Have you met them? Sure you have! Those people who are convinced that, the moment they stepped out of school or university, their education ended. Don’t need to learn any more, they seem to be saying. Even doctors have this attitude. Oh, they “keep up” with all the latest journals, but I’ve met several who believe that, this onerous task to one side, there’s no need on this Earth to learn anything new ever again. How am I supposed to trust such closed-minded people with my health?
When J and I were discussing how the homeschooling was getting along (a weekly review), it started with the gripes. I wonder if I’m teaching them an expansive enough curriculum. I wonder if I’m hitting the correct concepts in the correct order. I worry about the dismal lack of quality in some workbooks I’ve bought. I wonder how to work more innovation into our schoolwork.
J is worried about the sheer amount of time it takes to homeschool kids. The critical importance of an even temperament in the face of “how the hell did you manage to do that?!” moments. Whether he’s pacing things correctly in the ECA (Extra-Curricular Activity) he supervises with them. (Electronics, in case you were wondering.) What else he can think of to keep things interesting.
Then we started moving into the positives. The ability to offer our kids a more holistic view of education, where chemistry mixes with cooking and physics mixes with discussions of the weather. And, one of the most important intangibles of all, our own attitudes.
I told you before that The Wast is learning piano and Little Dinosaur chose the violin. What I didn’t add was that the start of this year meant that both J and I took up instruments as well. I’m learning the piano, which is a switch from my previous instrument of flute. And J, who has never learnt a musical instrument in his life and worried terribly that he doesn’t have a musical bone in his body, is learning the tenor saxophone.
The effect of us parents actively learning is, we feel, a good one for our kids. They see that we practise every day, and there’s never a single squirm or upturned lip when I tell them it’s time for their own practice sessions. They know full well that we’ll start ours the minute they finish theirs and that we’ll practise for longer.
When we make mistakes in our music, we stop, re-read and try again. They’re learning to do the same and will repeat troublesome passages several times until they get it right. Nobody told them to do that, or stood over their shoulder to make sure they take instrument in hand. They’ve done it all by themselves.
J and I originally decided to take up music as a way of keeping our minds active. (I swear, I can feel the neural paths being formed in my brain. The image it conjures up is an explorer deep in the jungle, hacking a path through the greenery with a machete. About as slowly too.) But we’re finding an unexpected pay-off in the kids’ education. With homeschooling, you can’t lie. What you are and what you show is what the kids will pick up. So far, the good seems to be outweighing the bad. So far.
