Goodbye plans, hello goals!

Posted by Dana | 0 comments

With several feet of snow on the ground and subzero temperatures, Mouse turned to the wrapping paper she had saved from Christmas for diversion. She measured and plotted, using a magnifying glass to help sketch the details as she mapped out a fantasy world that would make even Tolkein proud. Late last year, she decided to write a book, but has found her writing shaky, not quite up to the grand task she has set before herself. Her ideas, however, seem to demand an outlet.

She wiled away the morning as I was beset with increasing anxiety. It was, after all, a school day and her attention was devoted to a single subject that was not even mentioned in my plans for the day. Of course I could have redirected her attention to her assignments at any time, asked her to set aside her map-making for another time, relegated her chosen pursuit to her so-called “free time” and gone on being the teacher. But there is a problem with that.

This is why we homeschool.

I want to give my children the gift of time. Time to wrestle with big ideas. Time to linger over topics of interest. Time to relish the rereading of a well-written story. Time to pursue projects that spill over the time I have allotted them. Time to simply explore.

I do not want them to view education as something which starts and stops with the ringing of a bell. But the uneasiness I feel when they take their time reveals that I am at least somewhat beholden to the bell by which I was educated.

“Ding! Ding! Ding!” It seems to shout in my mind. It is nine o’clock and we’re still doing quiet time? Noon, and we haven’t even started math? I listen to some of the things I say to the children as we slip further off my neatly posted schedule.

“Hurry up.”

“If you would just concentrate, we could be done with this.”

“Let’s just get this over with.”

If I do not check myself, the message I continually seem to give is that our main goal is getting to the end of the assignment, finishing the chapter, closing the book by a designated time so that we can open the next book, start the next chapter, begin the next assignment on time.

So I looked at my plans for the day. What is on it that can’t be missed, made up or learned through the project she is already engrossed in? “Don’t forget to do your math,” I tell her. And set the rest of my plans aside.

Dana is homeschooling her five children while moving to the country. You can follow her plans and adventures while seeking to live life more abundantly at Roscommon Acres.