But, there are some fun things happening.
We went to "Inside the orchestra." This is where the orchestra came together for an interactive performance for the kids where they explained the different instruments and how each played differently, they had a dancer dance to one of the songs, and an opera singer sing- it was really neat. The kids really enjoyed it.
Then, something kind of sad happened. When I first started homeschooling 6 1/2 years ago, I researched and researched before settling on Sonlight. I bought two years worth of Sonlight curriculum. Since we now get our curriculum for free through Cloverleaf, I sold our two years of Sonlight. As I was going through the books making sure we had everything, my heart wept a little bit. There are so many wonderful memories from The Isle of Capri, Ginger Pye, Homer Price, Mr. Popper's Penguins, The Little Princess, and dozens and dozens of other books that we have read together. Of course, I can get these books from the library and like I said- I can get them from Cloverleaf to borrow. But, there is something about all those books and all those memories and seeing them move on for another family to enjoy that broke my heart a bit.
The last thing is that I got into a bit of a scuffle with some of my neighbors on Word of Mouth. For the zillionth time, a frantic and worried mom posted about which private pre-school to send her child. Annoyed that this topic gets discussed ad nauseum, I posted: It's preschool. It. Does. Not. Matter.
Well, the heat I got for that one stupid comment was enough that I had to unfollow the group for awhile. People are so psycho about things that simply do not matter! I just want to scream, "Make a choice, and just move forward. Do the things that actually really do matter- read to your kids, eat dinner with them every night, have a large library of books in your home. That's what they need! They do NOT need rigor, homework, private tutors at age 6. Stop wasting your precious time with them fretting and getting ulcers of things that have no bearing on their future success. Instead, go play Candyland and build blanket forts and snuggle on the couch with Charlotte's Web- those are the things that research shows truly help kids in the long run!"
Needless to say, nobody liked my advice. But, it made me so profoundly grateful that we are not involved in that chaotic world. We aren't caught in the hype or the buzz word of the day in education. We just get to live and learn and grow at our own pace doing our own things. And, honestly, as I compare what my kids are learning vs what schooled kids are learning, my kids are doing awesome. I am not one bit worried about their academic success.
One woman who commented on my comment is a "friend" of mine. She did all the things- expensive tutors, private preschool, driving all over town for a charter school because the neighborhood school wasn't good enough. And, guess what? Her kids ended up at BYU-Idaho- a school with a 99.4% acceptance rate. Not exactly reaching for the stars for all of that work to get them to college. My kids will also get into BYU-I, without all of the stress that comes with so many expectations and mountains of homework.
It's heartbreaking to see so many moms fretting so much. It really is a blessing to not have to be involved in that world. My kids are so much happier (and so am I!), and quite frankly better educated, without having to do homework every night or hiring tutors or driving them all over town for the popular school of the hour.
I'm truly grateful for this homeschool life. We fell into it kicking and screaming, but it has been the greatest blessing in our family.
No comments:
Post a Comment