I have a child who does more in a week than I did in 2 months at her age….in all honesty, even at this age.
Is it because she is homeschooled?
She sings, she dances, she acts in plays.† She is rehearsing for her 7th play right now.
Is it because she is homeschooled?
She makes things with clay; lovely things like sushi, bread, bears, cakes, ice creams, pretzels, popcorn, babies, strollers, baskets, berries, cherries, cupcakes.† She sets up scenarios with these things with her Little Petz town.
Is it because she is homeschooled?
She sews, she makes clothes for her marionette, her bears, her Barbies.† Simple things and elaborate costumes that she hot glues little bitty sequins to one at a time.
Is it because she is homeschooled?
She makes felt animals; owls and mice and elephants and music notes and writes stories about them.
Is it because she is homeschooled?
She plays Webkinz,† and has 30 Webkinz on one account and their rooms are beautifully decorated, with things organized in a way HER room never is.
Is it because she is homeschooled?
She cooks, she makes up recipes, tries new things, searches cookbooks, online; looking for creative ideas.† She tries different combinations together, she decorates cakes.
Is it because she is homeschooled?
She knits all the time; beautiful scarves that she weaves color upon color in and out of her fingers, making pom-poms, knitted dolls hats and key chains and head bands.
Is it because she is homeschooled?
She writes stories, funny stories with great dialogue usually involving a strong female who takes on the world.
Is it because she is homeschooled?
She rides her bike, she roller blades, she loves ice skating.
Is it because she is homeschooled?
She makes films with her Webkinz, heart wrenching stories with Kings and Queens and marriage proposals and funerals.† They are wonderful.
Is it because she is homeschooled?
She listens to the police scanner and printed out the police codes and writes them down when they broadcast and keeps me informed about ì66 year old woman having seizuresî or a ìrobbery in progressî or ìJuveniles throwing snowballsî
Is it because she is homeschooled?
She plays Wii and laughs at the antics of Animal Crossing and some goofy game about Monkies and their babies and Super Mario and tries to figure out mysteries in Sims: Secret Agent.
Is it because she is homeschooled?
She visits with the lady next door who had a stroke and can no longer get out and do the things she used to do.† She bakes her goodies and plays board games with her.
Is it because she is homeschooled?
She plays with her dog and teaches him tricks and dresses him up [yes he has worn a Pink Tutu among other things]. She writes plays, with her dog as her cast member and an adoring Mom as her audience.
Is it because she is homeschooled?
She plays board games, card games, anything that has a “winner”.† She puts puzzles together.† She paints, she draws, she tries to solve her Rubikís cube.
Is it because she is homeschooled?
She loves old television shows, she spends time looking up music that is from other eras besides the one she lives in.
Is it because she is homeschooled?
She loves trekking around in the creek, collecting water samples and bugs and plants.† Dirt is her friend.
Is it because she is homeschooled?
Who knows why someone is who they are?† So many factors come into play; environment, heredity and so much more.† I am not saying that all children who are homeschooled are brighter, more creative, more inquisitive but it stands to reason that you can be all of those things with an extra 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 hours a day.
And I do know thisÖ
If she went to public school, there would be waking up at 7:00 AM, 8 hours in school, 2 hours of homework, dinner, bath and early bedtime. †She would not have the time to be exactly who she is right now.
And who she is; this amazing girl, for a great part is….
Because she is homeschooled.
ìA child only pours herself into a little funnel or into a little box when sheís afraid of the worldówhen sheís been defeated. But when a child is doing something sheís passionately interested in, she grows like a treeóin all directions. This is how children learn, how children grow. They send down a taproot like a tree in dry soil. The tree may be stunted, but it sends out these roots, and suddenly one of these little taproots goes down and strikes a source of water. And the whole tree grows.”
~John Holt~ Learning All the Time
Karen! This is masterful. Reading it inspired me.
In great part KEI is inquisitive too because YOU are her mama. You love her nature, you encourage her learning and her questions and her creativity. How inspiring to me as a mom and a great reminder too.
Thanks for popping in and saying hi. I am going through some stuff right now and just can’t seem to write as often as I used to, but bear with me. I hope I will be back in the saddle one of these times. Blessings to you and KEI. T~
Yes! Yes! Yes!
I think that if you have a wonderful child who loves to learn and explore and create and grow, they are going to turn out to be who God has designed for them no matter what. But there are so many things that can chip away at who God wants them to be when they are in school like being away from parents, negative influences, social pressure, academic pressure, to name a few. School can expose them to many great things like band and orchestra, group projects and different teaching styles (this is a pro AND a con!). But a good homeschooling parent can also provide these things. So you are left with a child who likes to learn, explore, create and grow and now has many more hours in the day to do this. I love being with my children as they explore their passions, develop their talents and are introduced to new things. I love watching their face light up with excitement. At times I wish I could let another teacher handle their frustrations or angry moments but it is all part of who they are and who they are growing up to be. I hope someday to meet your amazing child!
I just love everything about this post, Karen.
I especially agree that, from a totally practical perspective, you can simply do SO MUCH MORE when you have all those hours and hours to discover, play, and BE. We have so much more room to move, don’t we? To move and grow and fully inhabit our skin. It’s delicious, and not just for them, but for us as parents too!
So much room for us all to move.
(and I LOVE the John Holt quote. How do you find them? Your quotes are awesome)
She is all those things simply because she is HER! But it IS most wonderful that she is home schooled so that she is free to be the person she is! So so wonderful!
Would she have time to do those things and be who she is if she were in school? No.
I am grateful every day for some of the same qualities and creative and busy spirit in my daughter, with the added knowledge that for my child, with her particular needs, school would have been a bad idea for her.
There are so many things in life, and so many ways to learn besides with a textbook in a group. Some people choose that…despite its inefficiency. Which is of course why I have a job… someone has to parent those kids after school.
All of ‘my’ kids would thrive if allowed to learn their way. Sadly, some are not thriving at all.
This was a wonderful post.
Theresa,
Kei has helped me cook for years. About 1 1/2 years ago she wanted to make dinner all by herself. She wanted to chop veggies among other things. I finally let her, praying the entire time she would not cut herself or her fingers off. She now makes breakfast and lunch completely by herself. She has made dinner all by herself several times. I caution her all the time about safety and she sees what a klutz I am at times, which makes her safer I think. 🙂 My Mother never let me cook because she was afraid I would ‘get hurt’. I let Kei cook pretty much anything she wants. Just start slow and always warn. 🙂
Great post! I do think Kei would get along great with Allie!!! Hopefully someday you will be able to get out here!
Do you supervise or help her to do some of these things? I am just wondering where you draw the line with things. I am having a hard time figuring out what they can do on their own (Allie has begun boiling water, making soup, making things in the toaster oven on her own). Not sure where to draw the line.
She is quite talented and has a wonderful momma, too.