Charted out the week for the coming school year and I see that there are about 18 realistic hours per week to devote to individual or group attention to the kiddo. How to use the time is the question. It seems the best thing to do in order to both relieve stress and guilt and eventually get something done, is to lay out the possibilities of subjects we can work on and then take a deep breath and make some sort of decision.
I started reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" to my eleven year old. I was asked by my mother-in-law why I was reading to her since she should be reading to me. The explanation again was that the amount of learning we get from the conversations we have is exponential compared to any sort of text book I might do with her. That book in particular is very rich in information between the lines, that in the first chapter alone we talked for over an hour as we progressed through. Win.
I will most likely need to do more of this sort of learning this year with the kids as breathing alone around here is a challenge at best at times. I enjoy this sort of time with them anyway. Now to science out what that will be and resist the temptation to compare myself to the overachiever moms in my life.
Do you realize that many moms think YOU are the overachieving mom? (Funny, isn't it, when we see what schmucks we are?)
ReplyDeleteGood luck with schooling this year. I always have a hard time when somebody is looking over my shoulder, noticing exactly what it is we're doing for "school." It's one thing to do what is good for our kids' education in the privacy of our homes, knowing what we've learned in many years of studying education (through books, magazines, conferences, and our own little "labs"). It's another thing to have somebody else watching, especially when they Believe that conventional methods are The Only Way to educate a kid.
Love ya, dear. I wish we could hang out and commiserate. But there are children and chores to tend to....