I am so sorry...I really could have offended SO many people with that last post. But I am not taking it down, it is important to me and maybe some of you, to chronicle the emotions involved in my life.
People whose children go to school are not being sold, and the purpose of our family doing school is not to have a clean house. I think the kids will learn more at school this year, and I think that we have moved to a neighborhood where we feel ok with the school district, even though we do not believe that age-segregated mass "learning" or teaching to the standardized tests reallyhave much value in human life, the kids will most likely have an interesting time, and it might be great and it might not and this is what we are doing.
I can be comedic, extreme, etc, and this is the side of me that got me all the readers in the first place. I never want to deliberatly offend anyone though, so I am sorry if I upset anyone.
About the Author
- Housefairy
- United States
- I have been a young Mama and an older Mama. I have been a homebirthing Mama and a 3 time c-sectioned Mama. I am very cutting edge and very old fashioned. I am married to my high school sweetheart and we have five children whom we homeschool with a very eclectic approach. I am a reformed closed-minded/ know-it-all AP/granola snoot who doesn't play those Mommy Wars anymore. I am first and foremost a feminist kindred spirit and friend to mothers, with a penchant for all things colorful and human and real. I am an interesting character and so are you. You will not like everything I have to say but I hope you visit often and can find something useful or good or true out of my writings.
New baby Eskarina! 4 months old
Sonic and Steve (Dada, Daddy, Kitty)
Joy (Mama)
Greta age 11
Mickey age 8
Casey age 5
Charlie age 2 1/2
5 comments:
I can't say I know how you feel, but I do know what it is like to build your identity around homeschooling. I hadn't thought of it in those terms before reading your last few posts, but it is true.
After all the years of planning and our year of Kindergarten last year and now gearing up for 1st grade... it's become the way we see ourselves as a family. We're homeschoolers.
I can only imagine the kind of harsh internal angst it has to provoke when you shift gears like you guys are right now. It must feel like you're abandoning a core, central idea of what it means to be you. That can't be easy!
But, for what it's worth, it really does sound like you're doing what's best for your family right now. You won't get any judgmental crap from us about that.
I have much more respect for someone who is willing to reevaluate a situation and make a needed change than I do for those who cling evasively to ideas that don't work for them any more... either permanently or temporarily.
It sounds like you really need a break, time to rest and recuperate and all that. After a year of PS, maybe the kids will like it and want to keep going, or maybe they'll have a new appreciation of homeschooling and want to return to that. Or, maybe they'll stay in PS but have a horrible attendance record because of all the spontaneous days off as a family to go on picnics or to the zoo or park or whatnot. It doesn't have to be an either or situation. Just because they're going to PS now doesn't mean you can't keep making up your own rules as you go along.
Hm... I wrote that line about: "horrible attendance records" in my comment above and I thought: I read that somewhere recently and I can't remember where so I'll use it here. Good line.
Then I realized that I read it in the comments the other day on one of your other posts.
An idea thief am I!
I love your homeschooling passion and spirit. Trying school doesn't suddenly mean you are not invested in your children. I'm a homeschooler (with 2 kids), but I totally respect your decision to send your older children to school this year. I think the key is staying flexible and doing what is best for everyone...including you. It's hard not to feel guilty if you feel like you're making a decision that is at the expense of your children, but you're not making a decision that is at the expense of your children. You sound like a very lovely, loving mama. If some of your children love school this year and some don't, nothing is written in stone. You've got your finger on the pulse. You'll know if another change is needed and you'll know if your children are thriving in their new environment. I say be open to the positive things that will surely come from this...even if its just for now. JJ
I hope the first day went well and that the transition (for everyone, including you) brings positive changes in your lives.
Joy! I was away from the internet and I have just read your last two posts back to back. I think I do know how you feel! One thing we definitely have in common. Wow. I share with you the feelings of utter and painful ambivalence about it all. This massive conflict between your (and my) best intentions, desires, ideals and the enormity of our love for our kids versus, well... Reality. The fact that we are just one person each, only human, with limitations, despite superhuman efforts and all :)
And yeah, screw the floors.
If it's any consolation, I think we'll dislike all the same stuff about our kids' schools, heh heh...
(I just read through our board of ed's parents' handbook. This isn't our first parents' handbook but I've never seen one that reads like this... I won't go into detail here, but we're in for a clash of civilizations, and my child hasn't even been home schooled; but he is coming from a place where the focus is on facilitating exploration and creative thinking, not on enforcing discipline and rules that begin with NO. Yikes.)
Post a Comment