Just before we left on the trip, my husband expressed some doubts about my ability to homeschool Emily successfully. She's a sweet girl but she does have her issues. "If professional educators can't meet her needs, how can you?"
Full disclosure. My first thought was "What the Hell? I'm her MOM. Of COURSE I know what's best." But that, dear readers, was just my ego having a temper tantrum. The very SAME temper tantrums I see my kiddos exhibiting! The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Or, since this is a yoga blog of sorts, its *karma*. (I don't know why I added the asterisks around karma, but I like it).
While it is true I am her Mom, I love the fact that my husband and I can be honest with each other. Its a legitimate question, especially if you consider my history not only as student but as a college-level instructor for 8 years. I was very invested in the ideas of traditional schooling for decades. I fully bought in to the idea of rubrics and multiple choice testing, all the while bemoaning the fact that students nowadays didn't seem to care much about anything that wasn't on their phone screens.
From his point of view, I have lost my mind.
I get that.
Here it is, five weeks before the end of the school year. Nora is enrolled for a summer school program at her new high school pertaining to study habits and dealing with the stresses of change. Its designed to help her really succeed in a traditional school setting, which, in her case, I think is great. There is, it turns out, a part of me that not only is invested in traditional schooling, but gets a great deal of joy from the fact that my oldest child succeeds brilliantly in such a setting.
So why am I taking the complete opposite approach with Emily?
Because every child is different. Its as simple as that. Every parent knows this to be true. How the idea of "standardized" anything came into vogue is beyond me.
I think Ryan is a little more on board than he was, but the question remains. What is the plan for Emily?
Please please please, someone tell me I'm not alone. This is incredibly overwhelming! If I had a child that wanted to sit still and do worksheets, this would be a piece of cake. But that is the last thing she wants. And then there is the fear that even though I'm her mom, maybe I'm not the best teacher? Seeing I was a worksheet kinda kid? That when it was time for me to leave school, I kept signing up for more and more college courses because I felt a lot of confidence in that setting? And I like to sit and read and be quiet? And I taught from power points instead of having my students engage in a lot of exploratory activities???
Well at least I know where Emily's tendency to get overwhelmed comes from. Ahem. The apple/tree thing.
I am in need of some expert opinions. Luckily I work in a library, whose shelves are lined with the expertise of many people, most of whom are a lot smarter than me. And of course there's google. So far, I've browsed a lot of books and websites dealing with everything from how to chose a curriculum to science experiments at home, from the executive functioning disorder to the scientific benefits of meditation vs the BS claims. I have read about how kids learn better from books, but those studies didn't include kids with dyslexia. I have looked at local OT options, and have wondered if maybe I should just sign up for some web based programs.
But there one more expert whose opinion counts above all else.
So I asked Emily, "What do you want to do for homeschool?"
"Grow mint. And maybe basil."
"Really? Anything else?"
"Yea. I want to go to museums everyday."
If you had any doubts about the fact she is my off-spring, let those doubts be put to rest.
Also, I still don't have a plan for autumn, when this gig really starts. But Momma Ivy's Homeschool of Awesome procured not one but TWO 6x12 community garden plots, as well as two brand new pairs of gardening gloves, two pairs of rubber boots, and many, many packets of seeds.
Funny enough, mint will not be grown as that is against the rules due to its invasive nature.
It's a start.
How I'm going to turn growing vegetables into homeschool is another story. Do I just let her dig around in the dirt and see what happens? Do we do experiments with the seeds to see which ones germinate best? Do we treat some plants to harsh conditions to see what happens? Do I go online and look for worksheets anyways? Is it ok to be Zen about the whole thing and just garden?
I don't know.
But that's the whole point I suppose. This isn't a blog about "The 10 Ways to Successfully Homeschool your Child." This is the "I Don't Know What I'm Doing but Why Don't You Join Me? The Journey is Better than the Destination" blog. Feel free to comment below with your successes and failures, and I'll be keeping this up to date until our next vacation, which isn't scheduled for at least another year.
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