Stereotypes
We have been discussing stereotypes lately and how and why they came about. Stereotypes are everywhere and I bet that you think or say at least one every day. They aren’t necessarily meant to be mean or to promote hate but they can be hurtful in the way it sways the opinion of a person. For instance the cops and donuts stereotype while not particularly hurtful does make them sound like fat bumbling idiots unable to do their job. It is not particularly mean like some stereotypes out there but is still subtly swaying your mind to believe something. The more vicious stereotypes are meant to promote hate towards people who are different than you. Anytime you find yourself with a preconceived notion of a person take a quick look at why.
Last night while we were at our communities Trunk-or-Treat the girls convinced me to walk through the haunted house with them. The first scene when we walked in was a witch sitting by her fire stirring her cauldron. The kids were puzzled by her, especially Tav who was being invited to stick her hands or feet inside. Tav kept asking her why she would do that and after asking several ways for Tav to get in, the witch finally said she was going to cook and eat her. Tav replied why would she do that, witches don’t eat children. Go Tav! She must have puzzled over that for quite sometime because several hours later she curled up in my lap and had to discuss it because she was really disturbed by the whole thing. 
I found that brought to light some of the feelings I had buried in my busyness this October. I love Halloween. I love the colors and the pageantry and the joy of children and the inner child. I also love the excuse to put up decor I might find too stifling the rest of the year, dark things like my ravens and bats. I also enjoy the excuse to put out things that bring images of magic to my mind. Potion bottles, herb bundles and other stereotypical (there is that word!) witch imagery. I love being able to have all this stuff lying around with no one thinking anything about it. I also feel a little put out with the scary, ugly, eats children, witch stereotypes. What other religion has to put up with a whole holiday celebrating the misconceptions about you? I am not an easily offended person and I also love a bit of fun and revelry and I am sure that plays into my riding the fence on the issue. I also doubt anything will change any time soon but as for me I can do my part by educating my children into realizing that the world is a wonderful and diverse place.
And so our story begins..
Today we have started a little more formal style of homeschooling. Never mind that one girl is sitting beside me on the couch and the other is sprawled out on a yoga mat with jar lids she is using for counting scattered about since that is about as formal as we are likely to get. So far in an hour we have done math, language, science and a fair bit of ooo we could do this or that. We are great adders of more than we need always coming up with great ideas. Bad idea when remodeling (just ask how I know) but when learning I love it. I believe I am going to find it a bit hard to keep us from wandering all over. I am hoping that is a problem where my relaxed and unschooling tendencies will come to be a great asset.
Today for Tav we started Teach Your Child to Read In 100 Easy Lessons. I decided since she was learning sight words in public school with no real success that we would just start from the very beginning. I understand sight words and I get that those are words she will see over and over so she should just know them but to learn them with no real comprehension just memorizing makes little sense. Well at least for her but isn’t that one of the reasons to homeschool? Other than that we are just working on basic addition and subtraction for now with other math basics slid in more like a game than anything else. We are also practicing handwriting and neatness.
LittleMiss is a different kettle of fish. She has public school so ingrained I am having trouble shaking it loose. She has that follow all the rules no exceptions mentality and I am not sure if that is her personality or if it is a holdover from public school. What makes me mad is that I feel like I do not know because I gave her to them for 4 years and I did not see how that developed though from the way things are around here I don’t think we taught it to her. Although that is definitely something I should ponder further. Whatever it is I do not like it and I want her to just let go and relax. She always seems so stressed trying to be just so. With her I am encouraging a mixture of rigid ,this is what we are doing like it or not, and rambling and exploring whatever pops into her head as deeply or shallowly as she likes. I think that should satisfy her public school mentality and ease her more into what I want for her. That being a joy of learning and investigating things for herself. I believe that what she learns is not nearly as important as the fact that she is learning. After all no two people know exactly the same things and wouldn’t the world be boring if we did.
So WOW this homeschooling thing is hard! The self doubt is the hardest part. Am I teaching them the things they need in this moment in the proper order so we don’t miss something crucial and make it harder on them. Am I teaching to much or too little of one subject? How fast should we be moving through subject matter? Am I boring them to tears? How will I ever get all the things I need to do balanced out? I could go on for quite awhile with the doubts but you get the idea and probably could add some of your own. However logically I know that this will get easier and faster to plan and that as I gain experience I will gain confidence. I don’t think that day will come fast enough but I will do my best to breathe deep calming breaths until it does. I will need those for the patience as well. I will also remember that this is one of the most worthwhile things I can do for my children and my family and that all the angst and irritation as I try to balance things is very worth it.
A couple resources I used today that I quite like are Spelling City and Super Teacher Worksheets. I have also discovered a great bookmarking site Diigo that has neat features and helps eliminate that “now which computer did I bookmark that on” talking to yourself bit. Hey anything that helps you look less crazy is great right?
