Sunday, August 27, 2006

Family Life

Hi again, just wanted to say that I have submitted to The Carnival of Family Life, this week it is being hosted at Everything Under the Moon. Be sure to check it out, I love that the entries have be divided up into categories! A little sumthin' for everyone.

Speaking of family life, I was thinking today of the modern day dilemma: To home school, or not home school. Let me just say that I wrestled with the idea and found that I feared I lacked the intelligence and patience to commit. Anna and love each other very much, but I just couldn't imagine the two of us being able to stay on track and not be short tempered with each other. Anna is very much like me in that she has a short attention span and becomes frustrated easily... don't even get me started on stubbornness!

I have had several people poo-poo the idea that I lack the mental capacities to home school, I guess that is just the "you'll never amount to anything" coming out. I just want my kids to have the best, and as far as education, I just don't feel capable. Now, if my husband wanted to home school, I would have no problem with that. Well, except for the fact that I would have to hold down 3 1/2 jobs to make what he does.

As I said before, I love her so much it hurts. The flip side is we are so much a like, we drive each other to drink (milk of course, preceded by vast and furious amount of chocolate consumption). Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and we literally have bowled each other over with love when I picked her up from kindergarten the first 2 days of school.

I will continue home schooling in my own way... just today we 3 gals enjoyed an art class together in our very own dining room. I was able to share my knowledge of one of the things she and I love the most- art. I explained how to identify basic shapes in still life arrangements- breaking the subject down in to geometrical shapes such as squares, circles and triangles. I taught her how to change those basic shapes into 3 dimensional objects with the use of various grades of shading. And finally, I taught her the value of "negative space", and how to use it to draw the subject matter. We had a lot of fun, and Anna drew and shaded her first cube. Meanwhile, Emma scratched and scribbled away happily with green and orange crayons. I was such the proud mama bear!

I just realized that in many ways , Anna has home schooled me. She has shown me how to be the mom I wanted to be, by loving me despite my faults.

I think I my decision is based on what I felt was best for Anna, and thinking about our art class makes me feel better about my decision. I guess my point is that even though I have handed over the majority of her schooling to better and more patient teachers than I, I am still a mom, and I won't ever stop sharing my knowledge with my kids. More now, less later as they decide that they are smarter than me. *smile*

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

First of all, thank you for the backlink to the carnival.

Secondly, yes, you will always be a teacher in her eyes.

Mary said...

No problem, I just have to remind myself because I forget. Mommy brain...

Thanks, I haven't always taught her good things (she has this knack for absorbing my bad habits), but I am tryng to make up for that.

Dominique said...

Hey, thanks for the link :)

After a summer of agonizing, I've recently decided not to homeschool. I love the idea so much, but I am a terrible self-starter. I'm afraid that if I didn't have to get up and walk my daughter to school each day, I'd never get out of my pajamas. It was really her who made the decision. She loves school so much and pleaded desperately with me to go. So next Tuesday will be her first day (first grade) of public school. I'm still tentative, but I'm sure this will be an exciting year.

Robin said...

I will continue home schooling in my own way

Mert, that's a GREAT point! I truly see our children't school partnering with me (and my husband) in "educating" our kids. It's not just about academics, it's about LIFE!

This decision is such a personal one, and it's definitely one that must consider the best interest of both mom (parent) and child; obviously, you have not come to the conclusion you choose lightly. Any residual guilt you feel is of the false variety--don't let anyone (or anything) make you second guess this decision.

...no one ever taught me about "negative space" ;).

Thanks for all your kind words at Pensieve :). I'm enjoying getting to know you and bookmarked your page.

Robin said...

bummer...I just saw two typos in the last post...it's easier to acknowledge it here rather than delete and re-write (lol). Next time I guess I'll preview :/

Mary said...

Dominique, I know exactly what you mean. I just commented the other day on another blog that my 5 yr old asked me if my favorite outfit was my night gown. *giggle*

Thanks Robin (of the feet pic, lol), I am really enjoying getting to know you too! :O)

Mary said...

Robin, don't worry... the Typo Fairy gets the best of us all sometimes. :D