I went into their room for something else and noticed his red-rimmed eyes.
“What’s wrong, buddy?”
“Nothin'”
She interjected, “He’s sad because of Valentine’s Day.”
“Because of Valentine’s Day? Why?”
“Because I won’t get to give and get valentines this year,” his voice cracked.
“Because I’m homeschooled.”
Oof.
I’d never thought about valentines before.
I am always asking if they like homeschool, if they’d rather be in public school.
The answer is almost always yes they like it, unless they think about the new playground at the school.
Yes, we love homeschool, they tell me.
And I believe they do.
But that doesn’t mean they don’t miss some of the “old ways”, the things they did when they went to public school.
The music classes where they learn songs and then sing them at a concert.
Recess on a fancy playground.
And Valentine’s Day.
Unsure of what to say or do, I assured him he’d get at least one valentine, probably more.
Valentine’s Day has never been a big deal to me.
I’ve never put emphasis on it for them, and had this not come up I probably wouldn’t have gotten them anything at all.
I might have made heart shaped pancakes or something.
But now I sit here with his hurt in my hands and I’m fumbling around with how to fix it.
“We’ll have a party!” I suggest.
“We can invite your friends to come after school and we’ll have snacks and games.
What do you think about that?”
A smile crosses his face and goes up to his eyes.
“Let the planning begin,” he declares.
(He is so my child).
I think that’s what I would have missed too, had I been homeschooled. All of the parties and activities.
You know that I am not the one that thinks you made a mistake. I think you made a good decision but for whatever reason the other day in walmart I saw the Valentine’s Day stuff and thought about the big kids. I myself was not big on valentines day at school ..Leslie enjoyed it lots. I never really understood that but went along with it anyway. Now I really thought it would be Lydia..How special is it that it is the male child? You are definitely doing it RIGHT! Now have a party!
How about letting them give out Valentines to random people around town that day? They would make a lot of people happy 🙂