This post turn out much longer then expected.
So last night I committed to writing about my fears today. My fears about hs. I could say in general that hs is scary but I want to look deeper into my fears in hopes that I will see away past them. These are fears that come and go depending on the day, week and who we have seen or talked to.
So lets start with the fear that they are not learning what they will need to know. Some days this hits me like a ton of bricks. That my kids will not know what there peers know from public school. They will not have read the same books, been shown some side of history or been exposed to some new math idea because they are not in ps. Or some other class I don't even know they do.
But as I know kids are not exposed to the same thing school to school never mind province to province, the ideas that the kids are shown are different. Yes everyone learns to do basic math, but some never move past that, while others go on to advance algebra. They all learn to read, what they read and how often depends on assignments and teacher. They all have some sort of health or sex ed. But depending on the teacher this can be a good or bad experience. History is always boring full of dates and numbers no matter what teacher you have in ps because they can not talk about the religion that made so much of history. So I can talk myself out of the fear in these subjects (most days).
English is where I hit a wall. Some kids come out of ps great spellers, writers, and litature geniuses. Others come out hating the written word, never write a story, essay or letter again. Keeping all communication to text and e-mail, blaming bad spelling on typing errors and missed words in spell check. Would they have always been like this or would it have been different if they came to writing on there own. This is my leap of faith. My kids hate writing!! Hate, hate, hate it. But I like to write, to see my ideas, to re read my thoughts. (The funny thing is I can not spell my way out of a paper bag.) My fear on this one is because I don't make my kids write their thoughts down, don't make them think about paragraph structure or story development they may never learn to enjoy writing. The other side of that coin is if I do force it on them, I might kill a love for it before it has started to blossom, or I might push them away from the idea. They may never like writing like there father and I might just be making work and stress for nothing.
Another fear of mine is them missing out on something they could get at ps. Christmas concerts, band class, art class, being a patrol or lunch time PE games. Both my kids have told me they hated the concerts, they were in. Neither have shown any interest in a musical interment, standing out in the cold to help younger ones cross the street, or wanting to play games more then they already do at the YMCA. But this is still a fear for me and some of these things I just can not offer to them in the same way.....wait as I write this I see I could offer all these things to them just in different ways. All they need to do is show interest and I would make it happen.
I guess this brings me to my next fear, not seeing what my kids need. All the books say watch, listen and pay attention to your kids they will tell you what they need or want. What if I am not good at listing, what if I miss something, what if they are trying to tell me and I don't hear it. What if I don't see those learning opportunities? I could go on and on about this. I guess this is a really big fear of mine!!
I remember when I was pregnant I was so scared I would do something wrong as a parent. I would drop the baby, or would not have the best food, or safest car seat. I never worried about school.Now I worry I am doing it all wrong. Any ideas on how to fix this worry I would love to hear it.
So last night I committed to writing about my fears today. My fears about hs. I could say in general that hs is scary but I want to look deeper into my fears in hopes that I will see away past them. These are fears that come and go depending on the day, week and who we have seen or talked to.
So lets start with the fear that they are not learning what they will need to know. Some days this hits me like a ton of bricks. That my kids will not know what there peers know from public school. They will not have read the same books, been shown some side of history or been exposed to some new math idea because they are not in ps. Or some other class I don't even know they do.
But as I know kids are not exposed to the same thing school to school never mind province to province, the ideas that the kids are shown are different. Yes everyone learns to do basic math, but some never move past that, while others go on to advance algebra. They all learn to read, what they read and how often depends on assignments and teacher. They all have some sort of health or sex ed. But depending on the teacher this can be a good or bad experience. History is always boring full of dates and numbers no matter what teacher you have in ps because they can not talk about the religion that made so much of history. So I can talk myself out of the fear in these subjects (most days).
English is where I hit a wall. Some kids come out of ps great spellers, writers, and litature geniuses. Others come out hating the written word, never write a story, essay or letter again. Keeping all communication to text and e-mail, blaming bad spelling on typing errors and missed words in spell check. Would they have always been like this or would it have been different if they came to writing on there own. This is my leap of faith. My kids hate writing!! Hate, hate, hate it. But I like to write, to see my ideas, to re read my thoughts. (The funny thing is I can not spell my way out of a paper bag.) My fear on this one is because I don't make my kids write their thoughts down, don't make them think about paragraph structure or story development they may never learn to enjoy writing. The other side of that coin is if I do force it on them, I might kill a love for it before it has started to blossom, or I might push them away from the idea. They may never like writing like there father and I might just be making work and stress for nothing.
Another fear of mine is them missing out on something they could get at ps. Christmas concerts, band class, art class, being a patrol or lunch time PE games. Both my kids have told me they hated the concerts, they were in. Neither have shown any interest in a musical interment, standing out in the cold to help younger ones cross the street, or wanting to play games more then they already do at the YMCA. But this is still a fear for me and some of these things I just can not offer to them in the same way.....wait as I write this I see I could offer all these things to them just in different ways. All they need to do is show interest and I would make it happen.
I guess this brings me to my next fear, not seeing what my kids need. All the books say watch, listen and pay attention to your kids they will tell you what they need or want. What if I am not good at listing, what if I miss something, what if they are trying to tell me and I don't hear it. What if I don't see those learning opportunities? I could go on and on about this. I guess this is a really big fear of mine!!
I remember when I was pregnant I was so scared I would do something wrong as a parent. I would drop the baby, or would not have the best food, or safest car seat. I never worried about school.Now I worry I am doing it all wrong. Any ideas on how to fix this worry I would love to hear it.
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