Not Again!!

It's happened again!  Another person expressing their concern about socialization.  This time, it was a person who I admire and respect.  I'll call her Ms. S.  She knows one of my boys but didn't know he had been homeschooled.  Then she found out that Jane is homeschooling highschool.  I said something about Jane's dance and Ms. S said, "So does she get enough socialization through her dance?"  AARRRGHGHG!

I replied, "People are always concerned about socialization, but it is not something that concerns me."  She jumped in there and said with passion, "It concerns me!"  How disappointed I am to hear this from someone I consider well-educated.  I assume well-educated people are critical thinkers...perhaps I am wrong. 

Critical thinking requires following a thought through.  I calmly replied to Ms. S., "Oh, come on. Think about it; there are kids in traditional school settings who are socially awkward.  Where you are educated is not what defines you socially.  Largely, the parents are the biggest influence in their children's social abilities."  She readily conceded that I had a point and went on to say that my son is "delightful."  Of'course he is, as are all my kids, despite being homeschooled! Imagine that!

I went further with Ms. S and pointed out that if you take any segment of society, you're bound to find socially awkward people.  If there is a greater number of socially awkward kids/families among homeschoolers, it is because they know that they are different and yet are unwilling to change and unwilling to subject their kids to the pain of being "different" in a society that values conformity over individualism.  Some people embrace their awkwardness.  As a homeschooler, I am proud of the fact that I don't think like the rest of society!

Now, as I tell my kids, prejudices/generalizations/bias comes from a truth.  In other words, we find something to often be true and then we form a prejudice, etc. from that basic truth.  The problem is that whatever conclusion we've drawn, is not always correct.  Just because we observe that some homeschoolers are socially awkward, we should not conclude that homeschooling your kids makes them socially awkward.  That would seem to indicate that there are NO socially awkward kids in traditional schools, and NO socially adept kids that are homeschooled.

So my point is that where/how you are schooled does NOT make you socially awkward.  Nor does going to school make you socially adept.  We hear a lot in the news these days about bullying in schools and even on school busses.  Do I meet someone who tells me where they are sending their kids to school and I say, "Oooohh. Are you worried they'll be bullied or a bullier?  How are you going to address that to make sure they don't fall into either group?"  They would look at me like I was crazy.  What is going on IN the schools is a direct result of what is going on in the homes.  Schools don't MAKE bullies.

I firmly believe that my kids were born the kind of student that they are and that I did little to change that.  I certainly tried to help each of them build on their strengths and learn from and overcome their weaknesses.  I believe that through homeschooling they received more attention, more opportunity to grow personally, better sibling relationships, and I pray to God that they are better critical thinkers!

Co-op and Piano Begin

Lots of new beginnings this past week.  We had our same piano tuner that we've had for 10 years come back and tune our piano and our beloved piano teacher is back teaching Jane and Ruth.  She will be coming to the house on Friday mornings to teach the girls.  Jane has had 6 years of piano but needs to continue.  In looking into dance majors we found that they look for students who know music.  So we will build on what Jane already knows and go deep into Theory.  She'll receive high school credit for both instument and theory. 

Ruth had her first ever piano lesson Friday.  I am so glad and so relieved that we are able to do this.  When we stopped (mostly for financial reasons) having Miss Linda come and teach the kids, I intended to get back to it one day.  Still, you wonder if you ever will.  Ruth LOVED it and loves Miss Linda.  Our teacher uses the Farber method so that on the first day, you are playing a song.  Miss Linda has taught all of our kids piano.  Martin had 4 yrs; Leo, Sam and Jane each had 6 yrs.  They all can play some, but Leo and Jane are the ones who still play.  They were all taught theory as well and I have to go get theory books for both Jane and Ruth for their next lesson.

So Fridays are piano, spelling test, and co-op days.  Sometimes we have other tests on Fridays, it just depends.  Jane is really liking co-op and has been twice now.  She has Ms. Rottler for biology and I love that she will really be active in the classroom with a microscope and dissecting, etc.  I also like that outside the classroom she HAS to learn to manage her time; a skill she will use the rest of her life.

Her other classes this semester, Memorization Skills and Logic are AWESOME!  I told her I didn't think there would be a lot of outside the classroom activities, but I was wrong.  Especially in memory class; she will be very busy.  However, she loves it!  And it is amazing to see her confidence building already.  She is literally blossoming right before our eyes, becoming confident, capable, mature and just a beautiful person!

She has to go on-line to schoolology.com for her memory class and listens to a 40 minute lecture each week.  They memorize a prayer and a scripture verse each week.  For the semester, they will memorize 140 saints names, feast month, what they are remembered for, and when they lived.  It's not really about what you're memorizing (although that's SO great) it's about the skills she is acquiring and the confidence it builds in her; especially with her dyslexia, which tends to undermine her confidence.

The Logic class is also more rigorous than I expected, but she loves it.  It is "fun" according to her, and it really is teaching critical thinking skills that are so important.  This class is taught by Mr. Williams, who also teaches the memory class.

I have finally finished my training for my new job (I still can't get over that I am working 16 hours a week!).  I worked my first "on my own" shift last Thursday.  Samantha (who job shares with me and Kathy) needed help because her babysitter's kid was sick and so I went in for 3 hours.  It wasn't too bad!  I work for real this Monday and Wednesday and I kind of think that it's gonna work out okay.  The girls really seem to handle my absence well.  I mean, I know there will be bad days, but I have those even when I'm home with them.  I am going to have to be super organized, but with this kind of incentive, that shouldn't be a problem.  And, so, our adventure continues with more twists!

Big Changes!!

WOW!  A lot has happened since my last post.  The big news is that I am now working a part-time job.  Mondays and Wednesdays 7:30-4pm as a receptionist.  I am job sharing with two other women (one being my sister).  WHAT??!!  Yes..I'm still homeschooling the girls.  We talked about putting them in school but of'course they didn't want to and Jane was very convincing that she could handle it.  I've been in 3 days for training and the girls have done a stellar job.  I think they do better when I'm not here...go figure!  I leave their lesson plan (what they need to do in each subject) and two chores per daughter (like vaccum the living room rug, clean the 1/2 bath sink/toilet, unload the dishwasher, etc).  They also have to walk the dogs (just around the block).  No T.V. till 4 p.m.

I fully anticipate the girls calling one day with arguments, etc.  But I think it's going to work.  I will do this juggling act for about 9 months (can't be harder than pregnancy, right?) and then back out.  It will really help with college and Sam's last year at Vianney, etc.  Jane is doing so great with her stuff and she starts her Co-op tomorrow.  She's a little nervous but I think she's going to love.  She is really looking forward to her Biology class.  The teacher used to be a coroner and has a Ph.D. in Biology?? I think it is.  She says she loves to do lab work and that is what the kids will be doing mostly for their class time; they're expected to do their reading on their own.

Ruth is also rising to the challenge and handling her school work well.  She and I will have to work out what we are going to do during the 5 hours Jane is at Co-op.  We will probably go to a nearby branch of the public library and read or finish school work.

So, next time I post, we will have experienced Co-op and my new work schedule.  Should be interesting!