Kindergarten

We’re almost there. Somehow, the fact that January came is now pushing the kindergarten enrollment into the forefront of my mind. My youngest will be starting full time school in September, and in a very real sense, my whole world is going to change. I’m facing some choices, like should I go back to work full time, or part time, or should I really focus on a free-lance writing career, or should I knuckle down and try and finish the book I started two years ago.

There are more changes than just the impending start of all of my kids in school. My husband is starting a new job, one with regular hours so he’ll be home all weekend. He’ll be gone pretty much all week long, leaving before the kids get up in the mornings and coming home probably post-dinner most nights, but he’ll be here on the weekends, and that’s a HUGE change for us. My weeks are going to change because I’ll be the only parent available during the day during the week. That factors into the decisions around working full-time as well.

I’ve got to think about summer camp, about getting my baby used to going places without me and being confident without me there. She’s great at preschool now, a little wistful at drop off, but mostly happy about going. But she’s going for two and a half hours twice a week. That’s not the same as going five days a week for six hours a day. We need to work up to that, I think. And while there are compelling reasons to send her to summer camp (it’ll help her get used to going, help her learn to be confident with other adults, and give her some structure so that school isn’t such a huge change in September), there are just as many reasons to keep her home this summer. It’s summer, and while there are definite disadvantages to having a full time SAHM (like less money, a less cool car, etc…) one of the advantages is that I’m home during the summer. They can sleep in, spend afternoons daydreaming outside under a tree, we can pick up and go on vacation or visiting with no planning, etc. Having the whole summer structured changes that.

I’m not sure what the summer or fall will look like for us. But once January comes, everything kicks into high gear, in terms of planning ahead for me. I’m excited to see what seventh grade, third grade and kindergarten means for my kids. I’m excited to see my husband thrive in a new industry, and I’m even cautiously excited about branching out of full-time motherhood for the first time in more than a decade.