lucas and I actually ended each day KNOWING that he had learned something! For a mom and a teacher, being equipped with that information is empowering. Almost as empowering as it is for the child to be able to show off his new abilities to his family.

What did Lucas learn this week? He learned that practicing improves ones ability to estimate. He learned that there is a way to read that does not involve automatically memorizing a word. He doesn't know that it's called phonics. He doesn't realize that we have tried telling him about this method of reading before. But he does know, now, that if you say hog, the first sound is /h/, the middle sound is /o/ and that the last sound is /g/. He can put /h/ /o/ /g/ together to make the word hog. He has learned that he can impress his family by knowing the sounds in words they mention, even if he has been able to read the words for a long time.

Our second day of school was voting day, so he received a quick civic education. Why is it important to vote? What if the president has plans to name someone as the best Superhero in the world? You know that the Green Lantern is the best but your teacher thinks that Phoenix is the best ever. You are certain that she will go vote. Can you count on the rest of the Green Lantern supporters to vote? Even if the rest of the town agree with you, it will not mean anything if they do not vote! The only thing you can actually DO to support your man is to go vote.

Not everything Lucas learned this week was as exciting... or exciting at all. He learned that a lesson can be quite boring if you already know the topic at hand. A lesson on time for a pirate-themed day because pirates need to learn to be at the right place at the right time: cool. Answering questions such as "What month is after March?" and "What day of the week comes before Sunday?": not cool. I tried not to think it but I thought it anyway, "What would it have been like for him in someone else's Kindergarten?" I told you, I tried not to think it!

Whatever I was thinking or not thinking, the week was successful. The important thing about schooling is to learn and Lucas learned. The important thing for me was that my son enjoy learning and Lucas spent a full week enjoying school. How can I be so certain of this? Lucas asked to continue schooling on Saturdays! Even when Saturday came, he asked for school! We will be running school six days a week, at Lucas's request. Saturdays will be different though. We will only do half days, and they will be in our pajamas!

Life is good. I feel very confident, going into week two, that we have made the right choice for our family. This, in the end, is all we can really hope to do. Even our concern about Lucas in social settings is melting away as we watch Lucas interact with other children in swim, karate and T-Ball. He even has a standing school playdate with his best friend and her little sister every week. Lucas is happy. I am happy. The rest of our family seem to be happy just knowing that we are happy. Yes, life is good.