moving on and moving up

We have had interesting responses from people when they hear we are sending Madeline back to "real" school this coming fall. Most of our friends totally understand and are excited for her and for us. Others get his knowing look on their faces and say "Of course you are." as if they knew all along that this homeschooling thing would fail. As if it was so obvious that I would fail at educating my daughter. It ticks me off and then I feel like I have to explain our decision. That I have to stick up for our decision to homeschool in the first place. To let them know again that we were called by God to do this for our family. It was the right thing to do at the time and we don't regret it at all. It wasn't a mistake.

Our first year was great. We were excited about all the new things we could do together. We had a lot of fun and still did a years worth of great school work. We finished the year feeling a great sense of accomplishment and looked forward to the upcoming school year.

To say this year has been a trial in the mom/daughter relationship department would be an understatement. We butt heads. I lose my patience. She rolls her eyes and is liberal with the heavy sighs.  She does the bare minimum required of her in school. I can't motivate her to do her best without getting frustrated. It has been rough...on both of us.

It became clear about 3 months ago that Madeline needed more than what I could offer her. She wanted to go back to school. I wanted her to go back to school. So we registered her for school in the fall.  YAY! Knowing that there is an end in sight of this homeschooling adventure for her has motivated her to do better in school. YAY again! She is excited to get back to her school friends but worried about being behind. She is such a smarty pants that I am not worried about her at all, but if you think of her please pray that it is an easy transition for her. She deserves the best experience possible and I want to give that to her.