Decisions,Decisions!

I've just looked back at my last homeschool update, and realised it was on the 18th January, I was suprised I'd left it so long. I only have a brief update, and a few thoughts I need to blog about insha Allaah.
Well, school's been going well, alhamdulillaah. Masha'Allaah we've had quite a bit of snow in the last week, so the girls did some pictures with a snow theme using cotton wool, cut out some snowflakes, we talked a little about the sense of 'touch', and the girls touched some snow and told me what it felt like, I then did a poster on it. I've taken quite alot of pictures but unfortunately I can't seem to find my usb cable to connect my phone up to the computer, insha Allaah will have another look and get them up on here.

Girls are coming along well with reading the Qaa'idah, masha'Allaah, maths is starting to become a bit more fun since we started using the '150 daily maths lessons' book for Dd(5), Dd(8) sits in on some of her lessons, and some of the extra practice has done her good, allaahumma baarak feehaa.

Both coming along well with the reading reflex lessons, masha'Allaah, it's exciting to see the progress alhamdulillaah.

well, I did say it would be a 'brief' update, it's quite late here, wasn't sure if I was gonna get the time to type anything up, I've just finished planning what we're gonna cover tomorrow, and didn't want to leave it any longer before writing something on here.

Today, the brother who picks my son up for school and brings him home, informed me that after this week he will not be able to take him anymore, due to clashes with time, as he also picks up at another school, and it takes extra time to come to this area, I was gutted when he told me, I actually felt close to crying, there are many reasons why I prefer my son to be in school, one of them being the interaction with boys his age, if he were to be homeschooled, he'd mainly be around girls (his sisters), and also my husband works away, and I feel it is important especially for my son to have a role model, someone who can set an example daily for him, and at the school, brothers teach there, and I feel this is good for him insha Allaah. He's also doing well with the Qaa'idah Allaahumma baarak feehee, I fear now that if he were to come out of school, I'm not going to be able to help him progress as quickly as he probably is now.

The options available to me right now, are probably to get the bus over there every day, with the kids and the baby, I'm not keen on taking the bus, especially with a big pram, I used to do it for a while back in Cardiff when I was pregnant, it was quite hectic somedays, often we'd have to let one or two buses go by as they would be too full, or the weather would be bad etc....
or my other option is to homeschool him also, I'm scared of taking on this extra challenge in a way, don't get me wrong, I would love to teach my son along with my girls, but when I did used to have him home before he was more interested in playing than learning, and it was just easier to teach my eldest daughter, and actually my youngest, as she would like to sit it on a lesson, and be eager to do some work, so from that lack of teaching him at that time, when he did go into school, he was very behind, and had to be put back to Reception when he should have been in Yr1. Now alhamdulillaah, he has started to catch up, with his reading etc.. but he still has got alot of catching up to do insha Allaah.

There are days also when my son and my youngest daughter go in silly moods, and often my eldest daughter will too, and no matter what I say to them, they'll keep giggling and joking around, I find it stressful when they're like this, and I wonder how many of those days would we have if I were homeschooling them together.

I feel quite confused right now about the whole situation, it's funny cos only a week or two back, I started to have thoughts about bringing my son out of school, mainly due to an increased 'bad' attitude he has had, which I feel he has picked up since starting the school, also at one point, I had been reading something about teaching our kids, and it made me feel bad in a way that I was homeschooling my daughters but not my son, and how that he's out from the home from 7.30 am until nearly 4pm each day, I'm missing out on a big part of his life, but then I started to think about the importance of him having his friends, teachers etc... and thought maybe it's the best thing for him to be there, Allaahu a'lam.

I think I need to make istikhaarah insha Allaah, and take it from there, I wondered earlier whether to start looking again for a house in the area that the school is in, so I could keep him in there, but imagine I do move, and then decide that I'd rather homeschool him? hhmmm! we're all feeling kind of settled here now alhamdulillaah, and masha'Allaah we've got a cat now, so haven't really heard any mice, that was one of the main reasons I wasn't feeling too happy here, but so far so good alhamdulillaah. Insha Allaah, intending to restart my driving lessons again soon, but not sure when, and don't know how long it would take to pass my test, so I can't rely on that.

Like I said, I will make istikhaarah, maybe speak with the school, see what they suggest. To be honest, the thought of teaching my son , does kind of appeal to me, but I'm just feeling very apprehensive, I don't want to mess his education up, and I'm just feeling a mixture of emotions right now, mainly sad, for my son, he has said that he would like to be homeschooled, but he's also said he'll miss so and so, etc... and I can kinda tell that he will miss going to the school, I want him to be settled, and don't want him in out of school, well, Allaah knows best, it's written already, so I shouldn't stress myself over it, will keep you updated.

Sorry for the essay!