Mirabile Muse

Yesterday I started homeschooling my 6th grade son. It’s been six years since I homeschooled my daughter through middle school, and I knew things would be different—you know, different kids, different times, different reasons. But hey, I was an old hand at this, so I was prepared for all sorts of scenarios. Except for the pure panic that arose when I sat down to talk with him about the homeschooling adventure. He balked, swirled around the house like a Tasmanian devil, and I panicked. How in the world would I find the energy and time to help him learn? What the heck had I signed up for? When would I ever find the time to write?

I have to admit that I cried a few tears yesterday morning. Sending him to the middle school here is not an option for many reasons. Learning is not something that needs to be packaged and stuffed into a smart, highly sensitive, and extremely exuberant kid. Especially in the oversized classes that are common here. But I forgot one thing about homeschooling. It takes time for a kid to decompress from the experience of learning at school to the much more organic way of learning at home. I realized I had to completely drop any and all expectations of how things should go, and just be fully present for D. with his unique personality and talents.

Today he woke up, ate breakfast, did his chores, and started writing a comic book story. He practiced piano before his lesson, and did some reading. I didn’t have to say a word—it all came from him. In those two and a half hours, I wrote.

We spent the afternoon finding snakes and identifying birds and plants in the nature park. Panic is over. Homeschooling has begun.