The Long Overdue Series of Posts on Home Educating My Children part 4
The Flip Side:
On the other hand, I loved that we were missing out on so many headaches my school going relatives and friends were dealing with. Too much homework, no time together as a family, conflicts with schools and teachers, lots and lots of handing over parental authority to the schools and noxious peer influences. By and large, I was pleased with what my kids were able to do. One daughter, currently a freshman, had read every book we had. I used to have to discipline her by taking away say, Jane Eyre, so she would clean her room. She taught herself how to bake wonderfully. She experimented in the kitchen quite a bit, and played around with music and math, but had lots of empty pages in her various workbooks. But learning was exciting to her, and she was a very interesting person to be around.
The little kids were behind, but were making steady progress and they were such pleasant, pleasant kids. They were complimented frequently by their choir teachers, their CCD teachers and any other adults they came into contact with. So far, so good. Now to get them up to grade level.
The year my eldest son was away at school, and I was pregnant, was a great year. My husband, while away much of the time, was working and our home life was more steady. We had a "system", the older girls and I kept it going and there were no pesky men around to mess it up. But oh, the cost. We saw my husband every other week. My son, while we spoke weekly, had some experiences at school that broke my heart, yet made him mature and confidant. But he was also homesick and miserable. He was determined to stick it out, however, and by the end of the school year he was doing well, but didn't want to go back.
I couldn't make him go back, as we had said, "Give it a year, and then we'll go from there." And he wanted to be home. We agreed.
(More to come!)
On the other hand, I loved that we were missing out on so many headaches my school going relatives and friends were dealing with. Too much homework, no time together as a family, conflicts with schools and teachers, lots and lots of handing over parental authority to the schools and noxious peer influences. By and large, I was pleased with what my kids were able to do. One daughter, currently a freshman, had read every book we had. I used to have to discipline her by taking away say, Jane Eyre, so she would clean her room. She taught herself how to bake wonderfully. She experimented in the kitchen quite a bit, and played around with music and math, but had lots of empty pages in her various workbooks. But learning was exciting to her, and she was a very interesting person to be around.
The little kids were behind, but were making steady progress and they were such pleasant, pleasant kids. They were complimented frequently by their choir teachers, their CCD teachers and any other adults they came into contact with. So far, so good. Now to get them up to grade level.
The year my eldest son was away at school, and I was pregnant, was a great year. My husband, while away much of the time, was working and our home life was more steady. We had a "system", the older girls and I kept it going and there were no pesky men around to mess it up. But oh, the cost. We saw my husband every other week. My son, while we spoke weekly, had some experiences at school that broke my heart, yet made him mature and confidant. But he was also homesick and miserable. He was determined to stick it out, however, and by the end of the school year he was doing well, but didn't want to go back.
I couldn't make him go back, as we had said, "Give it a year, and then we'll go from there." And he wanted to be home. We agreed.
(More to come!)
posted by Renee at Thursday, September 30, 2010
2 Comments:
This is a fascinating series.
(a giggly side note - I've been amusing myself coming up with Jane Ayre jokes, but it is spelled Eyre)
Oops, you are correct, of course. I have a friend with the other spelling and slipped out of habit. I guess I should change it, eh?
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