I am blessed with a whole gamut of children from the littlest Lily who chatters away in an almost incomprehensible but delightful fashion to any who will listen.Daisy who is so oiled in generosity of spirit and empathy that letters,words and instructions slide right off her..to Jack, who if he ever finds out he is smarter than me will run rings around me faster than you could say: Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione,Rhea,Titan, or Lapetus.
Homeschooling did not come naturally to me.I looked through many options before landing here,Mainstream,Private,Denominational,and Alternative.I found for our family whilst there were plenty of promises of "one size can be tailored to fit all" there was much less on the "one size can be tailored to fit all three". The one child I had always assumed would stay at the school he loved became the child who it was clear needed more than could be found.
In searching to solve this conundrum it became apparent that schools either had a fabulously well developed "children who are at educational risk programme" with no provision for extending the talented or gifted students,or vice versa. Negotiating the catchment areas,staggered drop off and pick up times,and the time continuum problems of being in two places at one single moment were challenging too.Even the "Music specialist over Art" or 'Sports over Drama"," library over canteen" just added more weight to the sneaking suspicion that there must be another solution.
Back then the very thought of going down the home education route would have filled me with a splintering horror..what my children?..at home ..every day?.. curriculum?..explaining algebra? The mere thought would have had me racing to a yoga retreat clutching a bottle of vodka.
So I did what any self respecting mother would do and found a sturdy fence that afforded a good but distant view to sit upon and procrastinate for a while.I meticulously weighed options,addressed priorities and investigated possibilities,but mostly, I sat.
I could have sat for a long time I suspect, if another mother had not thrown themselves headlong into the home education arena with all the caution of a fuzzy moth heading towards a 200w bulb I might be still sitting.All the cerebral activity I had channeled was then suddenly cancelled out in that one moment of realization that nothing could be gained or lost without actually acting on it.Her confidence, conviction and rapidity was the catalyst for what followed. 200w lightbulb moment!!! I had to actually do it. In much the same way you cannot wait for your perfect visualization of life to occur,you realize that your perfect life is already here,and your living it,right this second!Nobody needs to validate that for you.(although I would if you requested, for a small fee!)
So here we are Home educating.This first term has been all things, exciting, exhilarating and empowering.The first response that people say is usually "oh I am too selfish to homeschool" or "dont you need you that me time" or even the slightly less emotive "I would kill my kids if they were around all day". I think for me essentially its that the focus is different. It doesnt so much subtract as multiply,I think, like anything, what you see depends of course on where you stand.I have never felt lessened by giving ,my needs are few and I have much more than I need.One of my more spiritual sisters would say the greater power is not to be served but to serve.( although in practice this does not apply to coffee in Yahava where its ALWAYS nice to be served! ) my life is never dull.
This term we have wrangled bees, marveled at feathered dinosaurs, exploded in the colours of Holi, engineered great machines, spoken dolphin, baked cakes, mapped constellations, edited films, animated clay, hatched eggs, explored and challenged gravity, learned languages, and unraveled the secrets of the Fibonacci code, explored the hearts conductivity,and why crocodiles eat stones.We have designed cities, ignited gases, and discovered we were actually swindled out of a few colours in great works of Art.We have looked down microscopes and looked up mine shafts... and thats just the beginning.The drivers for these great learning outcomes came from the most powerful search engine out there.. a child's mind.If we listen, our children have a lot to teach us.
School education is only a tiny part of a whole persons individual learning path.Children learn despite you and because of you.A whole village really does raise a child.You already are educating a human being every second you are present (and even when you are not) Its easier than breathing and we do it instinctively
A school has a duty and a job to educate your children,It can only do the best that its resources allow per capita student and produces as socially and academically well rounded a individual as its resources at any one time allow ,but it is not compelled nor encouraged to love them.Sometimes it is only by loving something you can truly understand it and accommodate it.
The most valuable resources to a child are time,energy,and imagination.
Be curious
Have fun
Grow
If you do not find the circumstances you need,then you go out and channel your energy into creating them.
