That is why, this week, I stopped to remind myself that kids are not machines, arriving at the same place at the same time, and education doesn't look the same for any two kids. Truman has always hated to write. It's a common thing for boys his age, I know, but that hasn't made it any easier for me, as his parent. I love writing, why doesn't he??? Writing is key to being successful in the world, to getting into college or even just being employed, not to mention expressing oneself---- making one's mark! (You can see I might have gone a little nuts about this.) This week, however, I had the presence of mind to remember what I always tell new homeschoolers when they stress about filling the boxes at the "right" time: Be patient. Be open. Trust the process.
Tru was given a short writing assignment for his science class, in which he was just supposed to write about what they did during the last month. Simple. But this assignment, if given last year, would have seemed overwhelming to him and an extreme form of torture. He would have waited until the last minute and then, through tears, he would have written two or three sentences and forgotten the whole thing.
But what a difference a year makes. Is it what some other sixth grade boys in school are doing? That is a question I would have asked last year, but this year, I put a sock in it, as they say. I saw Truman sit down as the computer and have fun playing with the writing program. He asked some spelling questions but, after reminding him of our Mindmapping activity from earlier in the week, I wasn't involved at all. He sat for over thirty minutes tapping away on the keys and I could tell that he felt good when he was done. This was so exciting and, for Truman, signaled a huge leap from where he was with his writing, even a few months ago.
Was it perfect writing? No. Did I care? Not a bit. It was short and a little goofy and very basic. But the fact that he enjoyed his time at the keyboard expressing himself, and that he felt successful, was huge! It's the whole point, after all. The beauty of our family's educational approach is that no one is looking over our shoulder forcing us to check boxes on an imaginary timetable. While this is threatening to a lot of people and institutions, it has proven over and over to be an approach that works for us. When I quiet the anxious voices in my head, I see both of my sons making steady progress, while preserving and nurturing their love of learning.
And finally, arts and crafts has inspired a frenzy of paper weaving in our house. Chester enjoys teaching anyone who is game for a challenge. It's patterns, measuring, division, problem solving, art, among other skills. Plus, it's pretty!
Lots of independent reading took place this week, which isn't that new in our house, but this time it was non-fiction, which has always been a hard sell for my boys. I could have stressed about it and required them to read a certain number of non-fiction books (believe me, I've thought about it), but instead I just waited and let them enjoy reading what they like. When their Dad bought them each a short biography of their choice (Harry Houdini and Bruce Lee) they devoured them and finished both in two days. Then they told me everything I could ever want (and some things I didn't want) to know about these two interesting men. I think they liked knowing things I didn't know and they were inspired by the off-beat lives of two people, passionate about their life's work. The experience had more of an impact than any assigned reading or "Choose a Famous American" project I could have dreamed up. This is what meaningful progress looks like this week, for these boys and for myself.
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