Matt and I recently went to a homeschooling convention in town. There were so many wonderful seminars to attend, so we split up in order so absorb as much information as possible. Matt tended to go to the academic/brain training seminars, and I chose the more touchy-feely seminars.
One seminar was by Todd Wilson called "If You Pulled Them Out of Their School Because You Didn't Like Their School, Why Are You Making Your School Like Theirs?" (All his seminars had ridiculously long names.) Other than the fact that this man is VERY entertaining, he had such a good message. This seminar in particular got me to thinking.
I'm still trying to define our school and what we want as an end result. I don't know if I'm any closer to finding our mission statement than I was months ago. Do you ever get there? I know that I fought the notion that we were homeschooling to "shelter" our kids for a long time, but truth be told, I'm great with sheltering them. I want to shelter them. At least until I arm them with tools and knowledge of how to deal with whatever it is I'm sheltering them from. ??
Anyway - I LOVE this lifestyle. I think more people would, too, if they could get past the I-don't-have-the-patience attitude and the big socialization non-issue. Blech.
Days like today make me appreciate homeschooling more than ever. The boys were over-tired last night so I let them sleep until they woke up. I wanted to switch the laundry before we started bible study, so I did! Then our bible study was about Passover. In reading the material, I felt that maybe we should not just study Passover, but all the plagues God put on Egypt. The kids were really intrigued, so we spent quite a bit of time in Exodus. All this to say - we got a really late start today in "school". And - nothing we did in "school" today was more relevant than them being rested, me taking a few minutes to catch-up on chores, and the kids not being stressed out because I was forcing "school" down their throats.
Funny thing is, Hamilton spent 10 minutes on math today. Then he went to help Henderson mix colored water for an hour (with Harrison's help, of course!) They measured and poured and imagined and took turns and shared. Hamilton has the concept of having to "borrow" from the ten's column in subtraction. I can tell that in 5 math problems. I don't need him to do 30 a day to know that.
So - why do I feel so compelled to save papers? To grade papers? To keep on grade-level curriculum? I've seriously got to break out of the "Their School" mode. How do you break out of that mind-set? Any thoughts/tips????
Great post! As I think I've mentioned to you before, I didn't pull my kids out to shelter them, but it has been a really nice bonus. ;-) I'm ok with it, too.
ReplyDeleteI love the seminar title. I still sometimes struggle with our education being too school-y. I blame it on 13 years (and counting!) of being a public school mom. I often fight the tendency to do school at home, which I like to say is not much better than school at school. I think most moms who are new to HSing do that. I think the farther we get away from school, the easier it will be for us to let go of the mindset. This year it was easier for me to let go than it was last year.
I agree that more people would HS if they could get past the patience issue. I used to say the same thing, though. And then it occurred to me that if a traditional school teacher has the patience to teach 23...24...29 seven year olds who are not theirs, surely I have the patience to teach my two children who I love more than life.
You're doing great!