Life Learning

Whenever I get around to getting all three of us out the door and to the library, we have a little routine. First we stop by the book drop to return books that we are finished with or are due. (If there’s a huge stack, I go through the drive-through return so I don’t have to lug a whole armload or bagful of books into the building along with L in the carrier and A pulling at my arm and trying to run off every which way.) Then, if I’m up to it, go by 2 or 3 certain sections, browse quickly, and pick a couple before A runs around to another aisle on the other side and peeks at me inbetween the books, giggling and squealing at her own little game of hide & seek, in the quiet library, no less. (A new ‘rule’ I instated is that she has to stay by mom if we’re going to stay and play with toys in the children’s dept.) Anyways, one of the sections I usually visit is the section with Education and Homeschooling books, usually around Dewey # 371, and last week I checked out “Homeschooling and the Voyage of Self-Discovery” by David Albert , which seems so far, (I’m on page 40 out of 253) to be a collection of essays that he’s written as a homeschooling dad, which has me thinking on education in general and my education and whatnot. I’ve also come across a couple email group posts in the past couple weeks on the same subject recently. A couple years ago while perusing this same section in the library I picked up a couple books by John Holt who seems to be ‘the guy’ in this “school” (ha!) of thought called Unschooling, which says that children are programmed to naturally learn, and that putting them in a structured school situation is not always the best way for them to learn. Children learn an unimaginable amount of information before they even set foot in a structured classroom, and that rate of learning often comes to a screeching halt once they do. Understandably, ‘unschooling’ is not always the answer for every child or every family. Some kids will need the structure, some families can’t afford for a parent to stay home, etc. And I don’t know that it will be the right answer for our family either. However, what I love about the families I’ve read about is their love of learning, modeled by the parents, for the kids, and learning becomes life. Life is learning. Things and situations that are encountered every day, like a trip to the grocery store can be incredible learning experiences. No, subjects are not broken down into nice neat little compartments, but ‘subjects’ overlap in real life.

So, I guess what I’m pondering now, is that “homeschool” doesn’t have to mean “school-at-home”, but homeschooling can give the freedom for kids to live a life that is all about learning.

Routine

I think I’ve finally come to terms with “just” being a SAHM. Yes, this is what I always wanted to be ‘when I grow up’. But that whole thing of having a college degree and having earning ‘potential’ kinda bugged me. Well, maybe not bugged me, but it was just this thought, this ‘thing’, that was there. For the couple of years before A was born, I was the one who brought home the bacon since hubby was in school full time. Once she arrived, hubby was the breadwinner and I stayed home. (Which worked well, btw since we were already used to getting by on one income!) The transition was rather quick too. T started his new job and A was born something like two or three weeks later.

I guess the main thing I missed about the work world was the feeling of accomplishment when reaching goals, checking things off my to-do list, that sorta thing. All that went out the window when my new to-do list revolved around a newborn, which meant ‘nurse baby’ was the #1 priority, and everything else just fell by the wayside. And there’s no feeling of accomplishment when you have to do it all over again in an hour! Baby cries, change diaper, nurse baby, baby falls asleep, mom doesn’t put baby down ‘cause she’ll wake up if she does, baby sleeps while mom reads parenting book, baby wakes up, cries, change diaper….. That’s what my day now looked like. If I got the dishwasher loaded or unloaded, a load of clothes washed, dried or folded, or dinner made in addition to that, I was doing REALLY good.

Enter babywearing. A concept I found while reading one of those parenting books mentioned earlier. I went to Target and got just a cheap Infantino version of the baby bjorn, and was so amazed. I now had two, yes TWO, hands free! And the rest of the story is in a previous blog below. So now I’m able to actually get a few things done while still comforting a baby who needs mommy’s continual touch.

I’ve also gotten back into my ‘reaching goals, checking things off my to-do list’ thing. Except now, the list looks a little different: Potty train toddler (long term to-do), story time, playgroups, support groups, blog… Some get done. Some don’t. But that’s life. :-)