Nature walks: Pokemon Go & Plant Identifying!
If you'd have asked me ten years ago if I'd be a homeschooling parent, I would have laughed your ears off. It was a difficult choice for my family, and oddly it had a lot less to do with pandemic than you think, though COVID's timing made it a much easier decision. Schools weren't working for my 7-year-old, and he's been begging to homeschool officially for 18 months now.
So far, so good, but I think that's because the biggest thing I've committed to this year is allowing ourselves grace.
I have hated the public discussion around school because it seems that everyone's defense mechanism is attacking someone else's decision. Everyone feels persecuted, and everyone feels the most persecuted.
I've had multiple people try to convince me to stick with NTI and trust in it, rather than homeschool. Those conversations make me want to shut down and hide in a croft house in the Orkneys for the next 15 years. Other people have told me my kids will be weirdos or that I'm making a bad choice for them. Others have told me I'm making a selfish choice rather than sticking with the community (this, I believe, and it guts me because I firmly believe in community before self, making me question everything about our family's choice).
Basically, every parent is feeling pre-emptively judged.
We have been used to internet shaming since our pregnancy announcements: for breastfeeding too long, for not breastfeeding at all, for having a home birth, for having a Cesarian, for putting photos of our children online, for not posting any photos, for being a stay-at-home-parent, for going back to work too quickly, for being in a "must be nice" position (oh, that one grates at me the most!).
Nothing we do is right, and I know this post is already inflammatory.
I'm trying not to care.
I want to sit here and list every reason we are homeschool: to prove to you, my friends, that I have thought and researched and talked to school psychologists and principals and that I assure you, the decision to homeschool was not made lightly.
I know better. I do not need to justify my choices to anyone.
(But since my closest friends read this, I want you to remember what you know about me: do I do anything without first researching way more than I should? If you don't know me well, then FYI, the answer is: No, I don't.)
2020 was supposed to be the year where I stopped justifying things in my writing. Ha! I'm trying. It's beyond hard for me because my income has always depended on public opinion -- a tricky spot to navigate. I'm trying not to care: this is about my kids.
Anyway, we are LOVING our choice to homeschool. I hope you are LOVING whatever choice you have made, as I'm quite sure you spent long hours discussing and thinking and stressing over it.
I've had several awful years of stress and grief, and since I can't be on tour, it is very nice to explore things with my children. I'm lucky they can read and do independent study. I'm lucky they are delightful and fun to go exploring with. I'm lucky they are eager learners who guide lessons as much as follow them. I am ready to buy an RV and travel the country with them. Or maybe buy that hotel in the Orkneys and move there with them.
This week so far, we've listened fo Beethoven, looked at Impressionist paintings, drawn dragons, built LEGO villages, done laundry, cooked meals, made schedules, explored maps, learned new songs on the piano, coded on the computer (Graham is loving Let's Start Coding!), used Kahn Academy to figure out what grade levels my kids should be mathing, learned algebra while floating in an inflatable pool, done chemistry with pool chlorine, produced videos, and so much more.
I've been working at night (Yes, I still work. Yes, I'm lucky the hours are flexible.). I recorded vocals for someone who lives in Los Angeles. I recorded a song for a TV show for someone who lives in Texas. I performed at a benefit Zoom concert. I made a 6-part splitscreen video of me singing "Cathedrals," which you can see here.
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