I am going to stop berating my decision to homeschool Rose in the way I chose to for the past four or more years. Our first two years of homeschooling were done according to the public school method of teaching: workbooks, quizzes and tests. Then when Margaret was born, and we had some concerns about her health, we had to adapt. It was that year that I embraced a modified unschooling approach. In the ensuing years we had more children, but every time I tried to reintroduce the public school method, we had a break down in the family. The fact is, if we would have used the modern method our family would have suffered.
The reason I have this revelation now is because Rose is starting high school and her work is becoming more demanding and more like the modern method. Not that I'm embracing that approach, I just don't want her to be surprised when she goes to college and encounters a true or false test.
Monday, as we stood in front of my desk looking at her vocabulary work, a naked Little Mark (still potty training: see previous posts 1, 2,) climbed on a stool and proceeded to pee on her leg. Now most people Rose's age would have been so disgusted they wouldn't have been able to proceed. But Rose is so good-natured about her siblings (and particularly LMark's antics) we just cleaned up the mess and moved forward with her vocabulary.
As we sat yesterday discussing our life as homeschoolers and her future college career, I tried to encourage Rose by telling her that she is working amid circumstances that few high schoolers would ever have to. When she goes to college and finds that the only distraction is the stereo in the next dorm, I think she'll be delighted. Besides, it reminds me of The World According to Garp when the plane flies into a house he's looking to buy, Garp announces "We'll take it! What are the chances of something like that ever happening again??" Would that we all could breathe such a sigh of relief.
Rose should never again have to worry about someone peeing on her leg during a vocabulary lesson.
