The cusp of school

Cusp is such a cool word. ;) Glad I'm a homeschool product and have such a vocabulary at my fingertips. ;) The public school here starts school tomorrow. (!!) I know this because my Hurb teaches in the high school. Last week they had to go "back to work" Wed-Fri for the mandatory meetings and some preliminary stuff, and tomorrow the SIXTH of August, (also our 7th anniversary just as a random fact) the kids are coming back for another year at the grind. Having been a teacher myself, and now married to one, and on the verge of starting our own small fry to school for the first time, I can honestly say it IS a grind! When school starts the first week of August and lasts till the last week of May, that is a L-O-N-G grind. The kids feel it, and the teachers feel it. What happened to summer? What happened to being a kid and getting such a good long break that you were actually excited to go back to school because you had become bored with all the freedom of summer?? That's how I remember it. I remember as a kid feeling shocked when some of my friends had their school schedules changed to start the end of August! *gasp* Not only that, but in my Hurb's school, at least, they are implementing a new daily schedule that has the kids IN CLASS till 4:30 every day. What?! They are kids! This is school! It's not a JOB! Well in some ways it is a job. It's a big job for kids to learn and absorb so much information. If you overload the system they will stop absorbing. In my mind it's absolutely ridiculous for children to be cooped up in a school for 8 hours (or more) a day for 10 months of the year being force fed "education." They grow up fast enough. When do they get to be kids? So as I sit here on the cusp (love that word!) of school starting, I'm very thankful that we have made the choice to homeschool our lad. I know that I would NOT be ready for him to start school tomorrow, even if he was ready, and I'm glad that I have the option of putting it off for a couple/few more weeks! :)