When I started doing school time with my son back in August, it
was more challenging than I anticipated. I knew that there would be a period of
adjustment in getting used to doing this for both my son and I. But there were
a lot of little things I think I was naive about and I struggled with
having unrealistic expectations of what my son should have been able to do. Why
can't my 3 year old magically pick up a pair of scissors and know how to use
them not only in the right way, but do it well, when he's never touched a pair
in his life? Crazy!
After about 2 weeks of
struggling through, I kind of fell apart and started to really question if I
would be able to continue to do homeschooling with him. One of the things
I struggled with was my son was wanting to do things completely different than
what I had planned the lessons/activities to be. That was really hard for
me. When I expressed my concerns to my husband, he suggested something
that, for me, was a little unnatural. He told me "not to check the
box". As in, it's okay if my son does things completely different than
what I was planning and expecting. And it's okay if the butterfly pieces get
glued backwards and out of order and look nothing like a butterfly. And it's
okay if he wants to make the letter T over and over again with the peg board instead
of trying to make the letter A. The point is for him to try new things and have
fun with it. Once I got it in my head that this was an okay concept and my
whole world wasn't going to collapse if I tried it, things started going
better.
One of the things I had
been frustrated with was my son trying something once and then wanting me to do
it. I kept thinking, I know how to do this, I don't need the practice, this is
for him. My husband pointed out that he does this with a lot of things. He
likes to see us do something and then he tries it when he feels ready.
So I started to do the activities with him, not just sit and watch him.
What a difference!! There are so many little things that after doing it with
him a few times, he now really enjoys doing them on his own. I still sit and do
a lot with him, not because he can't or won't try, but because it is more fun
for both of us.
My new goal in our
homeschool adventure, remember "Don't Check the Box". So far it has
been a success and made things go a lot smoother and we get quite a bit
accomplished. I don't let everything go completely awry, but when it seems like
something's not working for us, I try to remember, what would this look like to
not check the box. It keeps my blood pressure down, my son happy, and school
time much more enjoyable.
