If I've heard it once I've heard it a hundred times.
"I couldn't homeschool my kids,
You Must Be SO Patient!"
This one is true. I am patient.
Unless I'm not.
- When I come home and find the dishes in exactly the place they were when I left...well, let's just say that no one was calling me patient that day.
- When it's lesson time and one of the kids asks "Can I just watch the last twenty minutes of this movie?" I am not, not patient.
- After the 35th time I hear today's most life-affirming song, I'm just a tiny bit less patient...
- Those days when every. Single. Thing. is BORING, my patience-o-meter tends a bit toward the left.
- For that play-by-play of the last ten hours of Minecraft, I have to admit to a bit of mind wander...
- When basic things like tooth brushing and putting away one's own things aren't happening, I might not be the paragon you imagine me to be.
- Do I really have to ask you to flush?
- When the 'whose night is it to do dishes?' conversation starts, my eyes might roll back in my head.
- When the sibling rivalry thing takes residence in the hall, my patience might be a bit thin.
- When one or the other child pulls out the microscope and begins to weigh life, looking for unfairness, for they are certain to find it, I don't mind admitting that my patience can only take so much of that one.
- Please get off of the screen.
- When they are tired and bored all day and revved up all night.
- ...you get it.
So, am I patient? Sure. I can be. But I am no more patient than any other parent out there. I have my moments. The difference for a homeschooling parents is that you are with your children more often and more intensely. But that's usually a good thing!
So, if you fear homeschooling for that "You are so patient" fear, rest assured, I have no special super powers that you don't also possess.
The only super power you really need: LOVE.
Have you heard this one?
What do you usually say?
Do you think that, somehow, it's kind of embarrassing?
What do you usually say?
Do you think that, somehow, it's kind of embarrassing?
................................................................
This post is in Loving Memory of
The Gentle Warrior,
The Gentle Warrior,
Rosie
Who lost her battle with Post-transplant CF today.
Beloved sister of my dear friend Bridget
Beloved sister of my dear friend Bridget
Donations made to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation are appreciated.
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like:
Top Ten Habits of a Homeschooling Mom
My Essential Homeschooling Strategies
Are Homeschoolers Weird?
It is interesting the misconceptions that are revealed in people's initial comments about homeschooling. "You are so patient" implies to me that we are sitting down and having school all day. Homeschooling is so much more than what we see in public school.
ReplyDeleteThe other common comment is "I could never do that, I'm not smart enough." You just need to be smart enough to hook your kids up with what they need, be it a book or a mentor, so they can learn. And maybe you'll get to learn some good stuff in the process.
Do you know what I have noticed more?
DeleteWhen I reveal that we homeschool, it almost seems like some people are embarrassed to NOT homeschool.....its sort of weird. They start explaining why they don't or why they feel that they can't....
It's parents! We want to do the best for our children that the success of others makes us doubt ourselves!
I'm not terribly patient at all. In fact I am pretty much impatient. I do however find it easier to be patient with the children I love than with the school admins and teachers that I don't so much love at our local public school...hence the homeschooling...in spite of my terrible impatience.
ReplyDeleteFirst, let me say, I'm sorry for your friend's sister, Rosie. What a beautiful young lady. Her family must be devastated. My condolences.
ReplyDeleteOh, the "can't I just watch the rest of this TV show..." Ugh! That usually comes at the end of our already really long lunch period, in which I try to give the kids a chance to soak in a little screen time so they don't go into withdrawal.
And, what is with not flushing? It's not hard. I've even done group teaching sessions in which I demonstrate the technique and the fact that no one is going to get sucked down the toilet. :)
Thank you, Kris. Your condolences are truly appreciated. <3
DeleteI, too, have given lessons on basic hygiene. What's the deal?!
*wink*
I get that a lot and my response is "I threaten death multiple times a day, but they don't take me seriously and I JUST DON'T GET IT!" Then they kind of back away very slowly unsure whether I am sarcastic or not.
ReplyDelete