I am not a "Homeschool Superwoman". I was actually called that (accused of it?) by a friend and it really, really hurt my feelings. I should have told her how I felt, but maybe it was meant as a compliment (I hope it was). Homeschooling my children is a priority and I firmly believe "anything worth doing is worth doing well". In all honesty, I cannot imagine any parent not striving for the best possible education for their child/children in whatever form God calls them to (public school, Charter school, Christian school or homeschool). However, if I am a "Homeschool Superwoman" because I spend time, energy and focus on homeschooling Peter and Anne, then I am guilty. I have to "confess" that I am far (very, very far) from perfect and neither are my kids. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. I pray that God can use both for His glory.
My worst fault is that I can be very over-sensitive. I know those of you that know me are in total shock! In addition, when I feel over-whelmed I can be very oblivious to others feelings and can be very "harsh". In short, I can do to others what I don't like done to me. Ouch!
Peter is a gifted and deep thinker with strong leadership skills. He tends to not only understand concepts, but has an incredible way of finding and applying the truths and lessons they contain. He can have incredible focus on things that interest him (history, the Bible and martial arts). However, he has the annoying (to me) habit of not allowing information in his brain if he does not *see* a need for it. As a parent and his teacher, this drives me batty! There are things children just need to know so they can apply it later. An example of this occurred the other evening: Anne was writing a story and wanted a more interesting word for a character she was describing. She commented that she need to go get the Thesaurus. Peter looked up and said "What's a Thesaurus?" with a look of slight panic on his face (?because Anne knew something that he didn't?). Sometimes I wonder how their knowledge base can be so different since they've been in school together with the same teacher their entire school career!!!
Anne is a gifted learner that has an incredible recall, capacity for learning and a thirst for knowledge (with the exception of math...she could be an excellent math student, but has decided that she doesn't like it). Lately, I see this tendency developing into a "know it all" attitude. She is often correct, but sometimes she misunderstands something and will argue that she's right. Even if she is right, she needs to be humble about it. She is also hitting pre-puberty and can sometimes be so moody. Girls just seem to be more emotionally complicated. I'll admit that a "know it all" is one of my pet peeves. I'm hoping this is just a temporary stage...believe me, she gets called on it every time I hear/see it!
As far as homeschooling goes, I am not "perfect" as a teacher. Sometimes:
-my ideas are way too grand
-our projects do not get completed (I confess that we've never actually finished a lapbook or a
History Pocket)
-we start school late (and I created the schedule to begin with!)
-I feel like pulling my hair out when I have to go over things again and again and again
-Anne cries when she does math
-Peter wants to cry because he is not a natural speller (and it's just plain hard work for him)
-our science experiments flop
-I drop (as in stop reading) a Sonlight book because we don't like it (I know you're shocked)
-I'd like to scream when the kids ask to "take a break" 15 minutes into school! (it happened
today...no joke)
-my children are not always "into" school
-I am not always "into" school
There is no doubt that I am not a Superwoman, Supermom or Superhomeschooler!
2 comments:
And I thought I was the only one who'd ever made her daughter cry over math! :-)
Jo is so used to *everything* coming easy to her that when she hits something (like math) that requires work, she melts into a puddle of frustration ... which frustrates me! I used to think that this was a failing on *my* part, but the Lord has really helped me to see that these pieces of my children--the good and the bad--were created in them so as to shape their character. A friend of mine calls them "besetting sins"--the ones that follow you your whole life, like a trap, that you always have to push back behind you. In homeschooling, we get the gift of seeing--and working with--our children's besetting sins every day. Supermom or not ... God is still shaping *us*, too!
It's hard when things usually come easily to a child and then they encounter a challenge. It's good though to have children work through challenges because I've seen a number of very intelligent people grow up and not be able to function (because they come up against challenges??). The best example of this is a friend's brother who was Valevictorian of his high school class, went to Duke University, got out and cannot hold a job down now! Statistics have shown that often it's the average student who becomes the owner of a successful company. I believe this is because they have learned to work because things didn't come easy. This is just my opinion though.
So what I'm saying is that it's good that Jo and Anne have to work at math. Maybe God put this challenge in their lives so that they can understand when others face challenges and to condition their character. I'll have to remember this the next time she's struggling. LOL
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