decisions, decisions

I'm supposed to meet with someone from the Catholic school tomorrow afternoon, but the closer I get to this meeting the more I cringe about sending the children out to school. Our little Christmas break let us have some fun and laughs before getting back to the books and the past few days have been our best in months (though I did get very upset with Will last night for only getting half his work completed at co-op). This arrangement with the babysitter coming 2 mornings a week, the co-op another 2 days seems to be the best option to get the work done and keep my sanity. I have talked extensively with some other moms of many and one thing we all agree on is that homeschooling 6th grade is just the worst in terms of workload and attitude for the child and stress on the mother. The best advice was summed up by Carol, "Go to Adoration and give it to Jesus. Tell him you can't do this job without sufficient grace. He will give it to you." Meghan said, "You have 365 days a year for 12 years to get this done. Stop staring at the trees and focus on the forest. Your children are so innocent and not tainted by the world. If they go to school that will be lost in one week."

I can see some progress we have made this year so far. Charlie knows about 3/4 of his letters despite not doing anything academic last year. He can count, add money, and tell what hour it is on a clock. He is doing very well at learning his catechism and tries to be so helpful around the house. Maggie's handwriting is lovely, she can borrow in subtraction, she can read beautifully, and is very cheerful and thoughtful when she focuses. (I'm trying to forgive her for thoughtlessly breaking one of my Italian lamps last week) Mary is doing much better academically, especially in math and spelling and beats her brother's socks off when it comes to those Latin flashcards. She is much less shy these days and is just the sweetest thing when she chooses to be. Will is becoming a whiz at math and astounds me with his catechism memory work, I can't recall the answers half the time and I'm holding the book! It is so evident that he loves his younger siblings and can be trusted with Julia Ellen completely.

I'm going to go into this meeting tomorrow with my page long list of questions including, "Are the textbooks Catholic? Historically/scientifically accurate? Are the teachers Catholic? Are they loyal to the Magisterium? How much homework are the children given? At weekly Mass do the children receive from the priest? How many days are not spent on academic instruction?" Part of me is hoping that the answers allow me to put them in the school with a tiny sigh of relief, while the other part hopes that I can say to myself, "Private school is not the answer for our family and we will continue to homeschool."

It might not even get that far, they want me to come on Friday morning, meaning Tim couldn't watch the little ones and I would have to take all of them. The impression I'm getting is that they think this is a done deal and I need to start signing checks.
Ummm, I don't think so.