Well, through the last two weeks, I've had at least ten titles for the next post fly through my head. I thought about "Mater" as a dedication to the little tow truck from a good friend that has made homeschooling so much easier. It solved the little "problem" of Simon always having to be in the middle of everything. The littlest Stodolka doesn't miss a beat, and though he can't even sing his abc's yet, he wants to participate in school. At the suggestion of some well-experienced homeschooling friends, I let him. BUT.... my patience runs thin when he rips pages from the school books, eats the crayons or playdough during art, colors off the marker board and onto the table during phonics review etc.. I can only count to ten so many times in a day, ya know? God gave me relief when Mater arrived. Thank you to you know who. Mater has become Simon's phonics and art lesson combined. He drives that bugger through the house on the other side of the another possible post title that I considered, "The Baby Gate." That one is also still going on in the brain, so maybe God isn't finished with it yet. Another gift from another friend that makes homeschooling that much easier. It's a gate that used to be housed at Fun4Tots, a favorite family hangout, and sprawls across the wall from the living room to the dining room. I can watch Mater and "his" driver plow through the other room singing and bringing blocks from one side of the house to the other. Not a bad view in the least. And, it's a great reminder to pay attention to the small details of life.... the little acts of joy that take place daily that we take for granted, and that will, sadly, one day be gone. I mean, Simon isn't going to college driving Mater back and forth from home with the tow truck backside filled with jumbo blocks. But.... thank you so much to those who made that view possible.... and the peace of mind I get when I can do phonics and reading with the lassie who's learning as my number one focus.
Bubby. That's the topic of this post. It's the one that suddenly came to me as I was joining Father Tim of Mitford as he prepared for a post-retirement stint in a church on an island ten or so hours from his beloved Mitford. (Yes, I highly recommend that wholesome series, which has also done wonders for this reader who has been neglecting her favorite past-time in lieu of the ever social world of Facebook. And my pull away from Facebook may just be another topic for discussion someday). Anyhow.... I looked up from the first chapter of the fifth book in the Mitford series to see Simon with one bubby in his mouth, stretching his little arm across the big table, grabbing another bubby and smiling ever so big as he became a double-fister. The bubby..... his paci.... called a bubby because I used to say "pluggie," and he is not yet of the age to make those sounds all come together. No need. His cute word for pluggie has taken over and he doesn't need to learn mine. Another one of those slow motion moments and I knew that "Bubby" was the next title.
Why, you may say? What does a bubby have to do with homeschooling? Well, for most, it is probably just a lovely tool used to keep the littles quiet. But for me, God just used it as a reminder of who I was and who I'm becoming.... As a middle & high school teacher of ten years (yes, I'm that old), I am used to lesson plans. I'm used to making order from many sources and implementing that order for overall learning. It's what I did best and what I loved for ten years. I used to fascinate my "Team 8ers" and others who'd see I'd planned several months in advance and stayed on course within a day or two despite all odds. I suppose I could reveal that trick - review days. If you planned a review day once a week or at least twice a month depending on how difficult the material was, you could use it to review all info to aid in retention OR if there was a snow day etc., you could use the review day as a way to catch up, replacing it with another day of "regular" teaching.
Anyhow.... I'm teaching my eldest, who struggles significantly in Math, the topic of rounding. She gets it one day, and when I go to do the "warm up" the next day (so we can quickly review and move to the next topic), she is stumped - as if she's never seen rounding before. It's a problem that I've never really seen before in ten years of teaching. I've seen students either get it or not..... I've see students get it and forget things after time (how normal is that?), and that was the purpose of my planned review days back then. BUT.... I've never seen someone get it so clearly one day, do at least 15 problems on their own feeling confident, and then the next day look at one as if they've never seen the concept before.
The Bubby..... I've been reaching for "my bubby," my order in lesson planning. I'm used to staying on track, plowing through & reviewing, bringing my 100 or so kiddos along with me to the best of my ability. I'm used to falling on known territory and taking comfort in facing the struggles that go with 8th grade teens and their desire to be entertained while learning, their need to review, and their need to move on and conquer. I'm used to the order of planning such a curriculum.... to my bubby so to speak. But there is no bubby in this homeschooling experience. I cannot help my sweet Marygrace in the traditional methods that I am used to. They don't work for her. And now I'm free-falling again.... trusting God to bring me to a safety point again - where I know she's learning.... where I know she'll "get" all the third grade stuff she's supposed to.... where I won't damage her by making her feel insecure because she can't get it after she already has.
I'm trusting God. I've been chatting with my mom, a third grade teacher for 35 + years, and my homeschooling friends, and I'm learning..... to stretch, to be patient, to wait for the solution that is there.... to give my anxiety to the Lord in prayer and petition with Thanksgiving (Philippians 4: 6 and 7). Onward. We shall overcome. One day at a time. One lesson or review lesson at a time..... with some help from those whom God is putting in my path (educators, doctors, homeschoolers, family, etc).
Praise be to God for His help and guidance. And this 37 year old will try to set down her bubby.
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI have read that sometimes a teaching degree is not necessarily helpful to homeschooling for that very reason! But, perhaps letting go of the traditional methods isn't all bad? In a classroom, you need to bring 100 kids to a passable level of achievement according to a standard set by the state. 100 different kids from different backgrounds with different interests... There were probably some who would have loved to go much more deeply into the topics studied, who got the material in the first two minutes and then spend all the review sessions needing the entertainment because they were bored. There were probably others, who never fully got it, but who could memorize just enough answers to get through a test.... As a teacher, these are the limitations of a "standard" curriculum... I think what you sensed when Marygrace was in school, that upset you so much, is that this type of labeling and competing very different individuals with different strengths and skills into a set standard for what the "average" child should attain in the "average" timeframe, is not reasonable for all... It isn't conducive to the real type of learning that lasts a lifetime... It can make some feel like failures and others grow prideful, for nothing more than a number on a page, that always indicates far less than who they are...
Perhaps the change is more evident to me because I see you only occasionally now, but I saw a changed family. I saw a Marygrace who was happier than I had seen her in 3 years! You yourself seemed to be enjoying your children and family much more and more at peace with things overall.
Maybe God won't make Marygrace a math superstar, but he is reminding you of the gift that she is! She is loving, creative, considerate, open-hearted, welcoming, gentle, and kind- all gifts that she learned no doubt from her mommy and daddy... She will have her strengths and her weaknesses, just like we all do... And thats ok...