Before we launch deeply into what it means to change with the tides of our children, let's take a brief moment of silence for the days of finger paints, never having enough Elmer's glue, singing the ABC's and praying that your kids will be able to read well enough to pass a driver's ed test one day. Then take a deep breath of appreciation.
Despite my fears, they all grew a huge passion for reading (thank you amazing junior fiction authors!) and those nightmares of me sitting next to them at the DMV sounding out words were long gone. We still need a lot of Elmer's glue as they rediscovered, yesterday, the joy of letting it dry all over your skin and peeling it off. And I bet if I started singing they would join with me out of nostalgia.
But something that has definitely changed is that we have landed solidly into a higher level of learning, where the assignments take more thought, effort and time. And if we were to be real..I would say it can be real boring...for all of us. Sure, I get to leave the table for a second while they write that paragraph on what they just learned in History. And yes, this is really good for it sinking in and is really practical. But sometimes...sometimes teenagers needs to get up and play.
Now, believe you me...we are have a large tendency to fly by the seat of our pants. If their dad needs help and they get to learn a new skill or perfect an old one, off they go. If they have a hankering for cinnamon bread, well home-ec is taking care of itself. But...and there is a large but...some things take book work...hours of book work.
So today rolled in and our school day started out normal. We all sat down to our group History lesson when a precious little gift was given. The site we use, Easy Peasy Homeschool, planned a play today! I saw it...and laughed inside. I knew the rest of the day was shot. My kids love plays.
Sure enough, once I told them, they were really pumped. They spent the next hour gathering props and making costumes. I printed out copies of the script and hung out for a rehearsal or two, then they sent me away so they could work out the details and the parts they wanted to adlib.
The hubs and I went on a walk around the farm and came back an hour, and they were all ready!
Apart from a few giggles, they did a great job and had even memorized their lines! Of course one of the historical figures ended up having an unscripted tragic death scene that may or may not be accurate, but if I were grading it, they would still have gotten an A plus!
So really, the days of preschool anarchy might be in the past, but the fun we can have now is limitless. Plus they're old enough to get all my jokes and watch PG-13 movies.
Thanks for hanging out and letting me share a bit of my Inner Blocks!
Much love,
Stacie D
