Thursday, February 16, 2012

Homeschooling Reality Check

There is far too much nicey nicey stuff circulating the internet about the idyllic lives of huge families having perfectly planned out school days, complete with fun filled field trips to the local farmer's market....so forth.........and so on. Here is a short little truthful byte of the Santiago homeschool.

We start out with some housework, and breakfast. Nobody wants what I made for breakfast, with the exception of the coffee. I'm not an expert in nutrition, so I don't force them to eat at a particular time. We don't live by the clock, and nobody here is suffering from malnutrition. The food is cooked, it's there, they know what to do.

Princess Abbey needs something from the store, so Princess Melody babysits while she and I go to hunt for this item. This was meant to be a quick trip so that we could get to the business of school work. The first store doesn't have what we need. The second store doesn't have what we need...........the third store has it, but the lazy woman at the register isn't in the mood to sell it. What a waste of valuable time that could have been spent learning the 3R's.

As soon as we get home, I see that Melody is already almost through with the lesson that she needed to do. Tarja gets out her workbook and plops down next to me on the sofa so that I can help her, and Abbey plops down on the other sofa with her spiral notebook and math book. The next dialogue will only happen in a homeschooling house.

Melody: Mom, come here.
Me: Why?
Melody: I need you to help me.
Tarja: Melody! Mom's helping ME.
Me: What do you need help with?
Melody: I can't find the answer to (certain something she is searching for).
Tarja: MELODY! I told Mom first!
Abbey: Since this math lesson is short, do you want me to do the next one?
Me: No. Just do today's lesson.
Abbey: But....it's really short, and so is the next one. I could do two or three of them today.
Me: You don't need to do that. Just do one lesson per day. If it's short, it's a bonus, right?
Abbey: (a little stressed at this point)BUT......but.....I LIKE doing math. I really want to do more.
Melody: (looks at Abbey, shakes her head and rolls her eyes)
Tarja: MOM! Are you gonna help me?????
Abbey: I'm hungry!
Tarja: ME too!
Me: Breakfast is still on the stove.
Abbey: OH yeah!!!
Melody: Does my hair look all right?
Me: Yes.
Tarja: Melody, you look like a wienie!

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