When I told my husband last year that I wanted to homeschool our 2 boys (4 & 5 yrs old at the time), he gave me "The Look". You know the one, the one that says "Are you nuts? You sure about this?". I shot back with one of my own looks. The one that said "I GOT this. Trust me." Boy, I hate being told, "I told you so", which rarely ever happens by the way. We've only been homeschooling for a month and two weeks but it feels like a lifetime. It's only because, after spending all of last year reading, researching, reading and researching some more, I thought I had figured out what type of homeschooling method was going to be the best fit for us - Unschooling.
As far as I can tell, from the month and a half that we've been hanging out (when weather permits) visiting the Intrepid Museum, doing arts & crafts projects at home, reading stories, watching Nat Geo on Netflix, watching orchestral performances on YouTube, having play dates with their cousins (who attend private school) and allowing them to play a few video games (Plants vs Zombies & Minecraft mainly) - we've been having a great time! So what am I complaining about? I don't feel that there is enough structure in our day that allows for basic learning of reading, writing & math. I know, I know. You're probably thinking, "But Lucy! That is the kind of day I wish my kids and I could have! You sound like you are doing a great job so far." So why don't I feel as enthusiastic as I should? So, back to reading and researching I will go to see if maybe it's just me trying to unfairly compare my own past educational experiences to my children's current experiences. I mean, I'm a product of growing up in public school. Back when schools provided Music, Home Economics, Wood Shop, Ceramics, Gym, Recess, Art classes... I could go on and on. We also had S.S., English Lit., Science, Math & Language Arts. I have no structure right now for my kids and when my sisters tell me that their private school-educated children are currently doing two digit addition or writing four word sentences, I think "My kids are good at watching documentaries about poisonous creatures throughout the seven continents. They even know who Johann Sebastian Bach is... But they only know how to write their first names so far and can recognize all the letters of the alphabet and count up to 50 no problem". If you knew my sisters, shooting back about documentaries and classical composers is just "extra crap these kids don't really need to know." I guess what I'm really unsure about is building up my support group. My family is not exactly on par with the schooling path my husband and I have chosen for our children. Which is kinda sad because they don't see how wonderful it is to take charge of WHAT you teach your kids, or HOW you go about doing it. They have no clue about how in control you are about WHEN to introduce topics you feel your kids can handle at any given moment.
Sigh, my head is aching now after all I've been pondering. But, life goes on and now it's off to the kitchen with the boys to teach them how to wash and peel potatoes for dinner. We're having mashed potatoes with skirt steak and corn on the cob. Maybe a nice salad too depending on how much of a mess they make, lol.
-Lucy
