We Have Tried it Their Way, We Don't Like it

This week Violet has been taking a class on Greek Mythology at our local community college's Kids and College program. She's taken several culinary classes this summer, but this class is giving us a glimpse into the world of the public school family. We are certain it isn't for us.

The class starts bright and early every morning at 9:00 a.m. We have to leave a little before 8:30 to get there, park and get into the class. We never leave that early for anything. Well, Violet never does. She gets up around 9:00, leisurely reads in bed for 30 or 40 minutes. Feeds her fish. Wanders down for some breakfast. Reads some more. By 11:00 sharp she's finally dressed. Most days.

On Tuesday she had a homework assignment. She had to complete a worksheet on the development of a Greek myth of her own creation, write the myth and draw a picture. I think most kids completed the task in class. She had her basic idea, but wasn't sure where she wanted to go from there and needed time to think about it.

She didn't mention the assignment until the middle of the afternoon. Her class is out at noon. Um, we'd better get going on it. I helped her with it. Mostly helping her flush out her own ideas and getting it on to paper. I used open ended questions, so she could come up with her own story. And helped her focus. She had invented a goddess of pets, but needed to narrow it down to one story about the goddess. I think in her head she had an entire volume of stories.

So here we were, the night before it was due, doing homework. We don't do homework. We don't have deadlines. We let our creativity take its own sweet time. We certainly don't fill out story worksheets first. (And don't tell her teacher, but we actually filled in his worksheet after her story was done.) In our homeschool if you want to write a story, you write it and see where it takes you. Would that past muster in a professional writing class? Of course not. But we don't mind. Usually the stories written develop over months. Pictures and sketches are drawn. Parts are acted out by Barbies or Littlest Pet Shop characters. More pictures are drawn. Once in a while the story is actually written out. I guess we are more into the verbal story telling.

The man who teaches her class teaches fourth grade during the school year. I don't think he's used to dealing with us laid back, do our own thing, homeschoolers. But he seems nice anyway.

I asked Violet yesterday if she'd like to be in public school, get up early every morning and have homework every night. She rolled her eyes at me and made some sort of grunting noise. I think I have created a homeschooler for life.