Home schooling? - not and retain my sanity

Good morning Nicole

Have I thought about home schooling?

We were talking about it on BB at least one time. I was staunchly defending home schoolers while saying I didn't think I could do it. I have three girls at three different stages of their education with three very different personalities and learning problems. They don't even do homework at the same table terribly well. I've tried. Go to your separate corners, everybody.

I could possibly home school one but which one? Rebecca, probably. The other two are learning disabled in one form or another and the schools are, for the most part, doing a good job. Rebecca is bright but has some other problems. Not quite ADHD, but leaning that way. She may have a mild form of cerebral palsy as well which can sometimes affect learning. She was a toe walker; we casted her legs and feet for six weeks and the toe walking resolved itself but they still think she might be very slightly disabled. Her brain shows some "abnormalities" they say which might be indicative of c.p. She was a two pounder so it wouldn't surprise me. She's the one who might fall through the cracks and the one I hadn't given as much home help. Elcie and I work almost every evening, although she's become more independent and Rochelle is a self starter who could actually do more difficult work than she's being assigned. That's okay. She came close to totally shutting down in first grade. We don't want that to happen again. She doesn't need pushing, she needs easily achieved goals to maintain her self confidence. We'll move the bar for her an inch at a time.

Rebecca is so independent I didn't realize how bad the math struggle had become. I think the reason she was fibbing about the homework (or part of the reason) was that she didn't want to admit she was floundering. When we work together, the first 10 minutes are spent saying "focus, Rebecca" and dragging her attention back to the printed page. The rest of the time is repetition and explanation. I write as I talk and draw pictures and she writes. I don't care about the stupid standardized tests; my goal is for her to understand the math that's in front of her before she goes on to the next. Somehow in the schools, tests have become more important than education.

Now that Rebecca has hit me over the head with her problem, the best solution seems to be to make it a longer school day for her. We'll have to sit together most afternoons or evenings and sludge through math. Some days will take longer than others. I'm teaching her the old fashioned way I learned; I wouldn't know where to begin any other way. The school may just have to live with that for now. I think once she gets into a study pattern at home, the pieces may fall into place at school as well. They'd better because the high schools are teaching much more advanced math than I ever studied and I don't know at my age if I can pick up on it enough to teach. On the bright side, a friend here who is a former teacher (and another flaming liberal in this conservative town) has offered to pitch in if I start floundering myself.

The absolute truth, much as I hate to admit it, is that at 67 I honestly don't think I have the patience or stamina to put in a full school day with Rebecca. At the end of two hours, I'm absolutely drained and so is she. I may be much too detail oriented (at least where math is concerned) for a six hour stretch. My personality and teaching style works better in short spurts. And that's not factoring in two other little girls, a daughter with cancer, and a semi-invalid husband who need me as well.

That being said, I think home schooling is a wonderful alternative for those who can do it. It's odd how the pendulum swings. The only grannie I remember had been a teacher in a one room schoolhouse before she married who had little more formal education than her students. Much of what they learned was taught at home by their mothers in between farming and household chores. She taught me to play the piano from her Baptist hymnals. I still have three of them; they're over one hundred years old now. Wonderful, loving, salt of the earth woman. When my Carol, now 49, was little and even beyond, parents were largely discouraged from "interfering" for fear of confusing the kids. Now we're heading back in a parental involvement/home schooling direction again.

Kids just headed for school. Roller skating Parent Teacher fund raiser tonight - maybe. They're begging. Now that their mom's around more, maybe she'll supervise. She skates. The last time I was on a pair of roller skates was as a teenager and I wasn't all that great even then. I'm better on the ice. This is my goof off, play some cards with my friend morning. We play a stupid double solitaire called "Spite and Malice". It requires no brain power at all, merely vindictiveness.

Thanks for stopping by Nicole. Aren't you glad you helped shove me into a blog so I can really run my mouth?