Now, I know I've been lamenting the same thing for the last few days. Do I really have enough patience for this???? What was I thinking?? But it's not homeschooling I'm doubting - it's the three kids with no family around to help me out. And the fact that I think I really want a fourth... am I crazy?
The answer is no, I am NOT crazy. What's crazy is those people who just go insane over choosing a Kindergarten. Oh my God. Insanity. I was talking to this lady at gymnastics today and she had just received her acceptance letter to this charter school in our area (I think it's a charter, anyway) and she was just going ballistic. The husband of another mom there is a teacher there so this woman was just getting bombarded with questions. KINDERGARTEN people, KINDERGARTEN. She liked this school better than traditional schools because the building were circular. "It helps the children focus better." Ummm, yeah.
Of course she asked me where Cameron was going to school. One of these days, I'm just going to say, "Shadowlight Academy. It's a very exclusive private school focusing on classical education in a nurturing environment." ROFL, but I didn't. I told her we homeschool and she came back with the ever-so-typical "I considered that, but I just don't have the patience for it." Do you ever notice that the people who say that are the ones who seem to have the almost fanatical patience to redirect their children away from anything and everything that could possibly hurt them? Like other children. Or air.
Don't get me wrong, she was a very nice woman and we had a great conversation, but if she would put half the effort into homeschooling as she was putting into finding just the right preschool/kindergarten/grade school/high school/ etc. then she would have so much less stress in her life. I don't get why people think it is so hard, lol. We spent a lot of time talking about why the public school system is so flawed and our own horrible school memories and then she asked me if I was ever planning on "integrating them back into the system" like they're damaged now or something. I stammered something about community college classes in high school, but I just don't get it. Why would I want them in a school system I that I think is so flawed?
You know, now that I think about it the reason I homeschool is that I don't have enough patience. I don't have the patience to put up with a system that I don't believe in. I don't have the patience to wait around for the school to get around to the materials that my children are interested in. I don't have the patience for bureaucracies. I don't have the patience to wait for them to all even out around 4th grade, like I've heard ps kids do. I just don't have the patience to live my life any other way than the way I believe is right. Call me crazy. ;)
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Not enough patience?
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5 comments:
Right on!
Seriously, at work today, there was a woman talking to the annoying secretary about how important it is to make sure your kids are in the "right" kindergarten. Annoying secretary mentioned I have a school-age kid, so I got the 3rd degree. I don't know if the buildings in the "right" kindergarten are round, though the Waldorf school I visited once was very specific about color use in the rooms.
No, you're not crazy. I admire you for having three (and considering 4) kids. We talked about having more, but 2 seems to be right for us.
And a resounding yes to the last paragraph in your blog. I lack that kind of patience too!
Hi Jenny! So now I've found your blog too, and I'm so glad. I love this post. You "speak to my condition", as we Quakers sometimes say. ;o) I'll recall it next time my patience seems to be getting thin!
Stephanie
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this post! On a week where I was wondering if I would ever develop the patience to balance two in home education, you spoke to my heart. That last paragraph says it all. Thanks again!
well said! I always say a silent thank you when conversations swirl around me about school and all the stresses. I'll take my lack of patience some days over trying to figure out 4 differnt school calenders with 4 different teachers any day. very well written post.
First of all I know I don't have enough patience to homeschool to my ideals, or even what I'd consider adequate many days, but it grows. I recently read a great book about parenting...the angle was that it's as much about helping us to become the people we are to be as it is about caring for our children.
If we say "I'm not patient enough", no that's not good enough...but it is ok to admit that and then grow. On the flip side, are children aren't random accidents...they have us, in all of our impatience, to help mold them into who they are going to be.
Probably less profound than I read it, but it's where I'm at so it spoke deeply to me. And that thought is a mantra on my bad days....just grow and learn from it, don't wallow in it. ; )
Now that I've rambled I'll get to the point...great post! I think people start to cling to everything that's "better" about their school because it's how they feel they've invested KWIM?
My sister has a fetish about "knowing someone" in a administrative position for her son. She is sending him to a school where he'll have to do the latch key thing (he is in middle school at least) because she "knows someone" there. In her mind this busy person is going to "look out for him". On one hand I mock her (and it's fun, LOL) but on the other hand I think that's probably how I'd be if I couldn't homeschool. I'd certainly want some investment in a process I was largely shut out of KWIM?
It's the people who've never met the teacher personally, or never set a foot in the classroom (and there are plenty of those) that are really the rub.
Rambling...let's see if I can actually post it now!
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