Hello I was reading through some of the trials and triumphs of this year so far n the Spot and thought of how my year was going so far... First it was YUCK. Then Crazy and now I was just this week wondering if maybe I made the wrong choice with History... or maybe I should not have started this Lab Class with ds, and what was I think using Abeka English? But then the funny thing happened... Ds is enjoying it all. He said he liked his History ( Exploring World History with Notgrass) though we discussed the fact we will be inserting some movies. In Addition to the reading books which doesn't work as much with ds as it did with dd. He is working hard to keep up but the really funny thing is that DS likes the stuff I was planning to toss, and the stuff I thought would be so good is too easy for him. So here is the funny.. I read in my ds1s old books "Why do I have to learn this again? I did this stuff in 6th grade" ( HE WAS IN 10th Grade when he took this in private school) So I laugh and later that week ds2 now in 10th says to me "Mom I know all this stuff why do I have to do it again? I am really getting tired of all this grade school stuff". Still I keep assigning him work, lol! Get a clue , Teacher Mom He has it down! SO not that I failed, but I have now to get English stuff going and have no plan to buy anything because... Notgrass covers English credit! So I am working light on the grammar and heavy on the composition... why do we bother loading up stuff that wont be needed? And I will order the quiz and test books to keep him focused I think... You would think when you get to the point of two in college you would have a handle on what lessons work and dont work?:roll::wink: btw I also have him completing all his PE credits in one year with two classes, on is Baseball the sport which really is enough 'hours' for credit and the other is PE class with a private school that he is loving and excelling... he had never played Flag football and is making 4 touchdowns a game? And I was worried he would be a wimpy guy if he did not get more PE! lol SO what is your funniest revelation this year?
So far, my funnies revelation is that I can offer something that public schools cannot, true self-value to my son. He and I are working on simple math and he asked if the next flash-card could be his last flash-card, the time was right so I agreed but I added it had to be solved in his head, no fingers and no abacus. Drew the card and bang, he nailed it! I gave him a hug as a reward. In that moment I realized that I was teaching him more than school. It just struck me as funny, here I was so worried about 'school' but there was a deeper process here and until that moment I didn't see it at all.
My revelation this year isn't funny, but it has been a big one for me. This is the first year I feel confident in homeschooling and as a mom. Before I was always feeling pressured, pressure to get my kids to a certain level of performance, to be better, do do better, etc... I never felt like I was ever good enough. God has really been dealing with pride in my life, including in my parenting. It was really shocking how many things I was doing and thinking that were stemmed in pride. Once I realized how many things in my life were tangled up with that ugly old pride monster, things started falling in place. I have peace with myself now.
Amen!!! I had a lot of fears for a few years in homeschooling. If I really evaluate where they came from, a lot of them were pride based fears: "What if my son never learns how to spell?" (still not a strong suit). "What if he can't handle college if he wants to go?" "What if our relationship is strained to the point of breaking?" We had some rough times when I tried to mold him into something he wasn't. From reading and researching and being desperate to know how to make this homeschooling adventure work. I have discovered a few key things: 1. When we worry and push and prod, we kill the love of learning and risk actually making our children feel like failures. 2. When we think about where they "should" be at, we put society ahead of our family. Who came up with the list of when certain things should be learned anyway? I want to meet them and give them some bean dip. 3. Most of our fears are not going to come to pass: A. If a child can't read at age six, it does not mean they won't ever be literate. B. If a child takes 1 1/2 years or more for pre-algebra, it doesn't mean they won't be able to use math in their particular field of interest. C. If a child doesn't spell well, it doesn't mean they won't be able to write well and eventually get better at spelling. D. If a child doesn't want to be an academic genius it is perfectly OK, some people would rather work with their hands and I am thankful. I have experienced some of these very things in my life with my son. He still doesn't spell well, but when he posts on a message board he wants to be grammatically correct and have correct spelling as well. I never told him to do that, but he will very carefully edit his posts. He doesn't like math class, but he uses very complicated math in learning about ballistics. I cannot even fully understand it. He has taught me some, but I don't have a passion, so I don't retain it. He didn't really catch on to reading in kindergarten. It was probably the middle of first grade. But he reads well enough. He will read some stuff without being asked. Anyway, I know I went on too long, so...
Mine has been thoroughly figuring out how my kids like to learn. DS10 is Autistic so writing and such he doesn't care for, but oh can he read and retain 99% of what he reads! (I wish I could do that!) So I am thinking that instead of "unschooling" I am going to switch him to the Charlotte Mason Ways of most subjects As for DD9 who really can't stand to read (although she's read over 100 books since July 1, 2012) I am thinking she is more into the workbook stuff So am still searching for stuff for her. The funniest thing I think is that with both of them, for as much unschooling as we have done (2 years), they are both "smarter" then a lot of kids their age! I have adults telling me how articulate they both are and that they think I'm doing a great job with them (wish my mom felt that way, but that's another story). I love it when kids can come up to you and say "Did you know....." and I can say, no I didn't know that. (my kids think it's great too!) Happy adventures to you all!
