Tomorrow!!!!

Tomorrow is the day...the day we officially start our homeschool journey! I am excited that I can finally start putting all these ideas that have been flooding my brain since last October into practice!  I am calling Thursday and Friday our practice days--I have got to figure out how Jackson is going to incorporate into it all!  If it were up to me, he would just continue with his play--but I know that is wishful thinking--he wants to do everything his "bruda" is doing AND he is probably the most excited about starting "class!"  I am not a fan of preschool academic instruction (for children who live in impoverished environments--I think it is great) but all the other children--I think 5 years of imagining, creating, and figuring things out is much more valuable.  The school system is finally beginning to realize these concepts are pretty important--in most cases more valuable than being able to spit back out something memorized.  I excelled in school, college, and graduate school because studying/memorizing and spitting stuff out quickly is a strength for me.  Now--ask me some deeper level application of those concepts and I'll just make something up that sounds educated and appropriate (unfortunately, another strength of mine sometimes...).  I write as if I didn't learn anything--that isn't true--I have lots of knowledge stored it is just the stuff that I found meaningful to me.  For example--I HATED English and American Literature with a passion.  I tried many times to read the stories--I hated every minute of it!!  And just to go ahead and be truthful--I made A's despite the fact that I used cliff notes every time!  All those rants I heard from teachers over the years how I would fail if I did that...well...again--I made A's!

My point...Why couldn't I have been given a good biography/autobiography, inspiring true story, life principle book, how to manage your finances--now that stuff--I could have read all day long, created presentations, and taught others. Oh yeah--then they couldn't have called the class English Literature, right? Instead, I sat through class after class listening to and trying to memorize mess that has added nothing to my life (other than maybe a little endurance and discipline).  Teachers--especially in the early grades need to make sure they aren't pushing their own preferences when children select books.  They have interests, personalities, and such--some love good fantasy/fiction--others love a good factual read.  Sure--I am for exposure to a variety--but if you want kids/teens/adults to independently read--they must like it! Ok...I am done with that soapbox for now.

I think what we all lose sight of in education is our purpose.  We get so focused on the process--how to teach concepts, the newest methodology, the newest software, etc...And in the end--it is really about the outcome--you know-the goal of reading instruction--that a child reads; In math--teaching multiplication--can a child multiply...the bottom line is simple--it is all the stuff in between that sometimes gets us a little confused!  (Thanks to Temple Grandin for that simple--yet profound thought!)

Well, tomorrow it is--the official start of our journey--I just wonder where it is all going to lead and how long it will last?