But I Want You To Teach Me!

Over the past six months, Yoshi has tried out the following:

Gymnastics
Circus Skills
Philosophy
Archery
Digital Drawing
Reader's Theatre

and last week

French

Fencing is in the planning stage. And I wouldn't mind throwing some music in the mix.

To me, Queen of children-don't-require-umpteen-activities, this seems excessive. And if things continued this way, it would be.

I'm thinking of this year as a 'taster' year, where Yoshi can try out a whole stack of stuff and see what he likes. Gym, archery and (surprise!) reader's theatre are in the lead so far.

After the year is out, I think we'll discuss and settle on one or two favourite activities and stick with them through 5th grade, with a focus on mastery rather than variety.

I also think it's really important that my children learn how to learn from other people. I mean, I'm flattered that certain people want me to teach them everything. I just don't think it's ideal. That might seem a surprising comment from a dedicated home schooler, but for me, home schooling is about avoiding a particular kind of institutional learning rather than about avoiding teachers or classes.

A good teacher or a great class is something to be embraced for its own sake, but also because - let's face it - being taught by a variety of people who are not your mother is a huge part of living in this society. And I want my children to be comfortable with that, to have had enough experience to function in class settings, to be able to communicate appropriately with teachers, to appreciate good teaching, to be discerning about less-than-stellar experiences and to be able to teach others themselves.

Will I be glad when this year of everything is done ? Oh yeah - but I'll also be glad I pushed just that little bit, now my boy is old enough, against the cries of 'But I want you to teach me!'