Letters

I've been going back and forth on home schooling lately. We definitely had good reasons for starting and those reasons are still valid, but we struggle a lot.  I don't know if its the stress of packing and moving, maybe its not a good curriculum match, maybe its just not for Ben anymore. We've lightened the load since Christmas.  Its going a lot better than it was, but we still have our moments.  Those moments are consistent enough to make me wonder what kind of change needs to happen.
We happened to find a friend who is a third grade teacher in the Olmsted district.  She and Ben chatted for a few minutes about what the school day is like and she suggested he write a letter to one of her students to get more info.  Instead of one student writing him back, he got 17 responses!  The letters are adorable.  They talked about recess (which is everyones favorite subject), what the play ground looks like, who the cool teachers are etc.  I think all but one or two kids said if they could do school at home, they wouldn't want to do it.  I was kind of surprised by that.
Unfortunately, Ben is equally torn.  After reading the letters he was all for going to school.  Then we broke down the day, how much time you get for lunch and recess and how long you have for your other subjects. His school day would be 6hrs and 25min. We finish our school day in 2 hrs or less. It would also mean no ice skating next year, no more breakfast dates with Miss Debbie, lunch dates with gram or play dates with Liam.  He wasn't too excited about all that. We have some thinking and praying to do.