Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Confessions of a Weird, Christian, Homeschooling Mother

Today was our homeschool class with the Disapproving Christian Mothers (see earlier blog, ‘Am I Really That Weird?’). I intentionally wore a t-shirt sporting a drug reference, just to see if I could irritate them further. I mean, if my very presence is annoying, I might as well and really piss them off thoroughly. Really, it’s for their own good, I’m just trying to push them over the edge so maybe they repent of their snobbiness and are actually obedient to Christ’s command to love your neighbor, even the weird ones (that last part is my own addition, but I think it can be safely extrapolated from general biblical teachings.) Unfortunately, I don't think anyone caught the 'Feed Your Head' scrawled underneath Alice and the hookah-smoking caterpillar. Sucks.

Anyway.

We’re having a week off school. I do four weeks on, one week off, with a different ‘theme’ each four weeks. This last month we focused on spelling and math. Now we’re going to switch to geography and art, while still working on some grammar and math review and, of course, reading. I always struggle with the feeling that ‘I’m not doing enough!’ and attempt to force-feed too much information into my poor children’s heads. I have to continually remind myself: they are smart, they are learning, and they are children! I also have to admit that a good portion of my anxiety about their learning stems from my own temptation to show-off how smart my kids are. Eek, how despicable. Our hearts are so black….

2 comments:

On a fools hope said...

I love this blog. Every homeschool group I have been to has given me the cold shoulder- I see myself as a normal person but then I am reminded of the words " there is no normal life, there's just life", so I suppose that applies to people as well. Point being what I see as normal they see as ghastly.
Hmmmm, I also love the 4 weeks off, one week on idea. I might have to start that to save my sanity. I have decided to switch math curriculums, though not sur what to yet-any recomendations?
I love your t-shirt.

Phvern said...

thanks maggie :) i appreciate your encouragement, and I am glad to know 'it's not just me'.

I am using Miquon math right now, which is entirely hands-on and creative, and then writing up my own supplements for more practice- like a sheet of addition, etc. We've tried several things and like this way best. Miquon is cheap, too, like $5 for each workbook, but it can be confusing to use, b/c it doesn't follow a typical math route. You can't just work through one page at a time, as you do other curriculum. It uses the cuisenaire rods a lot, too.