Days I Don't Go to School. Sharing a 'Study Plan' and 'Rules for Days Off' Brought Peace to My Heart.

The other day, I wrote about how my second-grade son and I tried out a schedule for days he doesn't go to school for the first time.
Thank you so much for reading it (´;ω;｀)✨✨ I'm so touched.

I was struggling with what to call this schedule (lol), but from now on, I've decided to call it a 'Home Study Plan'!

Then, just the other day, my son ended up staying home from school again, and the second time to put it into practice arrived.
(I definitely wasn't looking forward to my son staying home from school, by the way.)

By trying it out for the second time, I realized that because this 'Home Study Plan' and the 'rules for days off from school' have become established between my son and me, peace has come to my heart.

The two rules for days off from school and the background behind creating them

In our home, we have two rules for when he stays home from school.

One is that he must think of and write down his 'Study Plan' by the day before and get approval from me or my husband.
The other is that on days when I already have plans, those plans take priority.

There was a lot of background behind setting these rules.

First of all, as a premise, I want to respect my son's feelings of not wanting to go to school.
I don't think he 'should' go to school; I believe school is just one form of a place for learning and social relationships, and if children want to go, they should go.

However, if he suddenly says 'I don't want to go to school' on the morning of, my plans get completely thrown off, which used to make me feel frustrated and uneasy.
It would be nice if I had the emotional capacity to forgive it, but the reality is that I don't have that much.

Also, from the perspective of my son's learning, if he stays home suddenly on the day, he might have to tag along with my plans, and I might not be able to support his learning.

So, I thought that by sharing the two rules mentioned earlier with my son, I could reduce my own mental burden while simultaneously respecting his independent learning.

With that background, I've been telling my son quite persistently, 'Please tell me the night before' and 'When Mom has plans, those take priority.'
In addition, at our house, we make it a habit to share 'what was fun today' and 'plans for tomorrow' with everyone during dinner.

I've become able to accept it more than before!

This time, it wasn't just that he didn't want to go to school; he also had a large cut he got a few days ago that was hurting, which made him even less motivated to go.

So, when my son said 'I don't want to go' on the morning of, I didn't feel as restless or frustrated as I used to, and I was able to accept the fact calmly.

Analyzing my feelings, I think there are two reasons.
One is that because we share the rules as mentioned and also share each other's plans every night, my son is choosing days when I don't have plans and am at home.
And the other is that, having seen the previous 'Study Plan' practice and my son's efforts, I was able to feel a sense of reassurance that 'my son can proactively create a study plan and carry it out himself'.

By the way, here is the result of what we practiced this time.

His estimation of the time required was a bit off, and he wrote down the time spent somewhat loosely, but the important thing is that he worked on it proactively.
If there is a next time, I thought it might be good to create a 'reflection' section and have time to think together about 'how can we do better next time?'.

I've finally settled into a routine for days when we don't go to school.

The feeling of 'not wanting to go to school.'
At first, I wondered what would happen, but I feel like we've gotten on the right track, and I feel like I can continue to work on this positively myself.

From now on, when I'm lost, I'll return to the idea of creating an environment where my son can explore and engage in what he wants to do! I intend to create a system in our daily life so that the whole family can enjoy it without pushing ourselves too hard.
Lately, I've even started to think that beyond that, there is learning not just for my son, but for the whole family as well.

Well, that's all for today!

Thank you for reading until the end!

hona

#dailynote #dailypost #dailyupdate #earlychildhoodeducation #childcare #education