So, I've been thinking about school some now. Billie had a birthday recently and we (I) have a little cycle I go through as a homeschooler. Here's how it goes: Billie has a birthday, always seems to happen right around March and suddenly I have to think of her in terms of a 'bigger kid'. Then I panic which goes something like this "SIX! Six? A six year old is like a BIG kid...like one of those kids I see in the street or at the playground, with cool clothes and they know about things and they know how to do stuff and everything. Billie is going to be six??! Now I really have to do some school-y stuff. I'm going to get serious. We're going to start writing every day...yeah. And I'll organize a schedule to make sure we do science at least twice a week and not just catching tadpole science. Yeah, that's it...I'm going to get serious." Step two is ordering an insane amount of books and supplies. Then I'm ready to get down to business...for real this time.
Then it's April and I'm making myself crazy trying to make sure we do 'real' school. I usually stick to my schedule for a couple weeks during this month. Then it's May and school kids are getting ready to wrap up their year of learning. Now it's time to give my kid the standardized test to make sure they are meeting the random standards of American kids their age. There is not one question about Ancient Egypt and nothing about Latin. Then I look over the test and I realized both kids have passed that 'grade level' by FAR. Then I think over my two weeks of quizzing them on 'adverbs' 'prefixs', making sure that they know what a molecule is, can they identify a ventricle and what is 7x9?
That's usually when I breathe a sigh of relief and think...that's not what learning is about. We need to be outside more, climbing trees, learning how to share, being honest, dancing, reading, reading, reading good literature. We need to be learning how to cook, writing letters, using manners at the dinner table, playing chess, talking, taking walks, going on vacation, take a good book up in a tree for an hour, roller skating, playing soccer, counting the money in piggy banks, writing poems, putting on our own plays, making birdhouses...
So, that's what we're doing this summer.
It's far from ideal and not exactly what people think of when they think of 'school' but it's fun and I'm stickin to it...until next March.
4 comments:
I have been having homeschooling daydreams...this post isn't helping! Glad to see it is still working for you guys.
So let me get this straight. You are totally Mme. Natural with the homeschooling...and the result is a mini biker queen? ;-) You know this is my fave picture!
Six seems so far away. But I'm sure it will slap me on the forehead soon enough.
yeah, homeschooling, whatever. I'm so over it. I always order the CAT test in January and that helps me avoid a spring freak-out. Sometimes.
OMG - Billie is so gorgeous. She looks just like you. I think it's going to be very funny when she is a teenager and looks completely like you and Bill has to remember that he knew you when you were teenagers and then he's going to be really worried about boys. Paybacks are hell.
Haha.
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