Home Schooling Report #1: September
Oct. 1st, 2005 07:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ciroccojLet's make it clear from the beginning that I took on home schooling as a Let's See If It Works kind of project, not as This Is The Way It Is From Now On. Whenever anybody asks, I tell them we're trying it out for one year, and taking it from there. And whether we continue or not depends on many things: Daniel's preference, my preference, how well Daniel does with his schoolwork, how well I do with my schoolwork, how Justin and Chris are affected by it, how Chris and I are affected as a couple, the impact on Daniel's behaviour, our financial situation, etc etc etc.
And I know that we won't really know any of the above until the year is done. I'm trying to be observant and weigh what I see in light of all of the above and not make up my mind before I have all the facts and yadda yadda yadda.
But. We have now survived one month of home schooling, and I think it's OK to make a few generalizations about how it's going so far - or at least, how I feel about it so far. And the fact is, one month in, I'm kind of mad at myself.
. I'm kind of mad at myself for not having done this sooner. Like, three years ago.
I know there were good reasons for sending Daniel to school for those three years, and my feelings don't even mean that I think, in hindsight, that we were wrong to do so. I think we all learned a lot in those three years, and I don't just mean the French that Daniel learned or the 1.9 years of law school that I did, although both are very important. I'm also thinking about how we learned what he's like in large group settings, and how he learned a lot about putting up with other people and (trying) to have some kind of self-discipline, and all of that.
But I look at him working at home and see him pretty happy and calm and compare it to how stressed he often seemed at school, and there's no comparison. There's a lot of qualifying statements - he was often very happy with school, and he's sometimes lonely and bored at home, for example - but overall I just get a much better vibe off him these days. He's interested in (most of) what he's learning. He chatters away when we're working in the same room, and I often have to redirect him to get back to his work and let me get on with mine, but often the chatter turns into something interesting, for both of us. More information about something that's interesting to him. Unexpected insight into what he's thinking or feeling. Jokes. A sidebar into some lesson that wasn't planned, but that suddenly seems a propos.
His schoolwork is impressing the heck out of me, too. In math he's almost done grade 3. In English, he's reading like a demon and understanding everything he reads. In French he's getting back into the swing of things, although we're both a little disturbed at how much he's forgotten. Spanish is going well. Music and art are not his fortes, but he's attacking both with more enthusiasm than I thought he'd show. Science comes as naturally as breathing to him. Social studies seems to be holding his interest, and although he doesn't talk about it to me, I've overheard him telling Chris and Justin stuff he's learned during the week.
He's also eating better. That was one reason (not a major one, but I did think about it a bit) that I wanted him home; he's always been very small and skinny, and he's never been a good eater, and he's often too spaced out to remember to eat when it's time to eat. I didn't feel great about sending a skinny kid to school, where nobody would be there to remind him to eat his lunch. Nor did I feel great about the number of times he brought his lunch back untouched. At home, he sits and eats. Food = better health.
I'm feeling a lot more relaxed and content too. I thought I would miss law school and extended introvert-time. I don't. I'm happy to be at school on Mondays, and often think longingly of spending some time vegging out on the computer, but overall I don't really think about it because what's going on at the moment, whether it involves being out with both boys, or actively teaching Daniel, or just studying/reading in the same room together, is wonderful.
As for the impact on Justin and Chris, or on Chris and I as a couple, that's a little harder to judge. Justin seems happy going to school four days of the week, and happy being home almost every afternoon and all day Wednesday. Chris... well, he's in final year study mode, so he's stressed and often physically or emotionally absent, but that's par for the course with residency. There's a few very good reasons why doctors have higher rates of divorce than other professions, and I doubt it has much to do with their spouses home schooling.
So. That's my end of September report. I'll be talking to Daniel over the weekend, seeing what he likes/dislikes, and what we might want to change or drop or keep or whatever. But so far, from my point of view, it's going a hell of a lot better than I had hoped.
So far, so good.
