EDUCATION RELAXATION

One of my friends asked how our school year was going. This was my answer to her...

I had grand visions for this school year which have not panned out due to health issues and other stresses. But that’s OK.. After 8 years of homeschooling I have learned to be about as relaxed as one could be without actually being asleep…..( if only I could sleep I might not be dealing with the aforementions health issues!) I have learned to not fret about grade level.. I am more concerned about Cody level and Dillon level. If they are working hard and progressing, I can’t ask anything more. I have learned not to fret about missing anything. I know that learning takes place 24/7.. (yes, even while we sleep we can learn.. The Bible says Young men will dream dreams… I wish I could dream dreams.. sleep deprivation hurts…) There is not a magic window where we have to cram everything we can down their throats or else it will be lost forever never to be learned. No, in some ways, I feel as if my job is done… Our home has an atmosphere that has instilled an excitement for learning and with that, nothing can be missed. If they run into something they don’t know, they know how to find out more. If they don’t run into it, it was never worth fretting over. Now, all I have to do is continue to expose them to new and wonderful things and see what happens. It’s like fireworks. Some things might be duds… but something might spark a brilliant explosion full of color! The chemistry just has to be right.

My relaxed ways have really paid off this year. Dillon, who has had such a hard time learning to read, suddenly blossomed. I cannot take any credit for it other than not making a big deal about his not being on grade level. Suddenly, he just began to read. I wish I could say it was because we finally started a new program, or we stopped using that curriculum.. No, he just got ready and he did it. And he owns it. It’s his accomplishment, not mine. He is so proud he reads everything he can. When we go out, he reads every sign along the way. And it is beautiful music to drive to. Dillon is also making headway with his speech. He started a pretty intensive speech therapy regimen through Children’s Medical Center. He loves it and looks forward to it every week.

Cody.. what can I say about Cody. He is doing well in school, but still frustrates me quite a bit because he ssems to get so easily distracted. His math papers are 25% answers, 75% doodles. But, the thing is.. with the doodles he gets his answers right. Without the doodles, he can’t answer one question. So it's a case of the right brain working to wake the left brain up to get going. I guess it’s not really distraction after all. This is something we might have to work on soon. I’m not sure his boss in the future will appreciate little doodled robots all over his reports… unless of course.. he designs robots for a living! Right now, he is busy trying to figure out how to make New Orleans a floating city. He is quite concerned that history will repeat itself if they just fix the levees and let everyone come back home. He has an idea that if the water level rises, so should the city. It’s been very interesting to hear his ideas on the subject. Some are quite cartoonish but others could actually be viable with a little tweaking.

Well, that's a little bit about our year so far… It’s kind of fun to go back and re-read and see what has gone right. Some days my mindset is stuck on what’s going wrong.. but the truth is, it’s not really going wrong.. it’s just a part of the journey!