Learning the Teacher...

For those following me on Facebook, you know that this summer delivered the perfect irony of debilitating illness. My poor 5 year old son had to do thrice daily nebulizing treatments that swelled up his eyes and gave him constant nose bleeds, and we are all now in various degrees of hacking coughs, runny noses and headachy grumpiness. In the middle of our scorching summer heat. Tragic, I know. Still, I am learning peace with what is and I must let go of things that are beyond my control; my lack of a garden this year, my overrun lawn celebrating the death of my lawn tractor, and the exciting plans I had hoped to do with my children that are slipping into calmer ones I can handle in my run-down state. We have played in the sprinkler, planted a flower bed and gone swimming. Plus we are achieving with a lot of schoolwork done.

 In that arena, we have the exciting news of a visit in just 2 days time from our schools own vice principal! In discussion with this fine lady, I expressed my frustration at my being overwhelmed with work to catch up and she immediately announced a visit to offer a hand. There are many good ladies, and this one is the best. She will join us for lunch on Thursday and then offer support, advice, and homeschooling tips to get us back on track. I am excited to chat with her also as I have experienced an epiphany this week past and it was one of those painful, raw reality ones. My two daughters, I have always schooled together; Largely due to my own convenience. My second born; Eowynn, was conversational at 12 months old. And by conversational, I mean that people who had never met her before were able to have an intelligent discussion of understanding with her. She is linguistically gifted. She could count to 20 at 8 months old. She has a knack for rhyme and rhythm...She's a freak.

Due to this, I let her race ahead and do her schoolwork at the same pace as Cher. The issue now follows: Cheridynn is very smart, but lacks the uncanny gift for words. She is not behind, she is average... Until I determined to keep the two together and held Cher firmly in hand so she would not leave her talented but day-dreaming sister behind. This fall, my son begins kindergarten. With him schooling, Baby B will want to "school" too. I am now obligated to split classes…and thus the epiphany: My oldest would not be behind if I would let her work at her own pace. As an experiment, I let her work until the 1 hour timer ran out and she completed a full chapter beyond the assigned pages. Just days later, she is some 20+ pages ahead of her sister. And she is HAPPIER. I am ashamed that I didn't see her struggle sooner. Why did I have this need to keep them together? Bonus: Eowynn is working harder now as she sees Cher outdistancing her. I should have done this much sooner.

 For you homeschooling newbies (as I still am), please learn from my example. I am keeping them together in the subjects that require a lot from me: Science, Social Studies and Reading. The rest are at their own pace. I like them to have enough assigned that they feel challenged, but not frustrated. As we are now working on two curriculums, that means one worksheet of Saxon and two pages of Singapore for Eowynn and 2-3 worksheets and 4-5 pages for Cheridynn. She will hit grade three feeling confident, and probably much sooner than xmas, as I earlier predicted. Eowynn is getting a good head start on grade 2. This just goes to show that we all have a whole lot of learning to do. Especially the teachers…
If you are considering homeschooling, or just beginning, remember this. My daughter is 8 and the repeat of a grade will not likely scar her for life. Be open to change and points from others. We are all learning along the way. Stick it out, and follow your child. You are doing great!
When I get discouraged thinking about the mistakes I notice I am making, and, worse yet; those I am unaware of; I try to focus on moments like this…

The other night Cher was tossing and turning, shouting out in her sleep:
"Mom! Quick! Get your hammer! The storm is coming and their roof is GONE! They have no roof and the storm is coming! Mom! You have to fix it! Get your hammer and help them!"

If in her sleep, my daughter thinks that I am a superwoman who, armed only with a hammer, can rebuild an entire roof before a storm hits, then I am doing something right.

It's an imperfect world.

I am perfectly happy. :)