And I know that we won't really know any of the above until the year is done. I'm trying to be observant and weigh what I see in light of all of the above and not make up my mind before I have all the facts and yadda yadda yadda.
But. We have now survived one month of home schooling, and I think it's OK to make a few generalizations about how it's going so far - or at least, how I feel about it so far. And the fact is, one month in, I'm kind of mad at myself.
. I'm kind of mad at myself for not having done this sooner. Like, three years ago.
I know there were good reasons for sending Daniel to school for those three years, and my feelings don't even mean that I think, in hindsight, that we were wrong to do so. I think we all learned a lot in those three years, and I don't just mean the French that Daniel learned or the 1.9 years of law school that I did, although both are very important. I'm also thinking about how we learned what he's like in large group settings, and how he learned a lot about putting up with other people and (trying) to have some kind of self-discipline, and all of that.
But I look at him working at home and see him pretty happy and calm and compare it to how stressed he often seemed at school, and there's no comparison. There's a lot of qualifying statements - he was often very happy with school, and he's sometimes lonely and bored at home, for example - but overall I just get a much better vibe off him these days. He's interested in (most of) what he's learning. He chatters away when we're working in the same room, and I often have to redirect him to get back to his work and let me get on with mine, but often the chatter turns into something interesting, for both of us. More information about something that's interesting to him. Unexpected insight into what he's thinking or feeling. Jokes. A sidebar into some lesson that wasn't planned, but that suddenly seems a propos.
His schoolwork is impressing the heck out of me, too. In math he's almost done grade 3. In English, he's reading like a demon and understanding everything he reads. In French he's getting back into the swing of things, although we're both a little disturbed at how much he's forgotten. Spanish is going well. Music and art are not his fortes, but he's attacking both with more enthusiasm than I thought he'd show. Science comes as naturally as breathing to him. Social studies seems to be holding his interest, and although he doesn't talk about it to me, I've overheard him telling Chris and Justin stuff he's learned during the week.
He's also eating better. That was one reason (not a major one, but I did think about it a bit) that I wanted him home; he's always been very small and skinny, and he's never been a good eater, and he's often too spaced out to remember to eat when it's time to eat. I didn't feel great about sending a skinny kid to school, where nobody would be there to remind him to eat his lunch. Nor did I feel great about the number of times he brought his lunch back untouched. At home, he sits and eats. Food = better health.
I'm feeling a lot more relaxed and content too. I thought I would miss law school and extended introvert-time. I don't. I'm happy to be at school on Mondays, and often think longingly of spending some time vegging out on the computer, but overall I don't really think about it because what's going on at the moment, whether it involves being out with both boys, or actively teaching Daniel, or just studying/reading in the same room together, is wonderful.
As for the impact on Justin and Chris, or on Chris and I as a couple, that's a little harder to judge. Justin seems happy going to school four days of the week, and happy being home almost every afternoon and all day Wednesday. Chris... well, he's in final year study mode, so he's stressed and often physically or emotionally absent, but that's par for the course with residency. There's a few very good reasons why doctors have higher rates of divorce than other professions, and I doubt it has much to do with their spouses home schooling.
So. That's my end of September report. I'll be talking to Daniel over the weekend, seeing what he likes/dislikes, and what we might want to change or drop or keep or whatever. But so far, from my point of view, it's going a hell of a lot better than I had hoped.
So far, so good.
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no subject
Date: 2005-10-01 01:45 pm (UTC)Do things settle down for doctors after they finally finish the schooling part? When Chris gets into normal practice, the hours will be more regular and all he'll have to worry about is patients who get his home phone number, right?
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Date: 2005-10-01 08:59 pm (UTC)Me too :)
Do things settle down for doctors after they finally finish the schooling part?
So we've been told. I'll believe it when I see it.
Actually, I do pretty much believe it already. What we've heard over and over again is that, at least for shrinks working for themselves in large cities, the hours are as manageable as they want them to be. The ones who work crazy hours do so out of choice, not necessity. So we've heard.
::crossing fingers::