Once you have children not only does life as you know it change but periodically forces take over and things spin out of control, you end up in this whirlwind and come out the other side wondering like Dorothy what happened to Kansas. It is seldom a simple yes that gets you to OZ, but a series of innocent often unrelated events and bam it happens again.
Like take the simple search for the perfect kindergarten for your precocious 5 year old, it begins simply enough with school visits. Lots of them and each a little less promising than the last. I was suppose to be the perfect parochial school room mother, visiting my daughter's classroom observing the class dynamic and assisting the teacher as she directs. All the parochial schools in our neighborhood are unacceptable for a variety of reasons, what is a mother to do? Public school, we are in a great district, should we seriously consider this? This would mean room mother at a whole new level, to monitor what takes place in the classroom, a daunting commitment when you have infant twins. Samantha meanwhile under goes some pretty comprehensive testing at a local university, not for information but to help out some folks in their research. They needed normal children to test and my daughter was one of those guinea pigs. Test results reveal 2nd grade reading skills, 1st grade spelling skills and kindergarten math skills. I am thinking about skipping kindergarten, the entire decision will be postponed for an entire year, the child somehow managed to learn something in her 5 year existence including most of the kindergarten curriculum without the assistance of any school system. My decision to skip preschool was met with many raised eyebrows, what will they think now?
To avoid confrontations I begin to use the word homeschool, some are frightened, some are impressed, some are confused, but most believe a decision has been made and respect that. I figured she had already completed kindergarten, and told folks we were taking it one year at a time, so I really couldn't screw things up too much. Welcome to OZ. That was 11 years ago.
Eleven years, two special needs students, and relearning all the math I was sure I wouldn't need again. None of this was in my plan.
So begins the search for a new plan, and on occasion rash words come spewing out of my mouth because this plan isn't something I have done before. I have no frame of reference for creating school at home, and as a homeschooling parent you panic and will try anything to put the guilt to rest.
"You may get your ears pierced when you finish your math book."
" Starting a Mother/Daughter book group could be fun"
"We could have a Father/Daughter dance."
"No you cannot have a blog it will interfere with school time."
That last one was a good one, then twitter was added to the request. I continued to refuse, but a blog had become the lesser of two evils. One teary evening I caved, "You can only have a blog if I am on it too, and only if you finish that biology book." Bam!
Twitter has been removed from my vocabulary.
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