Epiphany

Hubby and I were talking about some of the things we want to accomplish with school next year. Yes, I have to plan. I'm a planner. The funny thing is, once I have a plan, I usually end up chunking it and flying by the seat of my pants. The problem with that is that I usually end up showing my a$$. As long as I have an initial plan, an idea of where I want to get, the avenue to get there seems less important to me. It's more about the destination and the adventure of the journey and less about the vehicle I take. Then I had interesting conversations with some friends at the baby's dance class last night about curriculum and freebie websites. And then the question from one of the other moms made me reprioritize what we are doing.

This mom is going to school to become a teacher. She is not one of the moms that I usually hang out with, but I am friendly with. Her voice sort of annoys me so I have to take her in small doses. I know, that is wrong on so many levels, but walk a mile. She asked the question that makes me shake and quiver: "What would happen if you ever had to put your kids in public school?" That question had so many emotions running through me all at once. First there was anger. Absolutely no way in H-E-double hockey sticks will I ever do that. Then a little disappointment showed up. What if something did happen that made that a necessity? Would all the great things that we have worked so hard for go down the drain? There were many more questions that I don't have the time or inclination to post. Frankly, that is a discussion for the other blog and one I'm not willing to even think about right now. My response was that they would test my kids and decide where they should go, what grade level they should be on. Then they would get stuck in whatever grade their ages say they should be in regardless of their abilities.

All of that to say, we have changed our focus for next year. We have changed what we thought we were going to do and are focusing on what we can do. The busyness of our lives has led to alot of car schooling. Or some days we don't get done what we should so we clump it together with the next day's work. Or we work extra hard to get the work done early. That just leads to so much more stress. We all need more stress in our lives don't we? It makes a body healthy. Or not. We have come up with a plan. This is all contingent on our activities next year. I need to find out what days we will dance before we write anything in pen. I don't write anything in pen, who am I kidding? As a flyer, everything is done in pencil. Other than curriculum, nothing is set in stone in this house. Even our home has wheels.

We are not doing science and history every day. We don't have to. That is just one more thing that bogs us down. That is part of our "together" stuff. We have Tuesday co-op and veggie co-op and that's two days I know will be hectic and long. That can, and often does, change the plan for the day. I was trying to go extra light on those days when it came to lesson planning. It worked some days, but mostly it just didn't work. Or, if we are really enjoying what we are doing with science and history, we'll take a break from math or language arts. It's all about flexibility. If we need to not do school on a Thursday, then we do school on Saturday. Or skip Thursday all together. It's about finding what works for us.

My friend M was a little concerned that she wasn't doing what was right for her kids. We have had many conversations about how she schools them. Life is school is a favorite mantra for me. The biggest problem was that I wasn't living it. I wasn't walking the walk and talking the talk. It's time to start walking and talking. It is just as important to teach my kids how to get through life with joy and love and confidence than how to do geometric equations. Life is about quality and not quantity. I think all the "experts" on education have spent way too much time inside brick buildings and not enough time outside living life.

I am looking forward to more quality and less quantity. I am looking forward to teaching my kids about life. I am looking forward to talking the talk and walking the walk. I wonder if that's a good enough excuse for hubby for me to buy a new pair of shoes? Probably not.

Have a great day!