So this week has been our first as official homeschoolers. I know many in the homeschool world will tell me I’m not official yet as I don’t have to register till Alex is 6, but he *should* have been somewhere this year. Whether it was the planned early(ish) entry to school or else kinder. Last week I was feeling pretty good about all of this, and whilst I still am certain this is for us, I am reminded of my continued need for deschooling.
Questions like ‘What should we be doing all day?’ and ‘Let’s do an activity for that’ everytime Alex shows the mildest interest in something. I’m even typing in ‘typical unschooling days’ into google after several days of solid TV watching makes me uneasy. Oh no. But it’s ok. I’m just trying to find my groove. And I think about what we have done in the past week. Heaps.
I hear about how homeschoolers have more time, but I don’t feel that way! I have really tried to think about this as I make excuses for my lack of exercise. First off, my kids are still young and needing of my attention. Secondly, I think my kids are more needing of my attention than most others I meet! Is it them? Or me? Or us? I love doing things with them, and I’m ever conscious of ‘cheery neglect’. Or am I trying to make every moment a teachable one? I think this last revelation is critical in my deschooling.
There has been recent financial stress too, and I have found myself working with the kids needing to be in childcare. I’m limiting this to one day per week. So far Alex has seen this as an adventure and is using the new adult in his life as a source of new learning. I miss them terribly when I’m away, and given that I’m relief teaching I also feel the conflict of my beliefs about education with my actions. But it’s interesting too. I see how the school system works, what kids of various ages achieve in a typical day. And everytime I come home I see that school is not for us.