I think the best word to describe our experience would probably be "fiasco".
Strangely, out of the four of us, I enjoyed homeschooling the most. This is not what I expected. I fully anticipated pulling my hair out and just putting one foot in front of the other because it seemed to be our best choice. But I actually really liked some aspects of our adventure! For one, I have a finger on my kids' pulse and know where they are strong and where they need a little extra support. Ollie and I (ok, mostly I) have decided we are going to continue to work on math lessons to build his confidence. Last night he even told me he was grateful for the extra math help and said "thank you for teaching math to me". I hadn't even realized how much he was struggling/faking it last year.
I also liked the flexible schedule and how for the most part they just got to be kids. Taking breaks to play, taking breaks to examine bugs, taking breaks to explore outside. They held pencils, needed paper, checked out books from the library, and did not sit in front of screens for hours.
In hindsight though, one major problem we had was too much time together. The big boys worked on roughly the same thing at the same time, which caused more explosions than I anticipated. Of course hindsight is 20/20, but I should have saw this coming and tried to vary when they were working on subjects. I was trying to make it easy on myself and inadvertently made a mess for myself. Also, with both big boys busy working at the same time there was no playmate left for our littlest buddy, who did not appreciate being asked to play by himself, no matter how small the time increments.
Then there is the issue of having just moved. When we started the boys and I had zero friends, no community to speak of. We were isolated with no outlets. Who wants to play with the same kids that you were just yelling at during an ELAR lesson? Not the three Mot boys, that's for sure.
Now, thankfully, we are spreading our wings a little in the area of people we know who have different last names than us. The kids have made fast friends with Sebastian and Santiago, two neighbor boys who live a block away and have re-kindled our love of Bey Blades. The Hohbeins also introduced us to some old friends of theirs, and they have been such a blessing to our lives. A friend for me, and one for Ollie. Plus I hear the husband is a die hard Chiefs fan, so we are going to have to explore that further.
Our district will open back up next Monday for in-person classes. Depending on your viewpoint, that is a month sooner than I anticipated. The way it sounded at one point made me think school would not start until October or November, with only a virtual option for months. (Also depending on your viewpoint, school is starting a month later than I expected when I was a naive person living in May 2020 and was told school would open in person on August 10th.) We are ALL signed up and ready to go! I think everyone was nervous about this at one point in time, but I also think the big boys know full well that we have been living a hot mess and everyone is relieved we are going back. Something normal. Something we have done before with a mix of people and friends to be made.
In anticipation of going back to in-person school we enrolled everyone, which meant we had a week or so of virtual. This has actually been great, teachers have been excellent; kindness, grace, and patience have been the norm. This has put my big boys at ease. Seth told me a few days ago, "I'm not nervous about middle school anymore because I've seen how nice my teachers are." I heartily agreed. Ollie has not said anything like that to me, but I think he has been thinking it as well.
And for me? I am like a senior in high school waiting for graduation. Like a child during the Christmas season. I love these boys, but I CANNOT WAIT to get them out of the house. I have 20 projects I want to do to our home (many involving paint and a desire for Noey to stay far, far away), plus I feel like this whole situation has confirmed how much I enjoy teaching. I have applied to sub and want to eventually get a full time job in an elementary school again. I feel like I'm ready to launch and can't wait.
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