tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2157248190184333058.post30586642644164048..comments2023-03-24T08:45:18.433-07:00Comments on irrational introspections on motherhood: The homeschool journey part 2. What On Earth Am I Doing?Lynnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13652899589355826482noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2157248190184333058.post-36631226280221175162011-02-07T18:32:22.249-08:002011-02-07T18:32:22.249-08:00As a CRAZY HIDEOUSLY organized person with two chi...As a CRAZY HIDEOUSLY organized person with two children who have yet to figure out how brilliant they are, I SO get what you're saying. It took us 7 hours to produce a paragraph and I just couldn't let them stop until we had one. I needed to be able to look back on the day and demonstrate that we accomplished one thing today that was due....wait for it.....last week! And it's still not done. I don't know who cries more at my house, the kids or me. Where's the pee closet and my book?Michelle Mitchellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03570048578692964063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2157248190184333058.post-53059869763876245812010-11-15T02:29:34.129-08:002010-11-15T02:29:34.129-08:00Lynne,
I’ve just almost wept over your latest blo...Lynne,<br /><br />I’ve just almost wept over your latest blog. Were you crying as you wrote it?<br />I knew right from the start, that if anyone could make a success of home-schooling, you could. I also knew right from the start that you wouldn’t find it easy. As you say, if the trained Special Eds people can’t....<br />But of course, you have something more. As a mother/teacher, you know your children as individuals far more intimately than the “experts”. And you have your own level of training - a few years back, yes, as far as the formal training goes, but you’ve been learning how to be a mother/teacher for the past 16 years. And, as a grandparent who occasionally observes at close hand, and at other times at a distance, I can say your training shows.<br />Another thought: imagine the situation if, all those years ago, you had, by some miracle, managed to get your maths certificate. You would have gone on to get a teaching post somewhere in the UK, and become a successful teacher, having to get up at an unearthly hour every morning to be at your desk by another unearthly hour. You would have had a class of 25 - 30 children, of fairly mixed ability, and you would be sweating over how you were going to provide the right motivation to help these children to progress to the level that was laid down for them by the authorities. Which authorities? Well, there’s the Government, to start with; the local Education Authority (whatever that’s called - I forget, it changes so often); The School Governors (what do they know, I ask myself?); The Head Teacher; the parents...<br />Perhaps the miracle was that you didn’t get your maths certificate, which enabled you to give up the prospect of a teaching career - all those years ago - to restart it now with your own little class, in the sure knowledge that you can, and will, make a go of it. Your last sentence says it all.<br />The only problem I can see, is that they insist on teaching math, instead of maths.malcolm watsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06538316552162867070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2157248190184333058.post-26345600867599381522010-11-15T00:10:49.187-08:002010-11-15T00:10:49.187-08:00Well, Lynne, I'm speechless! As another disor...Well, Lynne, I'm speechless! As another disorganized person, I can't imagine doing this. But then, I have a madly sociable straightforwardly academic child, who would shoot herself if I told her I was going to be ALL of her teachers. I have a very ambivalent relationship with her "masters of the universe" London private school, and am sure someone could be doing a more interesting job. In the back of my mind, I suspect the entire educational system is idiotically out of date and reductive, and leaves many children behind. But learn enough physics to teach her? HELP!<br />I admire what you're doing (do you have to teach all three???) especially with a child who the schools have failed. Is it a good solution? Who knows. I'm sure you'll all learn a lot as you go along. And there's no one road in life. I've seen kids who are systematically crushed, year after year, at school -- and at perfectly "good" creative, caring schools. Good luck with what you're doing. I guess the main thing is to listen to your kids. They'll tell you when it's not working!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com