My mother! God bless her. She raised me alone for the most part. Single teenage mom. She's worked in a factory for 30 years. She has always done the very best she knew how and I absolutely love her for it.
But her only child tends to go against the grain and I don't think she always knows how to deal with it.
My oldest son will be old enough to attend public school kindergarten this fall. But my DH and I decided long ago we'd homeschool. When I saw an informal information session was being offered by a local association I asked my mother if she wanted to come. She actually agreed with quite a bit of enthusiasm.
She has been verbally supportive. But her tone of voice and body language let me know she has opinions she isn't expressing. I was glad she wanted to go last night.
It was a great night. The panel talked about their kids who are in college, the graduation ceremonies the association holds, the different kinds of groups and activities the kids are all in or have been in, statistical data about how homeschooled students score higher academically and socially. All in a nice laid back, in no way preachy, low key style. I loved it.
I didn't hear a darn thing I didn't already know. But that's ok. It is nice to hear it again, and from veterans.
But her hangups started to show through. One is there is no system of accountability for families who choose to homeschool. In CT there is no mandated testing or other means to determine if a child is "staying on grade level." That is part of the beauty to me. I LOVE that. But she thinks it is wrong. She knows a family that tried homeschooling and the kid ended up 2 grades behind. She thinks someone should have stepped in.
She keeps saying... "I'm not worried about YOU guys not making sure the kids keep up." Uh... yeah right.
So it seems she didn't hear anything after they went over the laws.
Another hangup that surfaced was the old SOCIALIZATION!
So what I really what I learned last night (and really already knew) is my mother has a lot of hangups she is choosing not to voice but are bubbling right beneath the surface. Like I said, she SAYS she is supportive... but I know her better.
Well, time will tell and the proof will be in the pudding I guess. I think her other hangup is the idea of me being full time at home, basically forever. I have a part-time job that is ending in a couple of weeks and she has - in her passive subtle way, that she doesn't think I should stop working.
She says she wants to go to some conventions with me though. I guess she is trying. She came last night, INSISTED on taking her own information folder, and is still asking to know more. So... I guess that is good!
But, here we go! She won't be the only one in my life with hangups about it. She's just the only one who really actually knows this is our plan. We've just chosen not to talk about it with anyone else.
But her only child tends to go against the grain and I don't think she always knows how to deal with it.
My oldest son will be old enough to attend public school kindergarten this fall. But my DH and I decided long ago we'd homeschool. When I saw an informal information session was being offered by a local association I asked my mother if she wanted to come. She actually agreed with quite a bit of enthusiasm.
She has been verbally supportive. But her tone of voice and body language let me know she has opinions she isn't expressing. I was glad she wanted to go last night.
It was a great night. The panel talked about their kids who are in college, the graduation ceremonies the association holds, the different kinds of groups and activities the kids are all in or have been in, statistical data about how homeschooled students score higher academically and socially. All in a nice laid back, in no way preachy, low key style. I loved it.
I didn't hear a darn thing I didn't already know. But that's ok. It is nice to hear it again, and from veterans.
But her hangups started to show through. One is there is no system of accountability for families who choose to homeschool. In CT there is no mandated testing or other means to determine if a child is "staying on grade level." That is part of the beauty to me. I LOVE that. But she thinks it is wrong. She knows a family that tried homeschooling and the kid ended up 2 grades behind. She thinks someone should have stepped in.
She keeps saying... "I'm not worried about YOU guys not making sure the kids keep up." Uh... yeah right.
So it seems she didn't hear anything after they went over the laws.
Another hangup that surfaced was the old SOCIALIZATION!
So what I really what I learned last night (and really already knew) is my mother has a lot of hangups she is choosing not to voice but are bubbling right beneath the surface. Like I said, she SAYS she is supportive... but I know her better.
Well, time will tell and the proof will be in the pudding I guess. I think her other hangup is the idea of me being full time at home, basically forever. I have a part-time job that is ending in a couple of weeks and she has - in her passive subtle way, that she doesn't think I should stop working.
She says she wants to go to some conventions with me though. I guess she is trying. She came last night, INSISTED on taking her own information folder, and is still asking to know more. So... I guess that is good!
But, here we go! She won't be the only one in my life with hangups about it. She's just the only one who really actually knows this is our plan. We've just chosen not to talk about it with anyone else.
, by David and Micki Colfax. I mean I handed it to each of them and never heard another word of concern or a question form either of them - only a couple of comments on the order of "Well, what do you know - sounds like it works pretty well." It's by a couple of former academicians who left academia to build a homestead and eventually establish a successful goat farm with their four sons (who were little when the adventure began) - and then they made the news when the first son was admitted to Harvard. Since then, there have been multiple impressive degrees and careers involving exceptional community service among their sons. 
Lillian
