Jun. 3, 2008
Posted in education
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I had one of those conversations today at the park. The sort where you try to explain to non-homeschooling moms how and why you homeschool. Why did I do that? I know better, usually I can see it coming and duck. It started as a compliment, as it usually does. "your children are so great. It must be so hard to homeschool all of them with all the different age levels" For some reason, I found myself explaining how learning comes all in forms, how we do not have to be sitting in front of textbooks to learn and all the fun ways we do things. Oh dear. So then, she very cautiously asks me about testing. (there were a group of moms gathered from our church for a park day.......oh that it could have been a random stranger I will never see again) By now, I can sense the mood around me and my shackles are up. I am a good girl but I am a bit of a rebel too. And very stubborn. "No we don't test" "Doesn't the state require it?" said in the tone of "surely the state monitors these people and their weird ways,please tell me the state monitors......." Very stubbornly and with a touch,just a faint touch of arrogance, I say......"Well, if you are teaching your own children you know where they are. You know how their multiplication skills are coming along, you know how they are reading, how much they know about history. You don't have to have someone else tell you those things".  The conversation ended there with just an "I see". Then she and another mom beside her start talking about the "wonderful" advanced school program the other mom's son is in, and how they worry about burn out but they are watching him very closely and wow,with this program it really takes dedicated parents to make it work for the children, and how great it is that they learn so much,so hard and fast. They are "stage whispering" to each other, but all of us are listening. Dead silence. Everyone knows I am getting spanked. LOL but not LOL. Eventually, probably only those eternal two minutes that last forever, the conversation resumes again. We start talking about babies.  Honestly,when she starts talking about "learning so much so hard and fast", I thought "what the ***mild swear word that is found in the Bible*** point is that?" Our gentle sort of rambling ways...........my children know Shakepeare and medieval Europe, they read books like Ivanhoe, Don Quixote, Les Miserables, Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, The Scarlett Letter just for fun. They know American History.....not just what happened but the ideals our country was founded upon. They know what the founding fathers were aiming for and why. They have read the Constituion. We never studied spelling or grammar but they are all gifted writers who mastered the language through literature and writing and being corrected. They know science.......wow,do they know science. They constantly surprise me, their ps taught, college graduate mom with their understanding of the laws of science and how it affects and explains the world. And.......... They know how to cook. They know art. They know music....classical, jazz, 80's new wave and 70's folk (LOL....I have warped them). They know mechanics....how to fix things and create new machines. They all play musical instruments. I know I am getting defensive, but my shackles are still up...........what the heck more could have been gained by pushing them hard and fast? I know much of this is from different lifestyles. I have very deliberately chosen a different path for my family and in so doing, turned my back on many of the things that are so important to them. More than just if my children learn at school or at home. The pace of our life is different, the things we fill our time with are different. Except for the technology buzzing around us, we are living a life from a different time, more like Edwardian England (I am thinking Mary Poppins...........maybe Little House On The Prairie is more accurate) I guess maybe I made them feel defensive too. Which I would not have truly wanted to do. Ultimately it is sad.......at least I think so from my perch. I love our rambling days............ |
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