We have been really busy! There have been some really great days filled with excitement and enthusiasm about learning, and there have been a couple of really bad days filled with tears and feelings of incompetence. I won't mention who I am describing in either of the above scenarios. It is either me or Caden, you can take a guess. Irrespective of who you guess, you probably are right.
There have been many new experiences for us. We have been down to the food bank a couple of times and made sandwiches for the impoverished children in Houston. That was actually a very sobering experience. The KidsMealsHouston is feeding 2000 lunches per day to children that aren't old enough to go to school yet for their reduced lunch. These are kids who wouldn't eat if the lunches weren't delivered to their homes. The reality of this is shocking. The food bank can make a meal for $.33, so why can't our society feed our poorest and hungriest people, but especially the kids? *sigh*
We have done some really fun events in addition to the Food Bank. We have met some incredibly cool like-minded homeschooling families that have been a blast to interact with. Yesterday we spent the day at the George Historical Ranch outside of Sugarland. It was an amazing 4 hours filled with Texas history. I learned more yesterday than I ever did in school. I imagine that this is how kids are meant to learn. There were people in costume and in character throughout the ranch that discussed how Texas settling happened, how the families and social structures worked, how sharecropping was handled, etc. I always disliked history, but yesterday I discovered that it could be interesting and more than just memorizing titles of wars and which dates they started on. Who knew?!
We've done some other fun stuff too, and in fact are about to leave to go to the Health Museum for a heart dissection class for Caden. By far one of the biggest draw backs to homeschooling right now is the level of guilt I feel for Keali. She has always loved school. Loved it. Like, would cry if she had to miss a day. She has always loved her friendships there and adored her teachers. This year has brought in a new situation though. This year she doesn't like her class, says her teacher yells at the class for most of the day, and generally is in tears at most drop offs in the morning. I know she thinks that being at home with me would be more fun than going to school, but this doesn't seem to be about that. It seems to be about her dreading going into her class at school. Of course we could easily take her out and homeschool her, but that feels like it is cheating her out of the experience of dealing with someone on a daily basis that you don't necessarily like or enjoy being around, and growing as a result of that. I keep hoping someday someone will write the How To on parenting. I certainly don't have all the answers. I know that it hurts to see my kid in pain or sad, and that if they are only 7 years old, I should protect them from that pain if possible. I don't know the answer.
I suppose we will figure that one out about the same time that Caden learns time management skills. I'm not holding my breath.
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