Teachers

Bless them! Seriously. They take my kids all day and teach them things and keep them entertained so that I don't have to. At no cost to me, other than taxes of course. When it comes to education, I LOVE taxes!
I will admit I'm not the most entertaining of moms. I stress about my clean house too much to spend all day coming up with fun and educational activities for my kids. And I don't enjoy that stuff enough to do it ALL the time.
I love the occasional kid game or making valentines for my kids valentine party, but I don't have the personality to enjoy doing kid things all the time.
I don't have a kid like imagination. I am the type of mom who LOVES to watch my kids play, but I don't really want to join in.
So, for me, having my kids go off to school, gets them the fun activities, education and social interaction they need without me having to do a thing! Awesome.
Moms who home school... you are better than me. Really you are! In this area anyway. You allow your house to be turned into a school, you devote all your time to educating and entertaining your kids. You give up your free time and alone time. You give up quiet days of having the house to yourself and the ability to run errands alone. And you enjoy it?! Maybe you don't, i dunno, maybe you do it because you feel like it's best. Either way, you're better than me.
I am just starting to see a glimpse of the future of my kids being in elementary school. My oldest goes to preschool an extra day each week while I'm home (not at work) and it's glorious. And in the last couple weeks I've had a couple of days where I'm home alone while I put all three kids in school. It's expensive right now, but in a little over three years, this amazing luxury will be FREE! Sometimes I can see why some parents send their kids to boarding school.
And luckily, although I feel home schooling moms are better than me, I don't feel that their kids are better off for it. I don't have to feel guilty that I'm not as enthusiastic as those moms because I feel my kids LOVE going to school. And I feel that it's really good for them. My oldest pre schooler by far learns better from her teachers than she does from me. I'm mom, she doesn't see me in the same light that she sees her teacher in that institutional setting.
I like the socialization they get and the variety of activities and ways of learning that I know I could never come up with myself or be enthusiastic about.
I love public school. I love teachers. I will make a huge effort to show my kids' teachers my appreciation! I can NOT imagine dealing with that many kids every day.
I'm so fortunate to live in an area with great public education.
Thank you teachers.