M is now halfway through his first year of school. It’s a preschool program for 3 year olds. The school then has a K1 and a K2. M does not like school. Well, he does. But, he doesn’t. Got it?

Last year, when C was in K1 and M stayed at home, M hated school because it took his brother away. The wailing at the front door as K and I walked C to school in the morning was awful. He would be inconsolable for quite some time. And it was all for his brother. Sure, he tried to convince us that he missed mommy and daddy, but not really. If one of us worked from home, he didn’t care. C was gone and the world was over until 2:30 that afternoon.

Fast forward to September and now it is M’s turn to start school. The part time program is conveniently full, but M is welcome to join the full time program. We worried about starting him off on 5 full days of school, but remembered that C used to beg us for more school time when he was in the program. We started him on 2 days, bumped up to 3 and still were pleaded to go “all the time.” So, we figured, we can always keep M home on certain days if we think it’s too much.

The build-up in late summer was great. We bought uniforms, a Transformers backpack and lunchbox (Autobot, if you’re interested), shoes that ran and jumped “real good!” and we practically had to lock him in the first morning to prevent him going to school without us. But, it all ended that day. M decided he didn’t want to go back the next day, or ever. He missed home and was willing to sit alone in the house for 6 hours each day if necessary. The dog would be there, so he’d be fine. Thus began the “I hate school” phase (isn’t this supposed to come much later?).

The odd thing is, he only hates school when he’s not there. When we drop him off in the morning, we can just barely get a kiss goodbye before he is running into the building. His teachers tell us he is a joy to have in class, very bright and fun to interact with and, most of the time, takes part in everything going on in class.

At home? He doesn’t like singing, the books in the library are boring, he doesn’t want to wear shoes even if there is snow on the ground, he’s tired, etc. He starts the complaining the night before, and in a new twist, woke up twice during the night last night to tell K he didn’t want to go to school. But, again this morning, he bolted into the building with a smile on his face, calling after his friends and giving us only the most cursory of waves from the window once inside.

Now, M is not the picture of emotional stability most days , but this divergence confuses me. We started the “terrible twos” early and have since decided that we don’t need to stand on formality or age discrimination and have kept on keeping on. He is vehement in his dislike of school, wailing and thrashing when we “discuss” it.

My chief concern is that he might be bored. He went in to preschool knowing his ABCs, being able to count to 10, etc. He is also not big on structure, so I wonder if the class schedule grates on him (his teacher did tell us that he does get in a snit sometimes when he’s told to stop working on something). Or, he just likes staying home better. It’s hard to tell some days. His brother has not helped by warning him that K1 is “all work.”