This post was written a couple of weeks ago but sat in the draft pile. I'm revisiting it today and posting it.
I can go weeks without posting and then bam! three posts in a row. Yep, that is what I do. Sometimes, when I have insomnia. Tonight I went to sleep just fine. I woke up half an hour later, heart pounding, sure I forgot to do... something. That's all it took to get me wide awake. Now I want some coffee {that's a no-no at midnight}. And there wasn't anything I'd forgotten to do. It must have been a dream.
So instead I decide to think and hope that will make me tired. Perhaps that's not a wonderful idea for trying to get some sleep because I can think of a lot of things to keep me awake! One thing is high school. Thankfully I'm done with my high school years. Whew! Barely made it out alive! But really, it wasn't that bad. No, I'm thinking of my kiddos. One has just over a year left of high school and the other is just beginning high school. It's got me thinking.
Have I done enough? Will I do enough the second time around? What is enough? Why do I need to do enough? Ack! I know {think?} the kids have it worse than I do but sometimes I'm {figuratively} chewing my nails with the stress. Each of the question at the start of this paragraph really and truly depend on what they want to do with their lives after high school. One didn't want to go to college, at least not right away; now she's not so sure. The other doesn't want to go to college but wants to join the Marines. For now.
In either of those cases, I need to make sure that I turn out responsible, communicative, reliable little adults. Ack! again. How much of that really comes from a high school 'education'? Doesn't that really come from living life in reality? {Oh, and I don't really consider public schools 'reality'. How often will you find a job or any situation outside of K-12 when you are stuck in a room with everyone pretty much the same age? Really.}
Tea time? Ah, speaking still of high school, I've decided to add in Tea Time to our Friday morning routine. We do Round Table {perhaps you've read my posts about it} each morning and we all love to have some warm tea {with some yummy 'biscuits'}, so I figured we could combine it with artist study. I think I'll need to find some more teas on our next shopping trip. Do you have any favorites? The kids both really like peppermint; it goes very fast here.
{Side note: we have started our tea time routine. It's on Friday's and we do whatever comes to the table. This week we will be reading aloud from Eragon. *affiliate link}
And still with high school: CM. Charlotte Mason. Let's see if I can say this right. I am enamored with the CM method; infatuated with it. But I'm having a time of getting it 'right'. In the younger years it seemed like it was easier in a sense but in high school I feel like I'm not doing enough, yet I know I'm not supposed to be doing too much. My dd is almost and adult {yikes, that's a sobering thought!}; she needs to have these skills under her belt by now. I've put forth the question to those on the AO forum, which you can read here {you may have to register to see it?} to get an idea of how others of high schoolers deal with this. So far there are two detailed answers in the thread; both very good and encouraging answers. {Since then, I think there have been a couple more replies.}
I wrote a post on Saturday that talks about how our high school days are coming along. Good and not so good.
I've been reading about CM for a few years now, mostly from blogs like Amy's, Michelle's, Barb's, and of course, AO. Just yesterday while looking at Willow Tree Community School's website, I found a link to Charlotte Mason in the Bluegrass. It's a great website!
Of course, all of that to say: I still don't have it figured out. My dd doesn't want to go to college- still. And I'm okay with that. It doesn't bother me in the slightest.
Don'tcha hate those middle of the night insomnia sessions? I have those sometimes, too -- but my posts never seem quite so sensible in the morning as yours does. :-)
ReplyDeleteI do have some input, though, on your high school worries... Here it is: Don't worry; it will be okay. One thing I have learned in many years of homeschooling is that most homeschooled high school students do pretty good job of "owning" their learning. So what they did not "get" in high school, they will figure out how to learn when the need arises. My daughter took a college physics class and had to learn enough trig on the side to understand the physics. She did work hard but she was comfortable asking for help, like most homeschool students. In college, my son did his calculus homework in the hallway outside his calculus teacher's office. He had asked if he could just do it in her office so he could ask questions when he had them (doesn't that sound like a homeschooler?), and she looked at him like he had two heads. Ha! Homeschoolers just know how to learn.
Personally, I think it is more important to disciple them - teach them solid values, how to articulate their faith, how to serve others, how to be responsible for themselves, etc. And the rest sort of takes care of itself.
I have a lot of ideas about teaching high school on my blog, if that would be of help to you. Hang in there!