Schooling on the Homefront
Well, I never thought the time would come. J and I have tossed around the idea here and there for years, but today was the day. Today was the day we withdrew T from public school and began the journey of homeschooling.
This has been a long time coming. The situation at school this year started off poorly and has only continued to deteriorate. Hopefully T will regain his love of learning, and his feelings of self-worth will improve by being schooled at home. For me, most of the day has alternated between periods of exhilaration and nausea. On one hand, I think this could be such a wonderful opportunity for not just T but our entire family, but I can't help admit that the prospect of homeschooling scares the living daylights out of me. Can I really do this? Are we doing it for the right reasons? Will Tristan love it or hate it? Will I love it or hate it? The questions today were neverending.
We'll have a period of deschooling, and I'm really not sure how long that will be. A few weeks? A month? Maybe much longer? Most of that will be dependent on T - how quickly he is able to let go of his feelings toward the school and the ways he has been taught in the past. I have a feeling it will take me longer to deschool than T. I have a lot of anger to deal with in regards to the school.
This first evening of "freedom" was incredibly busy for T. After school we headed to Blockbuster to find a few movies and then to JoAnn's for some burlap. T's latest movie craze centers around "Batman Begins", and he was determined to make a Scarecrow mask, modeled after one of the villains in the movie. He was eager to start this project, but I had him put it on hold temporarily so I could watch "LOST." While I indulged myself watching my favorite program, T entertained himself by listening to "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" and playing with his Star Wars figures.
We then started on the mask. So here we are, 9:00 at night, hunched over the sewing machine I can barely use, trying to make a mask from a length of burlap. T successfully made quite a nice replica of the Scarecrow mask, with very little help from me. Of course, we then had to watch bits and pieces of "Batman Begins" in order to compare T's mask to the real thing. He has a few alterations in mind that we will complete tomorrow.
This has been a long time coming. The situation at school this year started off poorly and has only continued to deteriorate. Hopefully T will regain his love of learning, and his feelings of self-worth will improve by being schooled at home. For me, most of the day has alternated between periods of exhilaration and nausea. On one hand, I think this could be such a wonderful opportunity for not just T but our entire family, but I can't help admit that the prospect of homeschooling scares the living daylights out of me. Can I really do this? Are we doing it for the right reasons? Will Tristan love it or hate it? Will I love it or hate it? The questions today were neverending.
We'll have a period of deschooling, and I'm really not sure how long that will be. A few weeks? A month? Maybe much longer? Most of that will be dependent on T - how quickly he is able to let go of his feelings toward the school and the ways he has been taught in the past. I have a feeling it will take me longer to deschool than T. I have a lot of anger to deal with in regards to the school.
This first evening of "freedom" was incredibly busy for T. After school we headed to Blockbuster to find a few movies and then to JoAnn's for some burlap. T's latest movie craze centers around "Batman Begins", and he was determined to make a Scarecrow mask, modeled after one of the villains in the movie. He was eager to start this project, but I had him put it on hold temporarily so I could watch "LOST." While I indulged myself watching my favorite program, T entertained himself by listening to "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" and playing with his Star Wars figures.
We then started on the mask. So here we are, 9:00 at night, hunched over the sewing machine I can barely use, trying to make a mask from a length of burlap. T successfully made quite a nice replica of the Scarecrow mask, with very little help from me. Of course, we then had to watch bits and pieces of "Batman Begins" in order to compare T's mask to the real thing. He has a few alterations in mind that we will complete tomorrow.
posted by Nomadic Dreamers | 12:04 AM
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