Two souls, fortunately, reside within my breast . . .
One is the Homeschool Mother, full of bright ideas for learning. The other is the Homeschool Kid, who hasn't quite departed over the past 15 years, and who sometimes has to weigh in to keep things from getting out of hand.
HSM: "Wow, The Heroes* is a wonderful book of stories. I can't wait to read it out loud to the kids."
HSK: "Yeah, it's really cool. Ha ha, I bet they try to read ahead."
HSM: "No fair! What a great way to supplement studying Ancient Greece, and to talk about the heroic ideals of the Greeks."
HSK: "Sure, and I bet they can remember what happens better than you can."
HSM: "We can use some of the quotes for copywork, even."
HSK: "Yeah, that's OK, if you must."
HSM: "And then, wouldn't it be fun to act out the stories--maybe do a play or something? Perhaps I should assign that . . . "
HSK: "Oh, please."
HSM: "What? They're going to like doing that sort of thing."
HSK: "It's fun if they want to do it. It's not fun if you make them do it."
HSM: "Hey, I'm the mom! It's my job to give assignments!"
HSK: "Work, sure. But it's no fair to have you assigning them things because you think they're fun. If you think they're fun, you go do them. And if they really are fun, maybe the kids will want to do them, too."
HSM: "Oh."
HSK: "Don't worry, they're quite capable of coming up with things to play on their own."
HSM: "Come to think of it, you always did learn the most and come up with the most creative projects when you were left to yourself. All right, all right. I'll just give them the ideas and let them build on them."
HSK: "Thanks. Try not to embarrass me too much."
*By Charles Kingsley. It really is a great book. | 