Two Kinds Of Stretching

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School So Far

How are things going?  

Pretty okay, I’d have to say. I had some trepidation going into this homeschool year, with young Tee back from his brief foray into public school. I wasn’t quite sure whether he and I could make it work, to be honest. He’s a difficult kid to “teach”. He doesn’t take kindly to instruction, has limited patience for sit-down work, and has a very limited attention span for topics that he doesn’t find immediately compelling. He’s kind of flighty, kind of dreamy, and quite inward looking. Must have a rich inner life, I keep telling myself. The hardest bit is that he has never really been easy to manipulate. I don’t mean that in a bad way. Just that it’s been hard to find out what motivates him. Unlike others of my children, he has never seemed particulary fussed about pleasing me. Sure, he likes to please, but not if it gets in the way of something he’d rather have, or do. He takes my lectures with a huge grain of salt, and a barely suppressed ho-hum. In the past, this has driven me beyond distraction, and I was more than a little concerned that we were in for a personality clash this year.

Not to mention that little Miss Jay is his antithesis. She’s a model student, ever-eager, pencil sharpened, jumping at the mere mention of a project, hopping up and down in her excitement over doing something “school-like”. The more sit-down work, the happier she is. Hasn’t met a workbook she wasn’t eager to try. A challenge you say? Bring it on! A mere hint of disapproval in my glance is enough to stop her in her tracks. Easy to motivate, easy to please, easy to “teach”.

A recipe for sibling disaster.

And yet, not so.

Strangely, they’re getting along well. The two of them are a little team, for the most part. I don’t know if it’s because they know they’re in it together, or if Tee’s particularly motivated to make this work, or if they’re just getting older, or what. I like to think that this homeschool year will give them the opportunity to forge a friendship that they might not otherwise have had, provide them with some common ground that they certainly wouldn’t have had if they were separated in different classes in school all day.

As for me, I’m appreciating facets of Tee’s personality in new ways. Having him at home, out from under the dominating prescence of the two older kids, has given me a chance to hear his voice a little more clearly. I see his sweetness, his gentleness, and his idealism. His goofy humour. I’m getting a feel for his rhythms, and gaining an understanding of his moods.

Jay is much easier to homeschool, because she fits into the traditional model of what a student should be. I have a bit of a challenge ahead with young Tee, but I think I’m getting a hang of what he needs.

I am going to try to let him be the leader, because I think he knows where he’s going.

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