April Fool’s!
We have likely all felt the fool in one way or another. Share your greatest challenge. Or one of those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days where the only thing there is to do seems to involve moving to Australia.
Well, since I’m from Australia, I can vouch for the fact that it is a pretty nice place to go when you are in a bad mood - but of course, as the story goes, people in Australia have problems too :)
Let me begin by saying, I have felt the fool many times.
If you visit the online dictionary you will find that a fool is defined in the following ways:
1. One was is deficient in judgment, sense, or understanding - check.
2. One who acts unwisely on a given occasion - check.
3. One who has been tricked or made to appear ridiculous - check!
There are many times (most of the time actually) that I feel I know nothing at all. In regards to homeschooling, and parenting in general, I often find myself at a loss for what to do, how to communicate, and where to turn next. I did very well in the school system, but that hasn’t helped me one bit.
Every day I am embarking on new territory. I have never been a mother before, and certainly not a homeschooling one! Most of us are going through on-the-job training; I figure it must be okay, everyone who becomes a parent for the first time has to learn how it all works. Even Manoah (Samson’s father), in Judges 13:8, prayed for help:
‘Then Manoah prayed to the LORD : "O LORD, I beg you, let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born."’
I’d like some one-on-one training with a man of God too (wouldn’t we all).
Besides the fact that I often feel I am fumbling around in the dark, I have an intense child who really likes to get things right. The problem is, she is only 6, and gets things wrong sometimes.
Each time she makes a mistake, like writing an number backward or coming up with the wrong answer in a math problem, I use my sweetest voice to correct her. I cringe inside, knowing what is coming....
Here is an example from a few weeks ago: We were doing math and she wrote the numbers backward and the incorrect answer. I asked her to look at her paper to check her work. She couldn’t see anything wrong with it. I kindly directed her to the numbers to show her they were written backwards. In my nicest voice I said, "The three goes this way sweetie." She began to tense up, then this:
If you can’t read it, she wrote: I HAT IT (I hate it). Then, TROO (true) - with an arrow pointing to the I HAT IT!
I don’t know how many times I have explained that everyone makes mistakes and that I don’t expect her to know everything - she is just learning. Mommy makes mistakes all the time...etc. etc. I also told her that she is not allowed to write those things on her papers.
This is probably the hardest thing we are dealing with. Sure, I could use a little more organization and a little help with how to teach her, but honestly, I would just like to know how to get her to do her best and not feel so distraught when things don’t go as planned.
Don’t feel too sorry for me though...I get fun little drawings given to me every day. Like the pregnant alphabet below:
(She drew this about 1 1/2 years ago)
My terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days are not that bad (except for that time my son swallowed an almond and we had to be flown to a children's hosptial to get it out!). Please visit Dana to read about what other mom's are dealing with in their homeschool.
Hope your day is a good one  | 
. It was just a jolly old time!! 
).
