Whoever said that homeschooling was easy has never been in my brain. Come visit, we’ll put on some tea and talk about how in the world you decide how to teach (or not) your small, vulnerable child, who according to some has certain periods of sensitivity to stimuli and should (or should not) be lead/directed/self-led in certain directions at certain ages (or not). Soft colors, whimsical spirits-that-hearken-to-elementals, no academics until seven will protect his intellect by stimulating and engaging his imagination, but then what about all those fun and interesting activities like art classes (harsh colors, directed learning, forced semi-understanding of negative space and -gasp- outlining), drama classes (encourages precocious understanding as self-being-observed-by-others), and reading (parts of the brain don’t learn at the same time, precocious reading encourages continued use of early reading strategies and doesn’t force the brain to use different parts for different challenges). Don’t teach, lead by example. Unit studies or block studies or theme studies? Music lessons at 5–yes! no! Art appreciation? And all those fun midday field trips? Field trips interrupt routine and at this age are as overstimulating as they are useful!
Routine is good, that seems to be pretty commonly agreed upon. Usually. Er. It works for Geeklet, so I go with it, and therefore I go with the philosophy that has worked for him so far, a mostly-Waldorf approach (with, I admit, liberal reading out loud). Then we get together (you know, that Required Homeschooling Social Interaction) and I’m amazed at the sophistication of thought and eagerness to participate of other kids and I think, hmm… But I can’t just jump around. Hey, let’s do Waldorf this week, and some unschooling next week, some de-Christianized Charlotte Mason in there, I’m curious about Enki, la la la, all of which produces a somewhat insane child and me, sitting on the floor, singing la la la. Trying to sing it in French. An unstructured and gentle introductory insane singing in French. Not reading and writing, just talking. Conversing. Singing la la la la la.
Which is kind of close to what we did today, anyway.
Oh, I’m sure it will all come together. I hope. Because otherwise the Boy is going to have his own very special angst, and while I’m hoping that homeschooling with help him to develop his own unique self and characteristics, I don’t think we need to focus on that one so much.
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