Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Tech week

It's tech week and Mike's out of town. That means I have to stay awake all hours to go get Jonathan from the theatre when he is done. Actually even when Mike is home, I'm generally the one doing that. Why, though, does it seem like I am the most tired when I have to stay awake?! Jonathan is again helping with the lights for the mainstage show that will open this week, that is in addition to the regular kids show (Bugsy Malone), the extra kids show (Best Christmas Pageant Ever), and Christmas tour (performing for all the local light ups, nursing homes etc). Then there's the second stage show that he will be working on as well which opens next weekend.

I've never been a wishy washy homeschooler, but as the trail blazer for homeschooling high school, I'm sometimes second guessing myself. My general thought is that we must play the game and take the typical high school classes. This is working for Jonathan. It's the current emails and phone calls about lack of adequate progress being made in Spanish that gets me stressed out. The progress (or lack of) is in time not grade, his grade is good. My questioning comes in when I try to figure out if it's a time management problem or if it's an unrealistic expectation on all of our parts regarding how much can actually be accomplished in a day. I know I personally have unrealistic expectations about how much I can get done in a day. How much down time is appropriate? If the theatre takes up x-amount of hours, does that mean Jonathan has used up all his down time and should not be allowed to watch Seinfeld (or the netflix documentary on the American Revolution)? When he wants to chat should I send him back to work? When he cleans the kitchen should I send him back to work? Questions questions!

On a different but similar note I read an amazing commentary on homeschooling today. It is especially interesting considering Mike just told me there was an article in USA TODAY about how some doctors are dropping patients because they refuse to vaccinate. AND the Yahoo headline story was about the city of Milwaukee scaring parents into not co-sleeping with their kids. I spend most of my time surrounded by people who know that as the parent it is their decision how to educate their kids, their decision whether or not to vaccinate, their decision where their children will sleep. I am sometimes still shocked and always baffled by parents who don't realize those are their God given rights. The government or the doctor or the teacher should no be making these decisions. I might be struggling over how best to educate my high schooler, but I am certainly glad that I know it is our family's own decision to make.

2 comments:

DebiH. said...

Great commentary on homeschooling and discipling. That is such a true description of what should be happening at home. Don't even get me started on the co-sleeping scare article. I read it this morning. I could write a whole post!

ann marie said...

Wow, that was an interesting picture they put up for that co-sleeping article. They really wanted to make their point. I guess they figure spreading fear will do the trick. I liked the article on homeschooling. Now that Jane is in high school I go back and forth about whether I am doing the right thing or enough. That was why that quote I put up yesterday was so good. I printed it out and am going to look at it every morning before we start the day.