When Change Is Needed

Sometimes things seem to be working out just fine, until one morning you wake up and nothing seems to be working anymore.

Your routine, your appliances, your lesson plans, your to-do lists, your efforts with anything… There is something amiss with all of it.

As I expressed in my last post, my husband and I have a deep and sincere desire to forge a new life for ourselves and start a homestead. We have realized for years that we simply don’t fit into the current social standards and ways of living and a great change seems to be needed.

But sometimes, only small changes are needed – and these small changes can have a large impact.

Recently I began noticing that my son was having a hard time with his fifth grade curriculum. I don’t think there is anything wrong with the curriculum itself, nor is there anything wrong with my son…it just isn’t a good fit at the moment.

It just wasn’t working.

Being only 9 1/2 years old, a fifth grade curriculum is a year (or two) ahead of what other children his age are working on. We jumped ahead a year when we pulled him out of public school, only a couple of months into his kindergarten year, because he was already ahead academically and we thought he could handle a first grade curriculum. And it turned out he most certainly could.

Though we had many battles of will (which we still do), he was more than capable of handling curriculum that was more advanced than what his peers probably had. Until now.

Up until about forth or fifth grade, a lot of a child’s learning is rote memorization. While working on our forth grade curriculum last year, there was a great deal more critical thinking and reading comprehension involved, which J.J. has a lot of difficulty with (I think mostly due to his being on the spectrum), but we forged ahead anyway. I thought if I just kept challenging him and pushing him forward it would eventually “click”. This is how a lot of things work with him. We will struggle through things together until one day he just gets it.

But… It still hasn’t clicked yet.

So, as I was going through my mountains of school materials, workbooks, and math manipulatives (thanks to my retired school teacher father-in-law!) this past weekend…I decided make better use of all of the materials my father-in-law has most graciously given to me. We have workbooks on Logical Thinking, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, oodles of Math Workbooks at various levels, and much, much, more.

I made the tough decision to set aside the fifth grade curriculum for now, in hopes that we will strengthen some of the skills J.J. has the most difficulty with before we eventually return to the curriculum.

I say “tough decision” because I have to admit to myself, my husband, and to my son that things aren’t going well right now. I have to set aside my pride and admit that things just aren’t working out — even with what I consider a near-perfect curriculum. I have to admit that we need to slow down. I have to admit that there are things my son has great difficulty with. He is a very bright child and thrives with tasks and subjects that require memorization, but has troubles when deeper and more critical thinking is involved.

I have to admit… That it’s ok.

 

I am so very fortunate that I do homeschool and it is a great privilege to be able to give my son what he needs — a few years ago we needed to jump ahead, and now we need to slow down.

Perhaps things will click and things will speed up again. Perhaps we will slow down to the point where he is on the same grade level with his peers again.

The point is to give him what he really needs. Not to give him what I think he should need…but what he truly needs.

I am so very grateful I have the freedom and opportunity to give that to him.

 

 

Ready for Another Year

**This is an archived blog post from July 20, 2012**

 

It is time for another school year! I am beginning early this year to allow for more breaks within the school year and to create a more “year round” schedule of learning for J.J. I have several goals for myself as a parent and teacher this time around, now that I know more about homeschooling with a Waldorf-inspired curriculum.

Haven’t heard of a Waldorf Education? It is based around the education philosophies of Rudolf Steiner, a great thinker of the late 19th and early 20th century. A Waldorf Education aims to harmonize what the child learns and experiences with the different developmental levels and spirit of the child. If I could describe this method in one word I would say it is “holistic”. I love it for several reasons, but mostly because it seems to embody the way I want to raise and educate my children. It is creative, nurturing, and it puts a lot of emphasis on nature.

The particular curriculum I use is from Oak Meadow — an online school from which you may also choose to purchase only the materials in order to teach your child on your own, which is what I do. I find the syllabus and accompanying materials to be very reasonable in price, especially for the quality you receive. Also, they compose their lessons on a weekly basis instead of daily, so it gives the parent/educator more flexibility and freedom in their daily rhythm and schedule with their child. They do give recommendations on how to set up each day, such as beginning each day with a “Circle Time” in which you read an Opening Verse (a simple rhyme to be used for the whole year), a Movement Verse (to be chosen by you or your child from a large compilation of different songs, rhymes, and fingerplays), and a Closing Verse (another simple rhyme to be used the whole year).

Throughout this summer I have been doing more research about Waldorf Education, as I went into the first grade curriculum last year knowing next to nothing about it. Since I plan to keep using a Waldord-inspired curriculum, I figured I should know more about it so that I may use it to its fullest potential. So far, I have read “You Are Your Child’s First Teacher” by Rahima Baldwin Dancy and I am currently reading “Waldorf Education: A Family Guide”. I would also like to do more research on Rudolf Steiner, as he had many valuable views and philosophies about several aspects in life.

I plan to post more about the curriculum, Waldorf Education, and Rudolf Steiner as I learn more. I am always aiming to better myself as a person, mother, wife, and teacher. The introduction to the Second Grade Syllabus from Oak Meadow says it well:

“We believe that, as a Home Teacher, you should be continually striving to unfold the potential within yourself so that you can respond more deeply and spontaneously to your child. In working with children, it is never the techniques you have learned through the years that cause children to develop their capabilities. Rather, it is the strength of your being, the light of your understanding, and the love you have for them as fellow beings that draws the latent spark of individuality within them into active manifestation. It is this that makes teaching such a difficult endeavor. To be an effective teacher you must persistently seek to unfold and refine your own strengths before you can ever hope to unfold and refine the strengths in your child.”

I whole-heartedly believe every word of it, and it is for the sake of my children above all that drives me to “seek to unfold and refine” my strengths. They are my love and my life.