Thick headed homeschooling

Had to add that video. One of my favorite commercials. Especially the last line... "What a Dumbass."

That was me. Thick headed but with big plans.

I had invested myself deeply in the planning. I was in love with the idea of myself as the teacher. We had to use all that curriculum I'd purchased. HAD to. It was perfect, of course. I'd put a lot of thought into it.

I was not going to raise a stupid child. I was going to prove to the whole world that we were doing a good job homeschooling. That I was a good parent. Conscientious. Dedicated. MY son was going to be far ahead of anyone his age who was in school.

Yup. I had all kinds of plans and was going to implement them all. I was in charge of my son's education.

But my little boy was ready to show me something different.

In January we took our weekly trip to the library.

The rules for library books were... there were no rules. Never said 'that's too complicated a book for you' or, when he checked out a book he'd loved as a little guy, 'That book is too easy.'

Anything he wanted to check out was fine.

He had been interested in airplanes and flying since he was just a toddler, and always loved looking at picture books with planes in them. He avidly watched the Discovery Wings channel, and could identify several different aircraft as they flew over on their approach to the airport.

Now where was I? Oh yeah. The library.
He somehow found some technical manuals for planes. He was so excited by the diagrams and the explanations that he was quoting facts and figures loudly and jumping up and down beside me while I was checking out the books. I saw several adults smiling at his enthusiasm.

We brought them home and he piled them around himself on the couch. He started reading immediately. I don't know if he knew all the words or not. I didn't know if he understood the concepts. But he was so... intense and focused. Even now, 14 years later, I get a shiver when I remember it.

Well, it was time for afternoon lessons. We'd have to hurry if we were going to be done in time to pick up my extra boys from school.

I got out the books and workbook and sharpened a pencil for him. Peeked around the corner into the living room where he was still flipping through pages, oblivious.

I went to the bathroom, washed my hands and came back. He was still reading.

I started to tell him it was time to do schoolwork... and I stopped. What was I thinking? Interrupt his excitement for grammar lessons? Wasn't he getting a grammar lesson from the airplane books? Well, yes, of course he was. And it wasn't anywhere near his 2nd grade level, either in reading or grammar or, well, anything.

Now the more schoolish among you might be saying yeah but.

Yeah but how did you know he was learning it if he wasn't writing any of it down?

I knew by the way he followed me around for the next week spouting facts and figures and talking so fast his words tripped over each other. By watching him do the same thing when his dad came home from work. By listening to him talk to his "Whisker Grandpa" on the telephone.

I knew by the artwork that suddenly started to appear all over the house. By the way my ruler and favorite pencil were always missing. He needed them for the drawings to be accurate, you see.

Yeah but weren't you afraid he might be missing a lesson or a concept?
No. What I was really afraid of is the fact that I'd suddenly realized just how smart my little boy was... and I was suddenly intimidated. How in the world would I give him everything he needed?

I left him alone to read that afternoon, and when it was time to go pick up the boys, he carried the book out the front door with him, still reading. He sat on the front lawn of the school with his book open in his lap, reading out loud to me.

Our first big breakthrough from schooling to actual learning, I guess.
Now please understand my family ended up unschooling and loving it.
This does not mean I think your family should do it my way.

But for my family, it was definitely the way to go. It just took some time for this idea to get through my thick head:

The less I tried to take charge of Matt's learning, the more he learned.

Tomorrow, how we decided to cut up in class.