Homeschool has tested my relationship with my son. I will be honest and say that for the most part I don't like the mother I become when homeschool starts. I know that public school is NOT where my children should be right now. I just know it. If I even think about it, I can't even picture it. I can't picture walking my son to school or seeing him in a public school setting, I can't see myself meeting with another person so they can tell me how my son is progressing in his education. It just feels so foreign to me.
However, I really feel like I am not cut out for all these "methods" that I have been researching. They sound so wonderful and perfect for my son. Especially the Thomas Jefferson Education method. I just don't see how I have the resources and/or "gusto" for it. The Classical Style of Education has proven to be challenging for me, the TJ-Ed method takes so much more commitment. Like I told my husband, I can't be a "mentor" in the way this book suggests I should be. I was public schooled for crying out loud! I was never a big reader of the classics and when they tried to discuss them in school I was completely lost most of the time. I don't believe I was an ignoramus or an idiot, I think the style in which I was "educated" just did NOT work for me.
So yeah, I could read all the classics now, and as the book suggests, read them again whenever one of my children are reading them. But... ARE YOU SERIOUS? I'm a mother, like I have time for that? Getting in daily gospel study and reading books I'm truly interested in is hard enough.
I just want to be mother. That's all. I want to teach my children to be good people, I want to teach them who they are and where they came from and how to get back to our Heavenly Father. I want to play with them and do fun projects with them and go on adventures. I want to be able to give my little ones a good foundation and teach the the pre-school basics, teach them how to read. I plan to have more children. I can't do the TJ-Ed with all of them in the way it is described in the book. I just can't, it is not possible. (The book also talks about getting an outside mentor like George Wythe was for Thomas Jefferson. But uhm... we aren't rich and where would we find someone like that THESE days. Let's get real.)
However, the book has some GREAT concepts that I wish to incorporate, and I've decided that this is what makes homeschooling so grand. I can take parts of whatever methods I like and make them work for us.
For right now, we are still doing the basics. I will be looking into more online options. It is overwhelming to consider how bright W is and how I really don't want his brilliance to go to waste. I pray that we can make the right decisions for him.
You are right, that's what's great about homeschooling, you can incorporate all these wonderful ideas and "methods" and just do what works for you. Just remember, it's still early. I think at pre-K/ Kindergarten age it's important to foster their spirits, and learn through play, and just let them be kids. Ya know? There's plenty of time to figure everything out. Great post!
ReplyDeleteAnna, that is what I think, too. I just love being a laid back mom, and the more pressure's on you, the harder that is to have that happen (this diet is major pressure for me). I've read some contradictory things about TJ Ed. So much to think about.
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