It's time for another match up:

PUBLIC SCHOOL VS. HOME SCHOOL 

Hopefully some of you find this interesting. I need to write this all out, hopefully hear a few thoughts I haven't thought myself and take some more time on it. This is round 3 of my never ending fight to come to a decision about how I feel about home schooling my children (in particular Henry, since he could start kindergarten 10 months from now eep) versus sending them to public school. I've actually wondered about this since I was pregnant with Henry. 

First, a few notes: 

-When I say public school, read anything outside of the home. I realize that now especially there are many options in public, private and charter schools, but for the sake of where I'm going today, lets just glom all those into one until I get a little further on the path here. 

-When I say home school, please try your hardest not to think about that one kid or that one family who home schooled and they were all so weird.  One of my friends put it well when she said, "It's true, a lot of weird people are drawn to home schooling, but they would still be weird whether they home schooled or not." 

-I was home schooled until I started public school in 5th grade. It may not be true, but I feel this gives me a little better understanding than your average bear on the topic. I had positive experiences in both settings. The only negative I remember from being home schooled was being treated like the weird kid from certain girls at church who when I went to public school were still that way, and gee whiz, I found out they had all kinds of kids to be mean to, not just the home schooled kid. Negatives from public school, too many to recount. Then again, I was a teenager during the time, so it is a bit of an unfair comparison in that respect.  Additionally my mom was and is a teacher (she had to go back to work which is why we went to school) and Johann is a school psych. So, I get the good, the bad and the ugly about public education and the kids that are there. 

To get an idea of what's been going on in my head, lets do some pros and cons for each:

HOME SCHOOL

CONS 

-Stereotyped as the weird kid

-less socialization (between sports and church I never felt this though)

-different curriculum from peers 

-(this is kind of a pro and a con) having to create and prepare curriculum (I know you can get some through homeschool programs) and teach the kids every day, esp considering Henry and my personality can butt heads frequently. 

PROS

-Freedom of time

-more time together as a family

-tailoring education to fit child's need 

-greater ability to influence child's understanding of right and wrong

-able to teach the gospel hand in hand with education 

PUBLIC SCHOOL 

PROS

-time for me to organize, have more one on one time with whichever child or children are at home

-getting to feel a part of an institution that the majority of your neighbors are a part of 

-teachers who have received degrees in the subject(s) taught. 

CONS

-time restrictions on family time, vacation time etc 

-homework (again, a time issue in the evenings and weekends)

-more highly concentrated time and space for peer pressure 

This is just a bare bones beginning but I am tired and need to hit the hay. Any constructive thoughts be appreciated and then probably there will be some more posting from there. Also, did you make a big decision to put your kids in school over home schooling them or was enrolling them, "just what you/everyone do/does"? THANKS, THE INTERNET. 

Dorothea at 3 months

I adore this little face. 

At 3 months Dorothea is a BIG baby. It's hard looking at her and seeing what looks like a 6 month old baby (she's 15lbs and 24in currently!) and feeling that little twinge of sadness that she is growing up so fast. Not as fast as it looks, of course, but I'm saddened about her getting older just as much as I am excited to see her develop. 

Speaking of which, I think the relationship between these two is developing nicely. She is no longer mostly terrified of him. She likes him enough now that I can put her on the play mat or in the bumbo seat and ask Henry to play with her and she'll stay distracted by him for a bit. 

 As far as developmental milestones, she is still a much more relaxed baby than Henry. He was rolling around at 2 months but she is just now willing to be on the mat long enough to tip her booty up and turn herself 90 to 160 degrees. I did see her make it from her back to her side once but then she freaked out, cried and went back to her back. It's understandable though, she's got a lot to roll!

She is obsessed with this quaking duck. 

 She still wants to be in the upright sitting position all the time, or standing. She bobs her little head when she's in her car seat, trying to get up.

Trying to sit up while 'cheering' daddy on

Aside from being much bigger than Henry was, she is also A LOT more talkative than I remember him being. When Johann comes home from work, she will chat with him (loudly) for 15 minutes straight. 

She continues to be a very happy girl, so long as she is fed and has slept (both of which she is still doing really well, though there are days she won't sleep unless I hold her), even if she hasn't she still can't keep herself from smiling when you smile at her. It's hilarious to see her red crying face with a big goofy smile on it then a frown then a smile. The main cause of the grumpies lately though seems to come from a very drooly baby with bumps on the bottom gums. Chomp, chomp time soon, or maybe she'll teeth for months like Henry did. We'll see. 

I love having Dorothea in our family and find so much joy in that feeling that she's never not been apart of out family. Here's to 3 great months and many more to come!