Before the unfortunate events of the last couple of years, we had finally found a wonderful co-op for the kids. A few like minded parents began a Sudbury model school at one of the member's beautiful home. It was exactly what I had been looking for for years. It was a mix of all ages and the kids did what they wanted to do. Some played outside all day, some played video games, some made short films and skits. There was sewing and jewelry making and cooking. They played soccer, did yoga or just played near the creek and explored the surrounding wooded areas. The moms (and sometimes dads) would take turns volunteering to be there to supervise, answer
questions, lead activities, and of course, make sure no one was doing
anything unsafe. I was able to meet women who were like minded in my educational and parenting philosophy. We met three days a week. It was perfect.
As the group started growing, the house became a little too small and the owners were having second thoughts about having their home occupied with so many three days a week. So they found a space at a local Unitarian Universalist church. We spent nearly two weeks getting set up, redecorating our areas and filling the space with warmth and the supplies necessary to do whatever the kiddos came up with. It wasn't the same as the house, but still very much what we wanted. We opened the new location on March 10, 2020.
Anyone remember what happened around March 2020?
So, the co-op was closed indefinitely until we (and the rest of the world) tried to figure out what was going on. Due to the church's policies that our founders would not find acceptable, we had to shut it down. It was heartbreaking. We tried to keep in contact with some of the families and we even stayed on as a smaller group with one of the ladies, but at this point, all the kids that were still participating were very young children under 10. Mine were all older than that, and needed more "teenagery" things. It wasn't working out and I got tired of driving to every Indy Park in the damn city for the meet-ups just to have the kids be "bored." So, like everyone else in the world, we were now isolated.
I could tell this was taking a toll on their happiness and mental health (duh.) They mentioned wanting to go to public school, but 2020, yeah.
As the time came for my fourth to take driver's ed last summerish, our normal school wasn't available for the in car instruction, so I made a choice to take a small drive outside of the city limits to a small town that I was familiar with. After a few lessons, Dan mentioned that he had been looking at the high school's website and wondered if they could go to school there. Long story short, they are now attending a county school outside of Naptown. I also found a job outside of the city (more on that later) and I feel like we're definitely closing one chapter and writing the next one.
I wasn't wild about the idea at first (and still), but after a rough couple of weeks in the beginning, they all seem to be enjoying it. My thirteen year old seems much more happy and it has provided the structure that my sixteen year old thrives on. My fourteen year old is usually up for anything, so he's also doing well.
Spending my time in this town has reawakened something in me. I grew up in a rural areas. The fields and farms and vast empty spaces that surround the town remind me of where I came from. It is so peaceful and serene.I feel like I can relax, breathe, try to find myself again. I have just spent a year and a half being in the heart of the city delivering. It is not peaceful and serene, quite the opposite. .If we could get out of here tomorrow, I think I would. I love my home. We've been here for 26 years, but they are building large warehouses all around us. I guess things change. I didn't want them to, but no one asked me.
I feel like I don't belong here anymore, maybe I never did.
Now I just need to find a way.
